
Glass _L_LLi_L 
Riwlf> 9)7: H 



1. 



Memorial History 



OF 



SYRACUSE, N. Y. 



From its Settlement to the Present Time 



Edited by DWIGHT H. BRUCE 



SVKACUSE, N. V. 

n. P. SMITH 4 CO., I'UBUSHEKs 
1891 



PREFACE. 



THE promised History ok Sykacusk lias been written, and it <jnly re- 
mains for the Editor to write a preface, for all books must liave a pre- 
face, commonly for the purpose of apology, sometimes explanatory, usually 
needless. The preparation of this book has cost an unexpected amount of 
labor, and its publication has consequently been somewhat delayed. Almost 
unsurmountable obstacles to the procurement of data have at times been 
encountered as a result of fire or carelessness, by which important records 
have been lost. It is, however, believed that tlie chain of history is com- 
plete, and it is left to the reader to judge whether, with present opportuni- 
ties, it would not be a most difficult undertaking to attempt the presentation 
of a better record of the past than that which is herein contained. 

This volume will be of material aid to the historian of the future. He 
will find a reasonably full and accurate record of the past, and from this 
time forward he will have at his disposal full records from which to glean 
his material. He will not have to grope so much in obscurity and among 
traditions and conclusions as we have done. 

Many citizens have kindly given their assistance to the Editor. Recog- 
nition of such favor is especially due to the Hon. Thomas G. Alvord for the 
chapter on the development of salt manufacturing ; the Hon. A. J. North- 
rup for his revision of the sketch of the Bar; Dr. H. D. Didama, LL. D , 
for his review of the medical record ; the Hon. Andrew D. White for a 
chapter of reminiscences ; the Rev. A. Oberlandcr for German history; and 
Mr. P. H. Agan for revising early history ; and especial obligation is 
acknowledged to the valuable book of Mr. M. C. Hand, " From a h'orest 
to a City." Credit is also due the Very Rev. J. S. M. Lynch, 1). I)., V. G., 
Prof. John D. Wilson, Charles N. Sims, LL. D., Dr. D. A. Moore, George K. 
Collins, Miss Jennie Chapin, and others who supplied important data. For 
the general assistance of Mr. H. P. Smith throughout the preparation of 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



the work the editor also desires to express his acknowledgement. The pub- 
lishers' corps of other assistants have been faithful to their trust, thus making 
the work of supervision and revision a pleasure. The Editor's work, aside 
from revision, is comprised in several distinct chapters and scattered else- 
where throughout the book. 

Syracuse presents a magnificent field for that part of a historian's work 
which has. to do with its growth and progress. In many respects it has 
been and still is a phenomenal city. It has shown to the world that it pos- 
sesses the power to maintain its progress under any and all conditions ; that 
it has passed its day of dependence upon any single branch of business, and 
has entered upon so broad a basis of growth and permanence that it must 
continue to prosper until its fortunate geographical relations and unsur- 
passed business energy shall be able to e.\tend their influence no farther. 
What that limit may be none can now tell, unless he can foretell the impor- 
tance of the inventions which are to astonish generations to come. 

We commit this volume to its patrons and the public conscious of the 
fact that it is not without imperfection, and reminding the critic of how im- 
possible it is to find perfection in such a work, so comprehensive and so full 

of detail. 

D H. li. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 



Indian ( )ccupation of Onondaga — Tlie Five Nations — The Great Iroquois League — Tri- 
lial Cliarauteiistics — Tlie Indian at Home — Emigration from the OUi World to the 
New — The Jesuit Missions and tlieir Work — Otlier Missions 17 



CHAPTER H. 

The three Rival Bands of Colonists^The Magnificent Royal Patent of Charles II. — Con- 
test between the French and the English — The Peace of Breda — The French at 
War with the Iroquois — Destruction of Montreal — The French Visit the Onondaga 
Country — A Battle with the Indians — Treating with the English — Building of a 
Fort — Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle — France and England again at War — British Tri- 
umph — The Revolution 20 



CHAPTER HI. 

Proceedmgs which Led to the Formation of the Military Tract — Extent of Bounties in 
Lands to the Army — Laying Out of Townships — Terms of Settlement on the Grants 
— Balloting for Lots — Original Townships of the Military Tract — Relation of the 
Tract to Onondaga County 32 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Oldest Land on the Continent — Layers of Rock in Onondaga County and what Pro- 
duced Them — The Great Inland Seas of Early Ages — The Salina Group —The Salt 
Deposit of Onondaga — Hopper-shaped Casts from Salina — The Water-Lime Gnuip 
— Oriskany Sandstone 37 



CHAPTER V. 

The First Trails and Roadways — The Old State Road— The " Great Genesee Road " and 
its Impriivement.s — The " Seneca Road Ciinipany " — How the Course of the Seneca 
Road was Determined — Early Methods of Travel — Early Mail Coaches — Later 
Thoroughfares 41 



Memokiai. History of Syracuse. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Early Settlement Soiitli of the Site of SyraciL^e— Ephraim WelLster — Asa Danforth and 
Comfort Tyler, the Valley Pioneers— Where they Locate<i--Tlie ]iirtli of tlic Salt In- 
dustry --Bio';ra[)liic Sketches of Dan forth and Tyler — Judge Joshna Fornian and 
his Early Lahors — The First Town Meeting— Early Lawyers and Merchants— The 
First Postortice— Schools and Churclies — Rivalry with Onondaga Hill 48 



CHAPTER VH. 

Early Settlement on the Ilill — Location of the Village — Influences Leading to the Selec- 
tion of the Site — Sketclies of Prominent Early Residents — The County Seat — 
Early Lawyers and Judges — Pioneer Meclianics — The Newspaper- -Mercantile 
Operations — Decline of the Village G4 



CHAPTER Vni. 

Formation of the Town — Laying Out the First Village — The Pioneers of " Salt Point" 
--The First Dwellings — Isaac Van VIeck's Settlement — Natural lieauty of the Site 
— Unhealthfulnessof the Lowlands — Diflicully of Ohtaining Provisions — The First 
Orinding-mill — Indian Anecdotes — Elisha Alvords Settlement — The First Brick 
Building— Fears of British Invasion — The Block House — Sketches of Settlers — 
Mercantile Operations — Mechanics and iheii Shops — The Growing Salt Industry.. 71 



CHAPTER IX. 

Sketch of James Geddes— Opening New Roads— The First Salt Works at Geddes— 
Map of the Early Village- Biographical Sketches of Pioneers— Early Merchants 
and Mi<'iianip>;— f Irnwlh of the Village— Prominent Builders 85 



CHAPTER X. 

Primitive Conditions of the Site of Syracuse— Map of 1819-TThe Walton Tract and its 
Sale- The First Treasurer— The First Buildings in Syracuse— The Earliest Tavern 
—The Original Names of the Place— The Old Red Mill— Salina Street— The Canal 
and its Influence— Forman, Wil.son & ("o.— Celeliration of the ()]iening of the Canal 
— Population in 1 820- Lowering of the Lake— The Name of Syracuse— Oliver 
Teal! and the Water Works— Conditions in 1825 93 



Contents. 



CHAPTER XI. 



Incorporation of the Village — Rivalry between Salinaand Syracuse — The First Election 
of Village Ollicers — Proceedings of the Early Meetings of Trustees — Some of the 
First Ordinances— The First Fire Protection— Visit of Marquis de La Fayette — 
General Condition of the Village at thu Time of Incorporation— Early Improve- 
ments and Sales of Lots— Location of Buildings between 1825 and \SSQ 108 



CHAPTER Xn. 

Pen-Picture of the Village of 1827— Lathrop's Lodging House— Yellow Brook— Clear- 
ing of Lands by the Syracuse Company — Buildings on Various Streets in 1827 — 
W. B. Kirk's Tavern— The Old Episcopal Church— Phelps's Blacksmith Shop— The 
Site of the Bastable Block— The Section South of the Canal and West of Sahna 
Street— William Malcom's Buildings— Description of the Western Part of the City 
Site— The Cinder Road 1-0 



CHAPTER XHI. 

From 1828 to 1840— Improvement oi Streets— The Census of 1829— Captain Hiram 
Putnam— The Business Houses of the Village and where they were Located — Sam- 
uel Lamed and his Floating Store— The Approach of the Cholera— Measures adopted 
to Thwart the Disease— Deaths of Prominent Persons— The Canal t,|uarantine and 
its Eftects— Census of Business Houses in 1834— The Great Fire of that Year- The 
Coming of the Railroad— E. W. Leavenworth and his Early Influence— Changes in 
the Ordinances '-^ 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Further Progress of the Village— The Rose Hill Cemetery Purchase— A Brief Era of 
Turbulence— Additions to the Business Houses of the Village— Tlie Great Gun- 
powder Explosion— Lists of Killed and Injured- Public Action on the Casualties- 
Changes of Street Names — A Disgraceful Riot— Whisperings of a City Charter — 
Abolition of the Old Can.al Basin— Erection of a Public Market— Causes of its Fail- 
ure — Incorporation as a City ''•o 



CHAPTER XV. 

First Officers of Salina Village— Early Village Expenses— Opening of Exchange Street 
—The Old Cemetery .ind the New— The First Paving- Purchase of Fire Apparatus 
—Lists of Village Olliceis— Various Public Improvements -Preparations for Union 
with Syracuse as a City 159 



lo Memokiai, Histdkv of Syracuse. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Dawn of a New Era— Plank Roads and their Influence— A Savings Bank— E. B. 
Alvord's Cahfornia House— The First Ref,'ular Theater- Salt Lands at Auction— 
Onondaga Creek Inii>rovenient— ( )iganization of the Franklin Institute— New 
Mflhod of Hoad Making— The Bu.-iiiiess Establishments of the Young City- 
Growth of the Place — A Disastrous Fire— The Jerry Kescue — Jenny Lind's Con- 
cert—Abandonment of the Public Market— Sale of the Old Court-IIouse Property 
— The New Wards and their Boundaries — Increasing Public Debt — A Reign of In- 
cendiarism — The Wietiiig Blo(;k Burned — Trouble in the Public Finances — A Great 
Political Meeting I'i'i 



CHAPTER XVII. 

How History was Rapidly Made — Charier Election of l!^6li — The Presiileutial Campaign 
— The Beginning of the War — Inteuse Patriotic Excitement — The First Military 
Organization for the War— The Great Freshet of 18G2— Raising of the 122d Regi- 
ment — Bounties to Volunteers — Stagnation in all Public Improvements — Prospects 
of u Draft — The Delegation to Washington — Further Generous Bounties — Special 
Election — The Last Regiment Raised — A Snow Blockade — Steam Fire Engines 
Purchased — City Iiuprovemenis Following the War 190 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

John Greenway's Barbecue — A Protest and Warning— Charter Election — Public Im- 
provements—A New Water Supply Demanded — The Tully Lake Project — The Fire 
Alarm Telegraph — Democratic Victory — A Period of Prosperity — A Bank Run — 
Small Pox Flurry— The Chenango Valley Railroad -Funding of a Heavy Floating 
Debt — Mayor Ijraves Deplores the Existence of the Great City Debt— Development 
of Southern Suburbs— The Village of Danforth — Di.ssension between the City and 
Gas Company — Public Alarm at the Municipal Debt — The Committee of Ninety- 
six— The Belden Administration and its Benefits 207 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Last Decade— Application for a New (ias Company Charter — The " City Improve- 
ment Society "—Building of the Wot Shore Railroad— Removal of Police Com- 
missioners—Trouble with the Board of Education— City Annexation — The New 
City Hall Project -Charter Amendments— Better Water Supply Demanded — The 
Committee of One Hundred and its Work -William A. Sweet's Project— Annex- 
ation of Geddes— Gift of Burnel Park -The Kirk Administration— Pushing the 
Work for a New Water Supply — A Real Estate Boom —Extension of the Street 
Railway System — Conclusion 231 



CONTKNTS. I I 



CHAPTER XX. 

Villa),'." OITicers— City Officers— Judicial Olliccrs of llerkiiner County— Supreme Court 
.Iutlj;os~-Surro<iiiles— County Clerks— Slierills- Treasurers— State Senators— Gen- 
ernrPolitic.ll Character of llic Village and City— Kirst State Convention in Syra- 
cuse— dld-Tiine Gatherings- Democratic Slate Convention of 1859— An Kxciling 
Event— Later Politics 257 



CHAPTER XXI. 

The Early Militia— Changes ainonR F>ocal Officers— Regimental Organizations down to 
ISl'i Sulisequent Changes down to 1822— Missing Records of Ten Years- Other 
Changes down to the War of the Rebellion— ( »nondaga in the War— Butler's 
Zouaves— Jenney's First Company— Jenney's Rattery— Organization of the 12th 
Regiment— Its Various Campaigns and Return Home— The r22d Regiment and its 
Record— Organization of the 149th Regiment— An Account of its Campaigns— 
The ISoth Regiment and its Brief and Brilliant Record— History of the 51st Regi- 
ment—Independent Military Organizations 2( 1 



CHAPTER XXH. 

German Population in Cities— Their Chief Characteristics— Proportion of Germans in 
Syracuse— Where they Came From- The first Germans of Syracuse— Where they 
Settled— The Beginning of Larger Immigration— Prominent German Settlers and 
their Occupations — The German Press— German Medical and Other Societies 336 



CHAPTER XXni. 

Syracuse as a Healthy Financial Center— The First Monetary Strmgency— Its Conse- 
quences—The Stringency in 1857--01d Bank of Syracuse- -Trust and Deposit Com- 
pany— Salt Springs National Bank— Merchants' National Bank— Onondaga County 
Savings Bank- -First National Bank— New York State Banking Company— Syra- 
cuse Savings Bank— Third National Bank — Bank of Syracuse — State Bank of 
Syracuse — Robert Gere Bank 3G4 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Sail in Olden Days— The Discovery of the Onondaga Salt Springs— The First Known 
Source of Salt away from the Sea Coa.^t— Comfort Tyler's Primitive Salt Works 
—Isaac Van VIeck's Operations— The Geddes Works— The Federal Company— 
Eli.sha and Dioclesian Alvord— The Establishment of Larger Blocks— The Early 
Methods of Boilmg— The First Wells— Relations of the State to the Salt Lands- 
Improvements in Processes— Early Markets for Salt -Statistics of Manufacture 
— Organization of Companies — Pi esent and Future of the Industry 378 



12 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



chaptp:r XXV. 

The Western Inljiml Lock and Navigation Company- First Inception of the Erie Canal 
Project — The Kontes Discussed — Judge Kornians Early Work in Favor of the Ca- 
nal— The State Loan— Completion ot the Canal— The First Packet Boat— Railroads 
— The First One to Reach Syracuse— Its Rude Character — Other Railroads of 
Syracuse 404 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Early Ilistory of the Bench and Bar of America--The Courts of the State of New York 
— Appointment of Associate Judges of the Supreme Court — The Supreme Court 
— The Old Supreme and Circuit Courts — The Eight Judicial Districts — The Court 
of Common Pleas — District Attorney — The First Court-House — Rivalry for a New 
Court-House in Salina and Syracuse — The Compromise — The Last Court-IIouse — 
Its Enlargement — The Court of .\ppeals Lil)rary — Biographic Sketches — The Pres- 
ent Bar 4\~i 



CHAPTER XXVH. 

The Onondaga Medical Society — Its Organization — Records of Early Meetings — The 
First Cholera Epiiiemic — A Complimentary Dinner-- List of Presidents — List of 
Members — The Syracuse Medical Association— Proceedings of Various Meetings 
— Officers of the Association — Biograpliical Notes — -The Homoeopathic Medical 
Society ... 449 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

First Religious Meetings in the Vicinity — Early Meetings atSalina and Goddes — Meet- 
ings in the Old School-House — Organization of the First Baptist Church— Burning 
of the Church — Other Baptist Churches--Pre8byterian Churches of Syracuse — 
Congregational Churches of Syracuse- -Methodist Episcopal Churches of Syracuse 
— Protestant Episcopal Cliurches — Catholic Churches 476 



CHAPTER XXX. 

The Early Ilistory of the Schools of Syracuse— The Foundation laid for the Present 
Superior System— Languag.", Art, and Science Taught— Syracuse Academy Char- 
tered — Public Schools Before the City Organization — Public Schools Under the 
City Government 53q 



CoNTKNTS. 13 



CHAITER XXXI. 

The Public Press — Its Character in Syacuse — Tlio Syracuse Standard and its Prede- 
cessors — The Syracuse Journal and its Ori';in — The Syracuse Couriir — The Evening 
Herald — Weekly Papers. — Tlie Rehgious Press — Defur.ct Newspapers ... 545 



CIIAITKR XXXII. 
Music in Syracuse 557 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

The First PosloHice — Its In.sigiiificance — The First Postmaster — First tjuarterly Re- 
ceipts — A Stately Removal — First Free Delivery — The New Government Build- 
ing — List of Postmasters 559 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Earl}' Protection from Fire — The First Engine — How it was Purchased — Fire Regula- 
tions — Members of the First Company — A Second Engine House — Purchase of a 
Third Engine — Re-organization of 1851 — Establishment of the Paid Department — 
Present Features — Commissioners 563 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

The First Burial in the County — First Burial (rround in Salina — The Second and Pres- 
ent Burying Ground in the First Ward — The Old Burial Place of Syracuse Village 
— Rose Hill Cemeierj' — Movement for Establishment of Oakwood Cemetery- 
Dedication .570 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Free and Accepted Masons — Tiie First Ma.sonic Lodge in Syracuse — Its Location in 
Salina — Syracuse Lodge, No. 501 — Other Masonic Lodges — The First Odd Fel- 
lows Lodge — Present Lodges and their Officers 577 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

The Police Department — The Syracuse Water Works Company — The Syracuse Gas 
Light Company — The Telegraph and Telephone in Syracuse — Onondaga County 
Orphan Asylum — The State Idiot Asylum— St. Joseph's Hospital— House of the 
Good Shepherd — The Old Ladies' Home — Business Men's Association — Bureau of 
Labor and Charities 586 



14 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



CHAPTER XXXVHI. 

An Kstiniate of the City's Material Wealth— Its Growth, and tlie Reasons for it— A 
Uell<>etion of its Industries — Capital Em|>loyed and the Results Wrought Out— Its 
Sihools and Churches — A Sketch of its More Prominent Manufacturing Establish- 
ments — Hotels... GIO 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Notes anil Reminiscences with Wit and Humor interspersed — Interesting Anecdotes of 

Historical Importance 083 



CHAPTER XL. 

Reminiscences of Hon. A. D. White— Present Recollections of Syracuse— Scenes and 

Incidents of H.ilf a Century ago— A Pen-Picture Closes the Volume 708 



Biographical , Par^ n i 



MEMORIAL HISTORY OF SYRACUSE 



MEMORIAL HISTORY 



OF THE 



CITY OF SYRACUSE. 



CHAPTER I. 

OUTLINE OF INDIAN HISTOKV. 



Indian Occupation of Onondaga— The Five Nations— The Clreat Iroquois League— Tribal 
Characteristics- The Indian at Home- Emigration from the Old World to the New— The Jesuit 
Missions and their Work — Other Missions. 

THE history of the site of Syracuse, and the territory adjacent thereto, 
begins among the traditions of one of the most powerful nations of 
Indians of whom we have any knowledge, and still fainter traditions of white 
men who may possibly have visited this region many years previous to the 
time of which there are any existing records. The history of the Five Nations 
(ultimately the Six Nations,) of Indians— the Grand Iroquois," as they were 
termed by the French — illuminates thousands of brilliant pages from some 
of the ablest pens that this country has produced. Of these Five Nations 
the Onondagas, who were the original proud owners and occupants of the 
territory which comes distinctly within the province of this history, were, 



♦The name Iroquois was given these Indians by the French, who prefixed the name " Huron " 
because their language indicated the Hurons, who were seated on Georgian Bay. to be a part of the 
Iroquois family, and. like them, were isolated in the midst of the Algonquins when discovered by 
the French. — Lossing. 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



also, with one exception, the most influential and numerous, as well as the 
most intelligent.* 

Among the traditions of these Indians antiquarians and scholars have 
delved in efforts to trace their history back to their origin, but it can scarcely 
be said that the results have justified the labor. We know wMth a fair 
degree of certainty when white men first came here, driven by their ambition 
from the crowded acres of the Old World to a continent where a domain 
could be purchased with a cask of rum and the slaughter of a few natives; 
but whether those natives had occupied the soil fifty, a hundred, or a thou- 
sand years, we know not. 

The Five Nations of the Iroquois Indians were bound together in a 
League, the bonds of which were strong as steel and peculiarly adapted to 
secure permanence and the welfare of the several members in all the cir- 
cumstances of their lives. These nations were called Mohawks, Oneidas, 
Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, and they were located across the terri- 
tory embraced in the State of New York from east to west in the order 
just named. 

The time of the formation of this League is lost in the past. Some 
writers have placed it only a generation previous to the landing of the 
Dutch in New York : others a hundred years earlier. Webster, the first 
wliite settler on the site of Syracuse, and an Indian interpreter, gives the 
time as "about two generations before the white people came to trade with 
the Indians. "t It is, however, believed by those best informed on the sub- 
ject to have been formed at a much earlier date, and that nothing is left to 
indicate the actual time, excepting the tradition which is current among the 
Onondagas, of which the following is a brief summary: 

The origin of the League is ascribed to Hiawatha, the incarnation of 
wisdom, about the beginning of the fifteenth century. He came from his 
celestial home to dwell with the Onondagas, where he taught the related 
tribes all that was desirable to promote their welfare. Under his immediate 
tutelage the Onondagas became the wisest counselors, the bravest warriors, 
and the most successful hunters. While Hiawatha was thus quietly living 
among them they were attacked by a powerful enemy from the north, who 
laid waste their villages and slaughtered their men, women, and children in- 
discriminately ; utter destruction seemed inevitable. In this extremity 
they turned to Hiawatha, who, after thoughtful contemplation, advised a 
grand Council of all that could be gathered of the tribes, saying, " Our 
safety is not alone in the club and dart, but in wise counsels." 

* There were other tribes of Indians in the territory along the Atlantic sea board, at the time 
when white seillcnienls began, but in comparison with the Iroquois they were feeble and insignifi- 
cant. The Kivc Nations dominated them all and to such an extent that, with other active influences, 
Ihcy were soon practically exterminated. 

f Clark's Onondaga. 



Traditions oi' the Iroquois Lea(;ue. 19 



The Council was held on the shore of Onondaga Lake and the fire burned 
for three days awaiting the presence of Hiawatha. He was troubled with 
forebodings of ill fortune and had resolved to not attend the Council ; but in 
response to importunities of messengers he set out with his beautiful daugh- 
ter, Minnehaha. Approaching the Council he was bidden welcome by all, 
and they then turned their eyes upward to behold a volume of cloudy dark- 
ness descending upon them. All fled excepting Hiawatha and his daugh- 
ter, who calmly awaited the impending calamity. Suddenly and with a 
mighty swoop, a huge bird with long and distended wings descended upon 
the beautiful maiden and crushed her to death, itself perishing with the 
collision. For three days and nights Hiawatha gave himself up to exhibi- 
tions of poignant grief. At the end of that period he regained his wonted 
demeanor and took his seat in the Council, which, after some deliberation, 
adjourned one day. On the following day Hiawatha addressed the Coun- 
cil, giving to each of the Five Nations their location and their degree of 
importance, as before described. The advice of the venerable sage was 
deliberated upon until the following day, when the celebrated League of 
the Iroquois was formed and its details perfected with elaborate and ex- 
tended ceremonies. 

Whether or not there is a foundation in fact for this traditionary source 
of the Confederacy, it grew into one of the most remarkable and powerful 
combinations known to history, a marvel to civilized nations and stamping 
the genius that gave it birth as of the highest order. 

The Onondagas have also had numerous traditions respecting their own 
origin, but their historical value is insignificant. For example, they have 
claimed to have come from the north, where they once inhabited the banks 
of the St. Lawrence : that a few of their hunters came down into this 
region, whither they were finally followed by the entire nation. Another 
story is, that the Bear and the Wolf tribes sprang out of the ground near 
Oswego Falls ; the Eel and the Tortoise from the same lowly source on the 
banks of the Seneca river; the Deer and the Eagle tribes from the soil of 
the Onondaga hills ; while the Beaver and the Heron tribes came out of the 
earth on the banks of Lake Ontario. There is nothing to suggest truth in 
these traditions, excepting the fact that the Jesuit missionaries found Onon- 
dagan villages at the four points mentioned. 

Of the Five Nations composing the Iroquois League, the Onondagas 
occupied the central territorial position, and with them was kept the Grand 
Council fire. They were, owing to their superior intelligence, bravery in 
war, and diplomatic skill, (though they were outnumbered by the Senecas, 
who were also further advanced in agriculture and the arts),* given the 



* The Senecas from the earliest limes have been the most numerous and powerful of the Five 
Nations. They have always been further advanced in agriculture and the arts than their neighbors, 



20 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



general leadership of the League, and around their fires all public business 
was transacted. 

The Onondagas were divided into eight tribes, four superior and four in- 
ferior in character. The first four were named the Wolf, the Bear, the 
Beaver, and the Tortoise ; the latter four, the Deer, the Eagle, the Heron, 
and the Eel. From the superior tribes were selected the Chiefs of the 
nations, members of the inferior clans not being eligible to office. The line 
of descent was in the female branch of the family. The son or grandson 
of a chief's daughter or sister was eligible to office, but his own son would 
not be eligible. 

This great nation of Indians, with their four confederate nations, consti- 
tuted a power which, in a military sense, made itself felt and dreaded for 
many years, not only against the pioneers of civilization, but also against 
their savage enemies. For more than a century they resisted the hostile 
efforts of the French ; for nearly as long a period they were alike courted 
and feared by the French and English colonists, and they finally extermi- 
nated or subdued the neighboring Indian nations until they were sub- 
stantially dictators of the Continent, gaining for themselves from the pen 
of an admirer the title of " The Romans of the New World." 

But while this great Confederacy was superior to its savage neighbors, 
at least in respect to mental characteristics, there is little to indicate that 
it was ever much inclined to improve the conditions in which it was 
first found by Europeans. Some of their prominent characteristics have 
been thus summarized : " They were closely attached to their warrior and 
hunter life ; hospitable to friends, but ferocious and cruel to their enemies; 
of no mean mental capacity, but devoting their energies to the lower, if not 
the lowest, forms of enjoyment and animal gratification : they had little 
regard for the marriage tie, and lasciviousness and unchastity were the rule ; 
their dwellings, even among the more stationary tribes, were rude, their 
food gross and poor, and their domestic habits and surroundings unclean 
and barbaric ; their dress was ordinarily of skins of animals, until the advent 
of the whites, and was primitive in character; woman was degraded into a 
mere beast of burden ; while they believed in a Supreme Being, they were 
powerfully swayed by superstition, incantations by medicine men, dreams 
and the like; their feasts were exhibitions of debauchery and gluttony. 

An English writer who visited this country in 1792 and had an oppor- 
tunity to observe the efforts of Mr. Kirkland among the Indians, thus gives 
his opinion on the subject : "The Rev. Mr. Kirkland, who acts as mission- 
ary among the Oneidas, has taken all the pains that man can take, but his 

and, if oralory, statesmanship and determined opposition to the encroachments of the whites, be 
taken into account, they may be said to stand in the foremost rani*. With their neighbors, the 
Tuscaroras, they have yielded more readily to the advantages of education. — Clark's Onondaga. 



Mission Work among the Indians. 21 

whole flock are Indians still, and like the bear which you can muffle and 
lead out to dance to the sound of music, becomes again a bear when his 
muffler is removed and the music ceases. The Indians will attend public 
worship and sing extremely well, following Mr. Kirkland's notes, but when 
the service is over, they wrap themselves in their blankets, and either stand 
like cattle on the sunny side of a house, or lie before a fire." Later ex- 
perience has, alas, only substantiated this view of the case, at least to a con- 
siderable e.xtent.* 

Against this somewhat repulsive picture others have found much in 
apology for the dark features of the Indian character, and brought to bear 
considerable evidence that if the whites — the final permanent settlers — had 
adopted a proper and humane course toward the natives, different and more 
satisfactory results might have been attained. Hundreds of pages have 
been written, picturing the savage horrors that awaited the immigrants from 
the Old World ; tales have been told of the bloody atrocity with which the 
families of hundreds of early settlers were slaughtered and their little homes 
burned according to the barbaric code ; and these stories have been handed 
down to civilized posterity until, maybe, we have become accustomed to 
look upon them as constituting the only truthful history of the red men 
and the settlements of Onondaga and surrounding territory, and to accept 
without reserve the dictum that the Indian was not only a savage from first 
to last and under all circumstances, but was from the outset an implacable, 
remorseless, and blood thirsty enemy to the white pioneers. This is, we 
believe, in its broad sense, not true. The thoughtful student of the cir- 
cumstances of the Indians when first visited by the pioneers of civilization, 
must reach the conclusion that at that time and afterward until they had 
been heedlessly, perhaps needlessl)', provoked into belligerency, they 
were essentially friendly to their unknown visitors. This is amply proven by 
their reception of the Jesuits, as will appear a little further on. Had they 
been otherwise — had they have fallen upon the immigrants as they did on 
many later occasions — it would have required a civilized army to effect 
a foothold on these shores, instead of its being done by mere handfuls of 
helpless men and women. 

When a country has been long possessed, even by civilized white people, 
and oncoming usurpers seek to wrest it from them, it is a custom held 
almost sacred for the possessors to fight to the last drop of blood for their 
hearthstones. Should we expect less from what we term a savage people ? 



♦ In the year 1712 Rev. William Andrews was sent among the Mohawks by the Society for 
Propagating the Gospel, to succeed the Rev. Thoroughgood Moor ; but he abandoned the work in 
1 719, failing in it, as his predecessors had. .\lluding 10 this particular effort a competent historical 
writer has made the following statement : "lie became discouraged and asked to be recalled, say- 
ing, there is no hope of making them better — heathen they are and heathen they must be." This is 
here quoted as one characteristic example of missionary work among the Indians. 



22 Memorial History oi" Syracuse. 



The white man came to the Indian with professions of friendship on his 
tongue, but with a gun in one hand and a rum bottle in the other.* The 
Indian proved an apt pupil and took kindly to both. The consequences 
might have been foreseen, especially when the professions made by civilized 
governments and their representatives proved to be merely a cover for the 
most brazen attempts to wrest the new country from its former possessors. 
Of course the march of civilization must be onward, and the weak and 
ignorant must ever fall before the strong and wise: but retaliation, even 
though it be futile, in the necessary conflict, must be expected from the 
weak and ignorant. 

Leaving the uncertain traditions of the Indians, and other somewhat 
mythical evidences of the advent of white men into this territory previous 
to the beginning of the 17th century, we find that in the same year (1609) 
when Champlain, under authority of the French government, was shooting 
Iroquois Indians on Lake Champlain, an English navigator named Henry 
Hudson, then in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, discovered 
the river which now bears his name and thereafter the thrifty Hollanders 
soon established their trading post at its mouth, laying the foundation of 
the city of New York, and at the site of Albany. They also set up an in- 
definite claim to territory extending westward. f Previous to this, in 1606, 



* In 1609 .Samuel de Champlain came up the lake that now bears his name, lying between the 
States of New York and X'ermont, accompanied by a party of northern Indians and two Euro- 
peans, on a trip of discovery and conquest. He there met a body of the Iroquois. An extract 
from his journal reads thus : " The moment they saw me they halted, gazing at me and I at them. 
When I saw them preparing to shoot at us, I raised my arquebus, and aiming directly at one of the 
three chiefs, two of them fell to the ground by this shot ; one of their companions received a wound 
of which he died afterwards. I had put four balls in my arquebus. * * * The Iroquois were 
greatly astonished seeing two men killed so instantaneously. • * * Whilst I was reloading one 
of my companions (ired a shot, which so astonished them anew seeing their chief slain, that they lost 
courage, took to flight and abandoned their fort, hiding themselves in the depths of the forest, 
whither pursuing them, I killed some others." Thus was signalized the first hcstile meeting between 
the civilized white man and the untutored Indian. It is like a pathetic page from a romance to read 
that the " Iroquois were greatly astonished, seeing two men killed so instantaneously," while the in- 
genuous acknowledgment of Champlain, " I had put four balls in my arquebus," is vivid testimony 
of how little mercy the Iroquois were to expect from their civilized enemies. 

f It is a fairly established fact that Champlain visited the country of the Onondagas as early as 
i()i5, leaving Ijuebec for that purpose, with quite a party of French. The late O. H. Marshall, of 
Huflalo, a learned historian, discovered among the Champlain papers and translated for the New 
York Historical Society, an account of the expedition and battle which, he felt almost certain, was 
fought on the shores of Onondaga Lake Of the battle he wrote: "Some skirmishing ensued 
among the Indians which frustrated our design of not discovering ourselves until the next morning. 
* * * When I approached with my little detachment, we showed them what they had never 
before seen or heard. As soon as they saw us, and heard the balls whistling about their ears, they 
retired quietly into the fort." The battle was indecisive, and the besiegers relumed to Canada. 
" The village, ' Champlain says, " was enclosed by four rows of large interlaced palisades thirty 
feet high near a body of unfailing water. Along these palisades the Iroquois had placed conductors 



Mission Work among the Indians. 



King James of England had granted to an association of men in that country, 
called the Plymouth Company, the territory of New England, and on the 
9th day of November, 1620, from the Mayflower landed the Tilgrim Fathers 
on Plymouth Rock. 

Thus, at the end of 1620 there were three distinct sources of emigration 
from the Old World, each under authority of its sovereign, and all tending 
toward occupancy and ownership of the territory embracing the locality of 
which this work is to treat. 

Besides these elements of civilization, the influence of which was soon 
felt in the New World, there arrived here in the year 1625 the vanguard of 
that remarkable order known as the Jesuit missionaries, which was in time 
to crowd out of Canada and what is now Northern New York, almost all 
other Catholic missionaries and substantially monopolize the territory. 
Those more intimately associated with the early history of this immediate 
region were Father Joseph Le Mercier, Father J. Claude Dablon, Father 
Chalonec, Father Le Moyne, Father Jean Quien, Father Paul Le Jeune, 
Father Paul Ragueneau, and Father Jerome Lallemant. 

As far as relates to the territory in which we are directly interested, the 
Jesuits left only slight traces of their work until 1650 and afterwards. In 
1642 Father Isaac logues visited the Onondagas. Of him another Jesuit, 
Father Chalonec, wrote : " They (the Iroquois) had already gained some 
smattering of the gospel, which had been preached to them by Father 
logues and particularly those of Onontague, among whom this Father had 
fixed his residence." 

In the year 1653 Father Le Moyne was sent to the Onondagas to confirm 
a treaty with them in the name of the Governor-General of Canada, and it 
is recorded in favor of the Indians that "they showed him the most marked 
attentions" — " he was caressed in a royal manner." 

Father Le Moyne's journal of this journey is very interesting, but a few 



to convey water to the outside, to extinguish fire. Galleries were constructed inside of the palisades, 
prelected by ball-proof parapets of wood, garnished with double pieces of wood." Clark, in his 
history says, " (t is highly probable that it (this fort) was on the ground subsequently occupied by 
Sieur Dupuis in 1665, and also by Count Frontenac in his expedition against the Onondagas in i6g6, 
and by Col. Van Schaick in 1779. The locality was always described by the Fathers as being des- 
titute of trees and as a place of surpassing beauty." The location of this fort is still in doubt, but good 
authorities, among them Gen. John S. Clark, place it at a point south of and near the eastern ex- 
tremity of Oneida Lake. In an address before the Central New York Pioneer's Association in 1877, 
General Clark brought what seems to be strong proof that he was right, and said, among other things : 
" 1 challenge any investigator to show any indications whatever, by relics, history, or tradition, of 
any considerable Indian town site on Onondaga lake or its vicinity of any character or of any age, 
or of any other town site in Onondaga Valley, or east of this in Onondaga county, that can by any 
reasonable possibility be classified as prehistoric, or of the age and dimensions of the Champlain 
fort. They all show abundant evidence of European intercourse and in no particular meet the 
requirements of the problem." 



24 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



brief extracts relating to this immediate locality are all that can be repro- 
duced here. He left Montreal on the 17th of July. After tracing his way 
up the St. Lawrence and into Lake Ontario, which he reached on the 30th, 
the journal says : 

" 2d. We began our march in the forest and, after traveling twelve or 
fifteen leagues, encamped about sunset. 

"3d. At noon we found ourselves on the bank of a river, one hundred 
or one hundred and twenty paces wide, on the other side of which there is 
a village of fishermen. An Iroquois, whom I had befriended at Montreal, 
set me across in his canoe, and kindly bore me to the shore on his shoulders, 
being unwilling that I should put my feet into the water. Every one re- 
ceived me with joy, and these poor people enriched me with their poverty. 

" 5th. We traveled four leagues before arriving at the principal Onon- 
daga village. I passed many persons on the way, who kindly saluted me, 
one calling me brother, another uncle, and another cousin. I never before 
had so many relations. At a quarter of a league from the village I began a 
harangue, in a solemn and commanding tone, which gained me great credit. 
I named all their chiefs, families and distinguished persons. I told them 
that peace and joy were my companions and that I scattered war among 
the distant nations. Two chiefs addressed me as I entered the village with 
a welcome, the like I had never before experienced among savages. Their 
women and children all treated me in a friendly and respectful manner. 

"6th. I was called to-day in different directions to administer relief to 
dying children. Some I baptized. I also confessed our old Huron Chris- 
tians, and found that God is everywhere : that he is pleased to labor silently 
in those hearts where faith has reigned. 

" 7th. I baptized a young captive taken from the Neuter nation, fifteen 
or sixteen years old, who had been instructed in the mysteries of our faith 
by a Huron convert. This was the first adult baptism made at Onondaga, 
for which we are indebted to the piety of a Huron." 

After further record of his experiences among the Onondagas, Father 
Le Moyne notes the start on his return journey, Aug. 15, and says that, "on 
the i6th we arrived at the entrance of a small lake (Onondaga). In a large 
basin, half dry, we tasted the water of a spring, which the Indians are afraid 
to drink, saying that it is inhabited by a demon who renders it foul. I 
found it to be a fountain of salt water, from which we made a little salt as 
natural as from the sea, some of which we shall carry to Quebec. This lake 
abounds in salmon, trout and other kinds of fish. 

" On the 17th we entered the outlet of the lake, and passed the river of 
the Senecas on the left, the addition of which enlarges the stream. It rises, 
they say, in two streams, among the Cayugas and Senecas. After three 
leagues more of pleasant traveling, we passed on our right the river of 



Journals or the Jesuit Missionaries. 25 



Oneida, which seemed quite deep. A league further, we encountered some 
rapids, which gave the name to the village of fishermen." 

In the relation of Father Joseph Chaumonot and Father Claude Dablon, 
who made a journey to the Onondagas in 1656, we find references that are 
of interest in this connection. It says: 

" On this day (November 9) for the first time we visited the salt springs, 
which are only two leagues from here, near the lake Genentaha, and the 
place chosen for the French settlement, because it is in the center of the 
Iroquois nations, and because we can from thence visit in canoes various 
locations upon the rivers and lakes, which renders commerce free and com- 
modious. Fishing and hunting increase the importance of this place, for 
besides the various kinds of fish that are taken there at different seasons of 
the year, the eel is so abundant that a thousand are sometimes speared by 
a single fisherman in a night, and as for the game which does not fail through 
the winter, the pigeons gather in spring in such numbers that they are taken 
in nets in great abundance. The fountain from which very good salt is 
made, intersects a fine meadow surrounded by a wood of superior growth. 
From eighty to a hundred paces from this salt spring, is found another of 
fresh water and both flow from the same hill." 

In the relation of Father Dablon, (1656,^ who visited the Onondagas with 
several other missionaries and a party of about fifty Frenchmen, he says: 

" On the nth of July, at three o'clock, we found ourselves entering the 
lake Genentaha on whose shores we had destined to pitch our camp, when 
the old men, knowing it to be the place selected by Fathers Chaumonot and 
Dablon, awaited us with a great multitude of people. The size of this lake 
is two leagues long and half a league in width. We have remarked three 
things of importance. The first is, that several salt springs are formed upon 
the eastern side, although this lake is far distant from the sea. There are 
such, however, in Lorraine, but do not think that salt could be made as 
easily there, for we find salt ready made upon the ground about these 
springs, and it is readily deposited when the water is boiled. The second 
matter is that there gather around these salt springs so great a quantity of 
pigeons that thousands are caught in a morning." 

Father Paul Le Jeune (1656-7) also notes what took place on the shores 
of Onondaga lake on the i ith of July, as follows : 

" We entered the Lake Genentaha, on whose banks we prepared for 
abode, having advanced within a quarter of a league of this place. We dis- 
embarked five pieces of cannon, whose diminutive thunder rolled over the 
waters of the lake ; this was followed by a discharge of all our arquebuses. 
This was the first salute we had sent through the water, the air and the 
woods to the ancients of the country, who had expected us, with a great 
multitude of people. This sound boomed over the waters, burst forth loudly 

4 



26 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

in the air, and resounded very agreeably in the forest. We sailed after- 
wards in beautiful order, our canoes, or little batteaux, going four by four 
over this small lake. Our French made a second discharge upon coming 
in sight, with a grace which highly delighted all these poor people." 

The work of these Jesuit missionaries continued with little abatement 
down to about 1700, after which their labors and influence rapidly declined. 
Many of them fell martyrs in the wilderness during the later conflicts 
between the French and the Indians, and the English and the French. The 
good accomplished by them can be measured only by the Ruler of the 
Universe ; no traces of it can be seen by us in these later times. 

A German mission was established at Onondaga in 1750, by Moravian 
missionaries from Pennsylvania. These Moravian brothers "reached Onon- 
daga, the chief town of the Six Nations, situated in a very pleasant and 
beautiful country, and consisting of five small towns or villages, through 
which runs the River Zinochsaa. They were lodged at the house of Gon- 
a.ssatako, who received them with much cordiality. The object of this 
visit was both to fulfill the promise of a visit to the great Council of the 
Iroquois made last year to the deputies at Philadelphia, and to obtain leave 
for some brethren to live either at Onondaga or some other chief town of 
the Iroquois to learn the language and to preach the gospel."* 

These efforts by the Moravians continued five or six years but with no 
clearly marked results. 

There was a good deal of other missionary work done among the Iroquois, 
some of which related particularly to the Onondagas, notably by the Rev. 
Samuel Kirkland, to whose published life we refer the reader; by the Rev. 
Eleazer Williams, and by the Rev. Dan. Barnes, and others. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE STKl'CiGI.E FOR CONQUEST. 

The Three Rival Bands of Colonists— The Magnificent Royal Patent of Charles II.— Contest 
between the French and the English— The I'eacc of Breda— The French at War with the Irocjuois 
—Destruction of Montreal— The French Visit the Onondaga Country.— A Battle with the Indians- 
Treating with the English— Building of a Fort— Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle— France and England 
again at War— British Triumph— The Revolution. 

OF the three rival bands of colonists to which we have alluded in the 
preceding chapter, the French and the Dutch devoted their best energies 
to building up a profitable fur trade with the Indians, while the English 

•lleckwelder. 



The Strugglk kok Conquest. 



turned their attention to agriculture. Both the Dutch and the French en- 
deavored to win over and conciliate the Indians, at the same time losing 
no opportunity of inciting them against their rival colonists. 

On the I2th of March, 1664, Charles II of England conveyed by Royal 
Patent to his brother James, Duke of York, all the country from the River 
St, Croix to the Kennebec, in Maine ; also Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, 
and Long Island, together with all the land from the west side of the Con- 
necticut river to the east side of Delaware Bay. The Duke sent an English 
squadron under Admiral Richard Nicolls, to secure the gift, and on the 8th 
of September following. Governor Stuyvesant capitulated, being constrained 
to that course by the Dutch colonists, who preferred peace with the same 
privileges and liberties accorded to the English colonists, to a prolonged 
and perhaps fruitless contest. Thus ended the Dutch regime. The English 
changed the name of New Amsterdam to New York. 

Strife and jealousy between the English and French increased after the 
accession just mentioned and led up to the long and bloody war that fol- 
lowed, in which the aid of the Iroquois and other nations of Indians was 
eagerly sought by both, with varying degrees of success. 

On the 23d of March, 1665, Daniel de Runy, Knight, Lord de Courcelles, 
was appointed Governor of Canada, and in September of that year arrived 
with a regiment, several families and necessaries for the establishment of a 
colony. In June of the same year, M. de Tracy was appointed Viceroy of 
the French possessions in America, and brought with him to Quebec four 
regiments of infantry. On the 9th of January, 1666, De Courcelles started 
with less than six hundred men on a long and perilous march in midwinter 
against the Iroquois. After untold sufferings the commander learned, when 
near the Mohawk's country, that most of the Indians had left their homes 
to make war " upon the Wampum-makers." The expedition returned dis- 
couraged and decimated in numbers. 

In June, 1666, a treaty was concluded between the French and Indians, 
and in the following year was concluded the peace of Breda, between Hol- 
land, England, and France. This gave the New Netherlands to the English 
and Arcadia (Nova Scotia) with fixed boundaries, to the French. But the 
period of quiet was of short duration, for in 1669 the French were again at 
war with their old antagonists. But in April, 1672, Count de Frontenac 
was appointed Governor of Canada and under his efficient administration 
confidence was restored and a treaty of peace concluded in 1673. 

In 16S4 another rupture occurred between the French and Iroquois. 
M. de la Barre was then Governor of New France (Canada) and Colonel 
Dongan, Governor of New York. The Frenchman led an expedition against 
the Senecas, but hearing that the latter would be reinforced by Dongan 
with " four hundred horse and four hundred foot," he gave up his purpose. 



28 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

This pretentious expedition, which ended so ignominiously, subjected De 
la Barre to severe censure and in the following year he was superseded by 
the Marquis de Nonville, who came over instructed to preserve a strict 
neutrality. This he found to be impossible and so informed his sovereign. 
Reinforcements wore then sent to him for a determined attack upon the 
Senecas, and in the summer of 1687 an expedition of 2,oco French and 
Indians was organized and marched against that nation. This bold incur- 
sion into the countryof their strongest nation alarmed the Iroquois and they 
applied to Governor Dongan for protection. It was promised them, of course, 
with the stipulation that they should not make peace with the French. 

In July, 1689, twelve hundred Iroquois warriors landed on the island of 
Montreal, burned houses, sacked plantations, massacred men, women, and 
children, and retired with twenty-six prisoners, most of whom were burned 
alive. In October following they made a similar incursion at the lower 
end of the island and likewise devastated it. These failures of the French 
to defend their possessions caused many of their Indian allies to seek 
alliance with the English and open trade with them, thus again e.xciting the 
old rivalry. Count de Frontenac was reappointed Governor of Canada in 
May, i68g, and arrived there in October. He at once inaugurated a war- 
fare against the Iroquois and English, which continued with varying fort- 
unes until the treaty of Ryswick in 1697. 

On one of the incursions of the French into the Indian country, they 
reached the territory with which we are most concerned. On the 4th of July, 
1696, the army, comprising two battalions of regulars, five hundred Indians, 
two large batteaux carrying two small cannon, with mortars, grenades, 
ammunition, etc., which force was followed by four battalions of infantry 
and a large number of volunteers, left the southern end of the island of Mon- 
treal. After twelve days march they arrived at Fort Frontenac, one hun- 
dred and eighty miles from Montreal. They then came b\' way of Lake 
Ontario to Oswego, on the 28th of July. Fifty men were ordered to march 
on each wing of the army to prevent surprise. A military road was cut 
around the falls, and, carrying their transports over the portage, they moved 
slowly along the Oswego river according to the intelligence obtained from 
the scouts. Finally the whole flotilla debouched upon the waters of Onon- 
daga lake. 

" It must have been a gallant sight to behold this warlike pageant float- 
ing on that lovely water, surrounded as it was by the lofty hills and un- 
broken forest, which for the first time, had now displayed their beauty and 
grandeur to an invading army. It must have been sublime to see the vet- 
erans who had served under Turenne, Vauban, and the great Conde, mar- 
shalled with pike and cuirass, side by side with the half naked Hurons 
and Abeaquis ; while gay and youthful cavaliers, in the tawdry garb of the 



DlI'LOMACV OK THE EN(;1.ISII. 29 



court of the magnificent Louis, moved with towering plume and flowing 
mantle amid the dusky files of the wampum-decked Utowas and Algon- 
quins. Banners were there which had been unfolded at Steenkirk and 
Louden, and rustled above the troopers that Luxemburgh's trumpets had 
guided to glory, when Prince Waldeck's legions were borne down beneath 
his furious charge. Nor was the enemy that this gallant host were seeking, 
unworthy those whose swords had been tried in some of the hardest fought 
fields of Europe.* 

A battle followed the arrival of the troops and though it was a nominal 
victory for the French, the Indians burned their homes and deserted them, 
rendering the victory a barren one, and the French returned to Montreal. 

With the accession of Anne to the throne of England in March, 1702, 
what is known as Queen Anne's was inaugurated and continued until the 
establishment of the treaty of Utrecht, April 11, 1713. But New York, 
fortunately, almost wholly escaped its consequences. 

The Onondagas and the Oneidas made a proposition on February 3, 
169S, to the Governor of New York, in which they informed him that dep- 
uties were on the point of leaving Onondaga to treat with the French Gov- 
ernor of Canada, who had made them many fine promises. The Governor 
and Council were much surprised and proposed to at once send messengers 
to Onondaga to prevent the execution of such a plan. 

The messengers were dispatched and a Council was held on the 1st and 
2d days of May, its proceedings being returned to the Governor. The Five 
Nations asked that assistance be granted them against the French and west- 
ern Indians, and gave assurances that they would thereafter hold the great 
Councils at Albany, and that one should be held at that place at the expi- 
ration of fourteen days. Soon afterwards Mr. Robert Livingston was dis- 
patched to the Onondagas and made his report to his superiors, in which he 
recommended that the king should purchase land and grant it to those Na- 
tions, to be located so " near the praying Indians that one minister might 
serve for both. That the Oneidas and the Onondagas be persuaded to 
remove nearer to Albany on the river, out of the way of being attacked by 
the French. The Onondagas to come twelve miles nearer Oneida, on the 
same account." Rethought it impossible to keep and secure the Five 
Nations to English interests, without building forts, and securing the 
passes to their country. " That a strong fort should be built at the mouth 
of Onondagas' river, where it intersects the Oneidas' river. This being well 
fortified, would secure all the Five Nations from the inroads of the French, 
by water, and be a key to the Indian country. " 

On the 26th of August, 1700, a Council was convened at Albany, agree- 



HofTman. 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



able to arrangement. There the Earl of Bellomont reassured the Five Na- 
tions of the king's protection. " From this time forward, the Five Nations 
may be considered as having been entirely wedded and devoted to the in- 
terests of the English. Early in 1700 the Earl of Bellomont and the As- 
sembly of New York had passed a law, (severe indeed) for hanging every 
Popish priest who voluntarily came into the province. This was provoked 
by the great number of French Jesuits who were continually tampering 
with the Indians." * 

In 1 701, the king of England gave five hundred pounds for the erection 
of a fort in the country of the Onondagas, and eight hundred pounds to 
be laid out in presents to the Indians. In return for this the Indians con- 
veyed a large tract of the Mohawk country to the English to prevent the 
necessity of submission to the French, in case of further war. Assaults were 
afterwards made by the English upon Canada, but without decisive results, 
while the French and Indians repeatedly ravaged the northern frontier. 
Ail this was definitely ended by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, as before 
mentioned. 

In the war between England and France, begun in 1744, and closed by 
the treaty of Ai.\ la-Chapelle, in 1748, the Si.x Nations+ generally main- 
tained their neutrality, though the Mohawks gave some aid to the English. 
During the eight years of nominal peace which succeeded that treaty, both 
the French and the English made numerous efforts to e.xtend their domin- 
ion, the former with most success. 

In 1756, after two years of open hostilities in America, war was again de- 
clared between England and France^the last great struggle for supremacy 
in the New World. In that war the Mohawks were persuaded by Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson, who had arrived in America in 1734 and had acquired great 
influence with the Indians, to take the field for the English. 

At first the French were everywhere victorious. Braddock was slain 
and his army cut in pieces by a force utterly contemptible in comparison 
with his own. Montcalm captured Oswego. The French lines up the lakes 
and across to the Ohio were stronger than ever. But in 1758 William Pitt 
entered the councils of George II as actual, though not nominal, chief of 
ministry, and then England flung herself in deadly earnest into the contest. 

* Clark. 

f About 1712 an impott.-»nt event occurred in the history of the Iroquois. The Five Nations 
became the Six Nations. The Tuscaroras, a powerful tribe of North Carolina, had become involved 
in a war with the whites, originating in a dispute about land. Phe colonists were aided by other 
tribes and the Tuscaroras were defeated, many of them being killed and others captured and sold as 
slaves. The greater part of the remainder fled to the Iroquois, who immediately adopted them as 
one of the tribes of the Confederacy, assigning them a seat near the Oneidas. They became the 
Sixth Nation. 



Close of the Long Struggle. 3' 



In that year Fort Duquesne was captured by an English and provincial 
army, its garrison having retreated. Northward, Fort Frontenac was seized 
by Colonel Bradstreet, and other victories prepared the way for the grand 
success in 1759. The cordon was broken, but Fort Niagara still held out 
for France. In 1759 yet heavier blows were struck. Wolfe assailed Quebec, 
the strongest of all the French strongholds, with a large body of Mohawk 
and Onondaga Indians. Almost at the same time, Gen. Prideaux, with two 
thousand British provincials accompanied by Sir William Johnson, with one 
thousand of his faithful Iroquois, sailed up lake Ontario and laid siege to 
Fort Niagara. The fort fell and the control of the Niagara river, which had 
been held by the French for over a hundred years, passed to the English. 

Soon the life-bought victory of Wolfe gave Quebec to the Britons; but 
still the French clung to their colonies with desperate but failing grasp, and 
it was not until September, 1760, that the Marquis de Vaudreuil, the Gov- 
ernor-General of Canada, surrendered Montreal, and with it Detroit, Ve- 
nango, and all the other posts within his jurisdiction. This surrender was 
ratified by the treaty of peace between England and France in February, 
1763, which ceded Canada to the former power. 

With the end of these wars came temporary peace to the Six Nations. 
How much their services contributed to the result attained, it may be diffi- 
cult to estimate ; but it may be safely assumed that the final success of the 
English was due in no small degree to the valor and sacrifices of the Indians. 

After the conclusion of the war, difficulties between the colonies and the 
mother country increased, until finally the Revolution burst upon the land, 
to end only with the victory which gave to the nations of the earth the 
Republic of the United States. During that great conflict the Onondagas, 
Cayugas, and Senecas were often on the war path, and on various occasions 
rendered service to the crown ; for this they received at the end of the strug- 
gle, only neglect from the English, while the State of New York exhibited 
an inclination to drive them wholly from its territory. This course was 
successfully opposed by Generals Washington and Schuyler. Whether the 
Indians have been properly rewarded for their deeds we need not here as- 
sert ; but it cannot be denied that while a remnant of their number remains 
among us, they are deserving of humane treatment in the broadest sense of 
the term. 

A ground Council of all the Six Nations was held at Fort Stanwix in 
1784, where a treaty was made which gave to each Nation a certain reserva- 
tion of territory, excepting the Mohawks, who had accepted a proposal 
from Gen. Haldimand to settle in Canada. This treaty took from the In- 
dians a large portion of their valuable lands and caused much dissatisfac- 
tion among them ; but this finally disappeared and in the war of 1812 the 
Onondagas took an active part, fought on its fields, and rendered invaluable 
services as scouts. 



32 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



In 1788 another treaty was consummated between the Onondagas and 
the State of New York, by which the Indians relinquished all title to their 
lands, excepting a tract about ten miles square around their Castle. They 
also surrendered one-half of their right to the salt springs on their reserva- 
tion, and eventually gave up the remainder. For this they were granted a 
sum of money and an annuity. By other treaties made in 1793, 1795, 1817, 
and 1822, their reservation territory has been further reduced to its present 
limits of about 6000 acres. The Onondagas now number about 350 per- 
sons, and their number does not materially change. Their present annual 
annuity is about $i,6cx). It is believed by intelligent observers, that these 
successors of the once great nation are improving in their social, religious, 
educational, and domestic condition from j^ear to year; but their progress 
must necessarily be slow. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE MII.ITARV TRACT. 



Proceedings which Led to its Formation — Extent of Bounties in Lands to the Army — Laying 
Out of Townships— Terms of Settlement on the Grants— Balloting for Lots— Original Townships 
of the Military Tract — Relation of the Tract to Onondaga County. 

ON the 16th of September, 1776, while war measures were under consid- 
eration in Congress, the following resolutions were passed : 

" That eighty-eight battalions be enlisted as soon as possible, to serve during the present war ; 
and that each Stale furnish their respective quotas in the follow ing proportions, viz :" [The quota 
of New York was four battalions ; those of other States may be omitted here] 

" That twenty dollars be given as a bounty to each non-commissioned officer and private soldier 
who shall enlist to serve during the present war, unless sooner discharged by Congress. 

" That Congress make provision for granting lands in the following proportions to the officers 
and soldiers, who shall so engage in the service, and continue therein until the close of the war, or 
until discharged by Congress, and to the representatives of such olTicers and soldiers as shall be slain 
by the enemy. 

" Such lands to be provided by the United States ; and whatever expenses shall be necessary to 
procure such land, the said expenses shall be borne by the States in the same proportion as the other 
expenses of the war, viz : To a Colonel, 500 acres ; to a Lieutenant-Colonel, 450 acres ; to a Major, 
400 acres ; to a Captain, 300 acres ; to a Lieutenant, 200 acres ; to an Ensign, 150 acres ; to each 
non-commissioned officer and soldier, 100 acres." 

By an Act of the 12th of August, 1780, Congress also made provision 




n:UOi^f^ ^iJl^^ a. /t 



Bounty Lands to Officers and Soldiers. 33 

for land bounties for Major-Generals, 1,100 acres, and Brigadier-Generals, 
850 acres. 

When the war closed, in 1783, the New York Legislature undertook the 
discharge of this obligation, and also granted gratuities in lands on its own 
account. This was accomplished by a resolution granting lands in addition 
to the before-mentioned bounties, in the following proportions : To a Ma- 
jor-General, 5,500 acres ; to a Brigadier-General, 4,250 acres ; to a Colonel, 
2,500 acres ; to a Lieutenant-Colonel, 2,250 acres ; to a Major, 2,000 acres ; 
to a Captain and a Regimental Surgeon, each, 1,500 acres ; to each Chap- 
lain, 2,000 acres ; to every Subaltern and Surgeon's Mate, 1,000 acres; to 
every non commissioned officer and private, 500 acres. 

Another resolution contained the following provisions : " That the lands 
so to be granted as bounty from the United States, and as gratuity from the 
State, shall be laid out in townships of si.x miles square; that each town- 
ship shall be divided into 156 lots of 150 acres each, two lots whereof shall 
be reserved for the use of a minister of the gospel, and two lots for the use 
of a school or schools ; that each person above described shall be entitled 
to as many such lots as his bounty and gratuity will admit of ; that one- 
half the lots each person shall be entitled to shall be improved at the rate 
of five acres for each one hundred acres, within five years after the grant, if 
the grantee shall retain the possession of such lots ; and that the said boun- 
ty and gratuity lands be located in the district of this State reserved for the 
use of the troops by an Act entitled, " An Act to prevent grants or loca- 
tions of the lands therein mentioned, passed the 25th day of July, 1782." 

On the 20th of March, 1781, the State Legislature passed an Act which 
further provided for the raising of troops to complete the "line" of this 
State in the United States service, and for two regiments to be raised on 
bounties of lands, for the further defence of the frontiers of the State. The 
land granted by these last mentioned acts was known as "bounty" land, 
and those granted under the previous action of the State government were 
known as " gratuity ' lands. 

The original Acts granting these lands were afterward modified and 
amended until finally it was ordered by an Act passed February 28, 1789, 
"That the Commissioners of the Land Office shall be, and they are hereby 
authorized to direct the Surveyor-General to lay out as many townships in 
tracts of land set apart for such purpose, as will contain land sufficient to 
satisfy the claims of all such persons who are or shall be entitled to grants 
of land by certain concurrent resolutions, * * * which townships shall 
respectively contain 60,000 acres of land, and be laid out as nearly in squares 
as local circumstances will permit, and be numbered from one progressively 
to the last inclusive ; and the Commissioners of the Land Office shall like- 
wise designate every township by such names as they shall deem proper." 

5 



34 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



The same Act ordered the Surveyor-General to make a map of tliese 
townships, dividing each into one hundred lots of six hundred acres each, 
and number them from one upwards. 

The same Act ordered : " All persons to whom land shall be granted by 
virtue of this Act, and who are entitled thereto by any act or resolution of 
Congress, shall make an assignment of his, or her, proportion and claim of 
bounty or gratuity lands under any act or acts of Congress, to the Surveyor- 
General, for the use of the people of this State." It was also provided 
that for all lands thus assigned, an equal number of acres should be given 
by the State, and so far as possible in one patent, " Provided the same does 
not exceed one quarter of the quantity of a township." 

These grants were to be settled within seven years, or the lands would 
revert to the State. A tax was laid upon fifty acres in one corner of each 
six hundred acre lot, of forty-eight shillings, as compensation for the survey, 
which tax was to be paid in two years, or the lot would revert to the State 
and be sold at public auction. The proceeds of the sale were to be devoted 
to the payment of the expenses of the survey and sale, and any surplus 
funds to be expended " in laying out and making roads in the said tract." 

By an Act of February 28, 1789, six lots in each township were reserved, 
" One for promoting the gospel and a public school or schools, one other for 
promoting literature in this State, and the remaining four lots to satisfy the 
surplus share of commissioned officers not corresponding with the division 
of six hundred acres, and to compensate such persons as may by chance 
draw any lot or lots, the greater part of which may be covered with water." 

It was provided also, "That whenever it appeared that persons applying 
for bounty or gratuity land, and had received from Congress the bounty 
promised by that body, or in case they failed to relinquish their claim to 
such land, then the Commissioners were to reserve for the use of the people 
of the State one hundred acres in each lot to which such persons were en- 
titled ; designating particularly in which part of such lot such reserved part 
was located." This gave rise to the term, " State's Hundred," so frequently 
applied to sections of the Military Tract. 

At a meeting of the Land Commissioners held at the Secretary's office 
in New York city, on Saturday, July 3, 1790, there were present, " His Ex- 
cellency, George Clinton, Esq., Governor; Lewis A.Scott, Esq., Secretary; 
Gerard Hancker, Esq., Treasurer; Peter T. Curtenius, Esq., Auditor." 

The Secretary laid before the Board maps of surveys of twenty-five 
townships, made by the Surveyor-General, Simeon DeWitt. These town 
ships were named, Ly.sander, Hannibal, Cato, Brutus, Camillus, Cicero 
Manlius, Aurelius, Marcellus, Pompey, Romulus, Scipio, Sempronius, Tully 
I'"abius, Ovid, Milton, Locke, Homer, Solon, Hector, Ulysses, Dryden 
Virgil, Cincinnatus, Junius. The twenty-sixth township was added in 1791 



Allotment ok tiik I, anus. 35 



These townships were certain tracts of land, each containiiif^ one hundred 
lots, as described. In the early organization a town often embraced several 
townships. As settlements increased these towns were variously divided, 
for the public convenience, until they ultimately assumed their present 
boundaries. 

On January i, 1791, the Commissioners began to determine claims and 
ballot for individual shares. Ninety-four persons drew lots in each of the 
townships, and the reservations before alluded to were made. The adjust- 
ment of these individual claims was a source of almost infinite perplexity 
to the Commissioners, as well as to the real owners. On account of the 
many frauds committed respecting the land titles, an Act was passed in 
1794, requiring all deeds and conveyances executed prior to that time to be 
deposited with the clerk of the county at Albany, and such as were not so 
deposited were to be considered fraudulent. Rut the trouble did not end 
here, and the courts overflowed with business relating to the claims. Sol- 
diers coming in to take possession of their lots often found them occupied 
by pugnacious squatters, and discouraging and costly litigation followed. 
Finally the inhabitants of the Tract became so wearied and exasperated 
with continued contentions that, in 1797, they united in a petition to the 
Legislature for a law under which the whole matter could be equitably ad- 
justed. An Act was accordingly passed appointing Robert Yates, James 
Kent, and Vincent Mathews as a Board of Commissioners, with power to 
settle all disputes respecting the land titles. After laborious investigation, 
the vexatious differences were all adjusted with reasonable satisfaction to 
all concerned. 

All of this immense Military Tract was originally embraced in Onon- 
daga county. 

Between 1772 and 1794 the territory of Onondaga county formed a part 
of, first, Montgomery, (formerly Tryon) and afterwards of Herkimer county. 
In 1789 Montgomery county was divided, Ontario county being cut from 
the western portion by a line drawn across the State through Seneca lake 
two miles east of Geneva. The territory of Onondaga county was then 
left undefined in the western part of Montgomery. In 1791 Herkimer 
county was taken from Montgomery (as it then existed) and included all of 
the territory west of Montgomery, north of Otsego and Tioga, and east of 
Ontario county. 

In 1794 the county of Onondaga was formed from the western part 
of Herkimer county, and included all of the Military Tract, the boundaries 
of which embraced, (besides the territory of the present Onondaga county,) 
all of what is now included in the counties of Cayuga, Seneca, Cortland, 
and all of that part of Tompkins county lying north of a line drawn west 
from the head of Seneca lake to the southwest corner of Cortland county. 



36 Memokiai, History ok Sykacusk. 



and all that part of Oswego county lying west of the Oswego river. From 
this then great county, Cayuga was taken off in 1799; Cortland in 1808, 
and Oswego in 1816, reducing Onondaga to its present limits. When or- 
ganized the county was divided into eleven towns, viz : Homer, Pompey, 
Manlius, Lysander, Marcellus, Ulysses, Milton, Scipio, Ovid, Aurelius, and 
Romulus. A new organization in 1801, after Cayuga had been taken off, 
gave the county only nine towns. 

The territory to which this work is devoted lies in what subsequently 
became the towns of Onondaga, Salina, and Geddes. Of these, Salina was 
the first formed. In 1797 a law was passed directing the Surveyor-General 
to lay out a part of the original Salt Springs Reservation, preparatory to 
more extended operations in salt manufacture. On the map made in con- 
formance to this law, a portion of the marsh and the upland was laid out 
and named " Salina," and in the following year a village plat was laid out 
and also called Salina. But these steps were only preparatory to town or- 
ganization. The town of Onondaga was set off from the original town- 
ships of Marcellus, Pompey, and Manlius, by an Act of March 9, 1798. 
That part of the original Salt Springs Reservation on the west side of On- 
ondaga lake and creek became a part of the town of Camillus, formed 1799. 

Salina was set off and organized by Act of March 27, 1809, its territory 
having been a part of the original townships of Manlius and Marcellus. 
From the northwest corner of the first-named township, a triangular piece 
of territory containing nine and one-half lots was taken off, which, with the 
Salt Springs Reservation as then defined, constituted the town of Salina. 

Geddes was not formed as a town until 1848, though a map of the site 
of Geddes village was made as early as 1807, and several other maps a few 
years later. The town included all that part of the town of Salina west of 
Onondaga lake, not now embraced in the city of Syracuse. 

Of this immediate region, the annals of which may now be taken up, a 
writer in the Daily Advertiser, published in Philadelphia on the 26th of 
July, 1792, thus discoursed : 

" Gentlemen who reside on the .Militar)' lands in the county of Herkimer, inform us that that 
tract of country contains a very great proportion of rich land, well watered and timbered, that there 
is already a considerable number of settlers there, and that it bids fair to people as rapidly as any 
part of America. That sixteen bushels of salt are daily manufactured at Major Danforth's works at 
the salt springs, and that Mr. Van Vleck, formerly of Kinderhook, is erecting other works at the 
same place, for carrying on the like manufacture ; that salt now sells there for five shillings per 
bushel ; that it weighs about fifty-six pounds per bushel and is equal to the best Turk's Island. That 
the salmon fishing in that country must become an object of great improvement, as that fine fish 
(the salmon) abounds in their rivers and lakes in spring and fall. That it is not uncommon for a 
party to spear twenty to fifty in an evening, from fourteen to thirty pounds each. The lands sell in 
general at from one shilling to three shillings per acre, but some have sold as high as from eight to 
twelve shillings per acre." 

This is a brief, clear, and, doubtless, a truthful sketch of this locality and 
its prospects a century ago. 



OuTi.iNK OK Local Gkoi.ocv. 



In the Massachusetts Historical Collection is a rare pamphlet made up 
of a description of the country between Albany and Niagara, and written 
in 1792. From its pages we may add a little to the preceding extract : 

" After passinjj Clinton, there are no inhabitants upon tlie road, until you reach Oneida, an In- 
dian town, the lirst of the Six Nations ; here I slept and found the inhabitants very friendly. The 
next day I went on to Onondaga, leaving the Oneida lake on the right, and the Onondaga lake on 
the left, each a few miles distant. I slept at Onondaga, at the house of a Mr. * who is em- 
ployed in boiling down the waters of the Salt springs, which are about 7 miles north of his house, 
for supplying the country with salt — he told me that he made about fifty bushels per week, which he 
sold at live shillings per bushel, but that any quantity may be made, and at a less price. • * In- 
dependent of our own Settlements, we can supply the British in the whole of Upper Canada." 

* .\sa Danforth's, without doubt. 



CHAPTER IV. 

SKETCH OF GEOLOCV IN THE VICINITY OK SYRACUSE. 

The Oldest Land on the Continent — Layers of Rock in Onondaga County and what I'roduced 
Them — The Great Inland Seas of Early .-Kges — The Salina Croup — The Salt Deposit of Onon- 
daga — Hopper-shaped Casts from .Salina — The Water Lime Croup — Oriskany .Sandstone. 

THE oldest land on this continent was a V-shaped ridge which appeared 
above the vast waters then covering all of North America. This ridge 
stretched from a point just north of lake Ontario, northeast to Labrador, 
and northwest to the Arctic ocean, and belongs to what is known in Geology 
as the Azoic Age, or the Archaic Rock. It was upheaved at a time previous 
to the existence of life on the globe, and is now found overlaid in places by 
a series of layers of sedimentary rocks in which are found the fossil remains 
of the lowest forms of animal life. This series of sedimentary rocks, up to 
a certain point, constitute what is known in Geology as the Silurian Age, 
and in it is embraced the territory beginning at the north shore of lake On- 
tario and extending to about three miles south of Syracuse, where the 
series closes with a layer of coarse sandstone, known as the Oriskany Sand- 
stone. 

The Silurian rocks were formed mainly by the decomposition and grad- 
ual disintegration of the older rock mentioned, and the washing down of 
the material thus produced into the sea. In the course of the passing ages 
sufficient of this material was thus deposited and slowly hardened into 



38 



Memorial History ok Syracuse. 



stone, to form the lowest and oldest layer of the series, which was succeeded 
by another, and so on to the uppermost. A later upheaval tilted these vast 
layers of rock and lifted their northern edges above the waters, giving the 
layers a dip towards the south, driving the waters southward and forming a 
new shore, as will be explained. In crossing Onondaga county from north 
to south, we pass over these uptilted edges of the rocks, the dip of the 
layers being twenty-six feet to the mile towards the southwest as they dis- 
appear under the overlying hills. In other words they lie upon each other 
like the shingles on a roof, as shown in the accompanying sketch. The sur- 
face of the land, however, in going from northeast to southwest, rises about 
thirteen hundred feet in crossing the county : this causes the surface water 
to flow northward, while the dip of the underlying rocks causes the water 
beneath the surface to flow southward. The regular succession of these 
layers of rock is shown in the annexed diagram. 




As these layers of sedimentary rocks came into being and their edges 
appeared above the waters to the northward, the shore of the great ocean 
moved southward, each succeeding layer forming a step in the progression, 
until the first appearance of the Niagara Limestone is reached at Oneida 
lake. 

About this time a great upheaval occurred to the eastward and south- 
ward, in the region of what is now Maryland and West Virginia, which cut 
off from the main body of water several great inland seas, one of which 
covered the territory which now constitutes that portion of the State of 
New York lying south of a line drawn from Oneida lake to Niagara falls. 
The waters of this sea, thus cut off from the main ocean and having no 
large rivers flowing in to increase their volume, slowly evaporated under the 
heat of the sun, depositing the minerals which they contained, and thus 
forming, with the clay and impure limestones of the muddy bottom, the 



The Salina Rocks and Salt Deposit. 



39 



rocks of the Salina Period. The lower stratum of these Salina rocks, (see 
"Red Shale" in engraving,) which comes to the surface between Onondaga 
and Oneida lakes, was given its reddish color by the iron held in solution in 
the water. The upper portion of the layer is a green shale, which contains 
the deposits of gypsum now quarried at Fayetteville, and the salt which 
forms the source of the Syracuse supply. The dividing line between the 
Red and the Green Shales is very near the line of the Erie canal.* 

The evidence of the salt deposit in this rock exists in the numerous 
hopper-shaped casts (so-called on account of their resemblance to the mil- 
ler's hopper) which are found. An engraving of one of these is shown. 




The actual size of this cast was about five inches in diameter, and it was 
found on North Salina street, w^here it had been deposited with hundreds 
of others that were dug out under the foundations of the Church of the 
Assumption. They are also numerous just back of the Rock Spring 
brewery. 

Perhaps these hopper-shaped casts possess more local geological interest 
than any other of the group, as they are the almost indisputable evidence 
of the origin of the salt water which has been of such vast importance to 
this locality. These forms were produced by the crystallization of salt be- 
fore the hardening of the clay, the supposition being that while the whole 
mass was in the form of mud, having a large quantity of dissolved salt 
mixed with it, the salt (in precisely the same manner observable in the 
process of the manufacture of solar salt) was attracted particle to particle, 
and assumed the hopper-shape, the mud filling it up ; then, by the action of 
water falling on the surface and percolating through the mass that had be- 
come full of cracks in the process of drying, the salt was dissolved and 



* In regard to the formation of these rocks, some excellent authorities have adopted the follow- 
ino- theory : After the close of the Salina Period the roclcs of that series probably remained for a long 
time at the surface of central and southern New York. During this time the older granitic rocks 
toward the north were being disintegrated and ground up ; and when the great convulsion which 
ushered in the Devonian -Age occurred, this sandy material was washed down into the bottom of the 
new-formed sea. and re-hardened into the layer now known as the Oriskany Sandstone. When the 
Devonian sea became calm, the layers of the Onondaga Gray Limestone were deposited at its bot- 
tom by the carbonic acid gas of the heavy atmosphere uniting with the lime held in solution by the 
water. This sea tmally became shallower and was subsequently tilled up by the Hamilton Shales. 
A hard, regular limestone was formed in a deep sea, while a fragile shale indicates muddy water of 
no great depth. 



40 Memorial History oh Syracuse. 



carried down upon the more compact strata below, and by the dip of the 
strata carried into, rather than out of, the hill. The absence of salt around 
these hopper-formed rocks is accounted for by their being so near the sur- 
face that the rains must long ago have carried it away. If an excavation 
were made farther south, where the overlying rocks are thick enough to 
protect the salt-bearing rocks from the action of the water, undissolved salt 
will be found. This is proven by the recent borings at Tully and Wyo- 
ming. There is, without doubt, an inexhaustible bed of solid salt underly- 
ing the whole southern part of this State. 

Besides the layer of rock containing these hopper casts, there are two 
other layers of porous, or cellular, limestone, one of them below the above- 
mentioned layer and cropping out on James street hill, and one above it 
on University hill. This stone is filled with holes of various sizes and running 
in all directions, and it is believed that these holes once contained salt, 
which has been dissolved and washed out. 

The rocks of the Salina Period are immediately succeeded by the Water 
Lime Group, so named because it contains two layers of hydraulic cement. 
This cement is an impure limestone mixed with clay and possesses the val- 
uable property of hardening under water. It is extensively quarried at 
Manlius, Fayetteville, Jamesville, and at Britton's quarry near the south 
line of the city. It is burned, ground and shipped in barrels to all parts of 
the country, and its existence here in large quantities and its valuable prop- 
erties, made it a large factor in the problem of building the Erie canal. The 
other layers of this group are extensively used hereabouts for cellar walls 
and in some cases for entire buildings. 

The Water Lime Group is succeeded by the Oriskany Sandstone. This 
layer marks an interesting period in Geological history, as it forms the 
dividing line between the Silurian and the Devonian Ages. The northern 
shore, (before alluded to) which stretched away southward, may be traced 
by the outcrop of this layer of sandstone from Manlius westward across the 
State, passing in this vicinity not far from the south line of the city. 
Along this line the outcrop is only a few inches in thickness, but if it were 
followed to a few miles farther south, it would be found from seven to ten 
feet thick, while as far south as Maryland it reaches a thickness of several 
hundred feet. 

Above the Oriskany Sandstone comes the Corniferous Period, which 
contains the Onondaga Gray Limestone, so extensively used for building 
purposes. Immediately succeeding this is the Hamilton Shale, which con- 
stitutes the bulk of the hills in the southern part of the county. 



Indian Trails and the Eaki.v Roads. 41 



CHAPTER V. 



TRAILS AND ROADS. 



The First Trails and Roadways — The Old Stale Road — The " Oreat Oenesee Road " and its 
Improvements — The " Seneca-Road Company" — How the Course of the Seneca Road was Deter- 
mined — Karly Methods of Travel — Early Mail Coaches — Later Thoroughfares. 

Settlers in a wilderness are never long located before they feel the press- 
ing necessity of roadways of some description ; indeed, it is essential that 
they shall be opened through a wilderness preparatory to its settlement. 
When Major Danforlh and Comfort Tyler came into this region in 1788, 
no road properly so-called, had been cut through ; but there were numerous 
Indian paths and trails, more or less worn and distinct, east and w-est and 
north and south through the forest. Three of these were closely connected 
with this immediate locality, the more important one running east and west 
across this entire region ; it crossed the hills about a mile south of the site 
of Mahlius village, thence over the ground now covered by the north end of 
the Jamesville reservoir, and up the gulf directly west of the old stone school 
house, passing the house on the farm of the late Daniel Sherwood and down 
to the creek across lands on which Major Danforth located ; thence it ran 
diagonally across the lands of the late George Taylor, now owned by Fred- 
erick Kimber, and the lands of the late Oliver Bostwick ; thence up the 
Onondaga Hill, and on westward by nearly the same route now followed by 
the road passing the county house. 

The trail on the east side of the valley was the one over which Danforth 
first reached his settlement, and the one on the west side ended on the north 
near the site of Geddes, while both extended the whole length of the valley 
southward, and down into Cortland county and beyond. Besides these the 
forest was crossed and re-crossed by innumerable trails over which the dusky 
native trod his silent way in quest of game or foe. 

The first real road through this region was opened by a part)^ of emi- 
grants in 1790 or 1791, and extended from VVhitestown to Canandaigua 
through an almost unexplored w^ilderness. It was merely a cleared track or 
opening through a forest the greater part of the way. This was afterward 
improved and became the Old State Road. It ran through Manlius village 
on nearly the same line it now follows : crossed Butternut creek south of 
Jamesville, and then bore a little northwest and entered Onondaga valley 
at Asa Danforth's place, nearly a mile south of the site of the present village 
in the valley ; thence it ran northwest across the valley through the gorge 
6 



42 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



just south of St. Agnes cemetery and up the hill. It was afterward inter- 
sected by the later north and south road at a point a little south of where 
the latter highway is now intersected by the road from Syracuse to the hill- 

This early road, bad as it undoubtedly was, gave an impetus to the tide 
of emigration westward and settlements sprang up at various points, and 
many of them reached considerable importance by the beginning of the cen. 
tury or a little later. Previous to the opening of this thoroughfare the few 
settlers who came on from the east, transported their outfits partly by water 
and partly on pack horses following the Indian paths. 

Between the years 1792 and 1800, a man named Capt. Charles William- 
son was in this country as agent for some English land-owners, and wrote 
a series of letters descriptive of the Genesee country chiefly. The follow- 
ing from one of his letters bears especial interest in this connection : 

" To improve our communication with the coast seemed to be all that was necessary to render 
this countrj' equal to any part of America for comfort and convenience ; in many things, particularly 
the climate, we had much the advantage. To remedy this inconvenience as to roads, the Legislature 
of the State had, by an act passed in the session of 1797. taken the road from Fort Schuyler to 
Geneva under their patronage. A lottery had been granted for the opening and improving of certain 
great roads ; among these this road was included The inhabitants made a voluntary offer of their 
services, to aid the State Commissioner, and subscribed four thousand days work, which they per- 
formed with fidelity and cheerfulness. By this generous and uncommon exertion, and by some other 
contributions, the State Commissioner was enabled to complete this road of near one hundred miles, 
opening it si.\tyfour feet wide, and paving with logs and gravel the moist parts of the low country. 
Hence the road from Fort Schuyler, on the Mohawk river, to Genesee, from being in the month of 
June, 1797, little better than an Indian path, was so far improved, that a stage started from Fort 
.Schuyler on the 30th of September, and arrived at the hotel in Geneva, in the afternoon of the 
third day, with four passengers. This line of road having been established by law. not less than 
fifty families settled on it in the space of four months after it was opened." 

The route most used before the opening of roads, and consisting largely 
of waterways, was to proceed by land from Albany to Schenectady, and 
by boats through the Mohawk, Wood creek, Oneida lake, and into the 
Seneca and Oswego rivers. 

In 1793 John L. Hardenburgh, Moses Dewitt, and John Patterson were 
appointed a Board of Commissioners for laying out and making public 
roads on the Military Tract, and the sum of $2,700 was appropriated for 
the purpose. The roads were ordered to be six rods wide. 

In 1794 an Act was passed by the Legislature, appointing Israel Chapin, 
Michael Myers, and Othniel Taylor, Commissioners for laying out a high- 
way from Old Fort Schuyler on the Mohawk, to the Cayuga Ferry, " as 
nearly straight as the situation of the country will allow." This road was 
to be six rods wide, and the sum of ^600 was appropriated for opening so 
much of it as passed through the Military Tract. This thoroughfare is 
called in the various Acts relating to it, " the Great Genesee Road." As 
far as concerns this locality, this road followed substantially the line of the 



Tilt; Grkat Genesee Road. 43 



" Old State Road," before mentioned, excepting that it passed through a 
ravine up the Onondaga Hill near the "Round Top" and just south of 
the present St. Agnes cemetery grounds, and on westward. It was to aid 
in the construction of this highway that two hundred and fifty acres of the 
Salt Springs Reservation were ordered sold in 1S04, and were purchased by 
Abraham Walton, to eventually become a part of the site of Syracuse. 

In 1796 Seth Phillips, William Stevens, and Comfort Tyler were ap- 
pointed Commissioners to make and repair highways in Onondaga county, 
for which an appropriation of $4,ocxD was made, $2,000 of which was or- 
dered expended on the " Great Genesee Road," from the eastern to the 
western boundaries of the county. The Commissioners were allowed two 
dollars per day for their services. Subsequently Amos Hall, Samuel Chip- 
man, and Michael Myers were appointed to superintend the improvements 
on this road. 

The same letter writer from whom we have already quoted, (writing be- 
fore 1800) gave a list of the principal taverns on the road from Albany to 
Geneva, and thence to Niagara, with their distances. Those between Fort 
Schuyler and Geneva were as follows: "From Fort Schuyler to Laird's 
on the Great Genesee Road, 10: Van Epp's, near the Oneida Reservation, 
6; Sills's, at the Deep Spring, 11 ; Keeler's junior, 12 ; Tyler's, Onondaga 
Hollow, 10*; Rice's, Nine Mile Creek, 10; Cayuga Ferry, 20 ; Powel's 
Hotel, Geneva, 13. 

The importance of this highway at that early period, as well as the dif- 
ficulties encountered in making it fit for extensive travel, may be inferred 
from the oft-repeated and liberal appropriations for its improvement. 

In 1797 the Legislature authorized three lotteries for the purpose of 
raising $45,000 for the further improvement of the roads. Of this sum 
$13,900 was appropriated for opening and improving the "Great Genesee 
Road," throughout its whole extent from Old Fort Schuyler to Geneva. 
This Act indicates that some portions of the thoroughfare were not yet 
opened and certainly not much improved. + 

In the year 1800 what was known as " The Seneca Road Company " was 
given a charter for the improvement of the Old State Road from Utica to 
Canandaigua, (meaning the Genesee Road). The capital stock was $1 1,000, 
shares $50 each. Jedediah Sanger, Benjamin Walker, Charles Williamson, 



* We have not seen it anywhere stated that Comfort Tyler kept the early tavern at the Valley ; 
but he did so and his house is here alluded to. The house stood on the site of the present hotel on 
the east side of the valley, and the Genesee Road passed its door and bore off to the northwest 
and up the west hill. 

f An old resident, in alluding to the great importance of the " Old Genesee Road " in early days 
states that as soon as the salt manufacture had become active, scores of six-mule teams would often 
be congregated at the foot of Onondaga Hill either feeding or waiting their turn to be helped up 
the hill by a team owned by a man who made that his business. 



44 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



and Israel Chapin were appointed Commissioners. A charter amendment 
in 1801 gave the Commissioners the right to deviate from the old road. As 
soon as it became generally known that the Commissioners had determined 
to greatly alter and straighten the line of the road, the inhabitants became 
deeply interested ; each one wanted it to pass his own door, or as near to it 
as possible. Reaching Chittenango the Commissioners met a delegation 
from Onondaga and Manlius all of whom were fearful that a more northern 
route would be selected in their vicinity, thus diverting public travel, then 
a very important source of revenue, away from the villages in Onondaga 
Valley and on the Hill. The settlers in this vicinity were earnestly opposed 
to the northern route and undoubtedly aided in deceiving the Commission- 
ers to such an extent that the old line was at first adopted. To accomplish 
this end, they led the Commissioners into several impassable ravines and 
swamps on the proposed northern line, thus convincing them that such a 
route was entirely impracticable. The road was therefore laid out through 
Manlius Square, Jamesville and Onondaga Valley. The Company soon 
learned that they had been imposed upon and in 1806 secured an amend- 
ment to their charter enabling them to " build a new road from Sullivan to 
the Onondaga Reservation near the Salt Springs, to Cayuga Bridge," and 
$50,000 was added to the capital stock. This road was finished in 1812 
and was then known as the north branch of the Seneca Road. This name 
has, in course of time, become confounded and used synonymously with 
the name, " Genesee Turnpike." It was made through Onondaga county 
largely through the efforts of James Geddes, Squire Munro, and Dr. John 
Frisbie. The company was empowered to collect tolls. This road, as far 
as the city of Syracuse is concerned, now constitutes Genesee street. The 
late Timothy C. Cheney came here with his father in the winter of 181 1-12 
and in his " Reminiscences" he thus wrote of this highway: 

* • * " It was a cedar swamp from the Corners to I.odi, and a corduroy road where the 
Genesee Turnpike now runs. The road was covered with an arch of cedars and it looked very- 
much like an arched tunnel of a railroad a mile in length. 'The Corners' at that time comprised 
the whole of Syracuse." 

This all goes to show that early in the century most of the now promi- 
nent roads in this section were opened and considerably improved, creating 
avenues for transportation necessary to the growing salt industry and other 
trafific, while the settlements at Salina, the Valley, and the Hill were yet 
quite insignificant, and before the first permanent settlement was made which 
was the substantial beginning of Syracuse. 

Over these roads in early times passenger travel as well as freight cart- 
age was quite extensive. Comfortable four-horse stage coaches made regu- 
lar and frequent trips across the State, while many men found profitable 
employment in bringing from the east provisions and goods of every descrip- 
tion, and carrying away salt and other products. 



46 MKMdRIAl, HlSlDRV f)F S\ RACUSE. 

The first United States mails were carried through here in 1797-98 on 
horseback by a Mr. Langdon. He was succeeded by a Mr. Lucas, who 
drove a wagon for the purpose. He also established a two horse passenger 
wagon with which he did a lively business. 

The first four-horse mail coach was sent through once a week by Jason 
Parker. In the ne.xt year he ran his coaches twice a week from Utica to 
Canandaigua, carrying the mail and passengers. In that year by Act of 
Legislature, Mr. Parker and Levi Stephens were granted the exclusive right 
for seven years of running stages for passengers at least twice a week along 
the Genesee Road or Seneca Turnpike between Utica and Canandaigua. 
They were required to furnish substantial covered wagonsor sleighs and the 
fare was limited to five cents per mile. They were also required to run 
through in forty-eight hours, accidents excepted, and not more than seven 
passengers were allowed in any one carriage, except by consent of the seven. 
If four others applied for passage the proprietors were bound to immediately 
start an "e.xtra" for their accommodation. This line of stages began run- 
ning daily in 1 808, and several others were established before the opening 
of the railroad. A few of the older inhabitants are still left who delight to 
talk of the coaching days and the pleasures of bowling along over the turn- 
pike behind the spirited horses, guided by a skillful driver, the sharp crack of 
whose whip echoed in the forest by the roadside. But time had not acquir- 
ed the value in those days that is ascribed to it in these times. 

In 1806 $800 were appropriated by the Legislature, out of duties on salt, 
to " improve the road along the northeast shore of Onondaga lake." 

In 1S07 two roads were laid out under the Commissionership of Moses 
Carpenter, Medad Curtis, and Asa Rice. One of these ran " on the most 
practicable route from Onondaga Hill to 0.x Creek, and from thence to 
Oswego ; the other from the village of Salina to Ox Creek." 

In the same year (1807) the Surveyor-General directed Moses Carpenter 
and two other surveyors to lay out a State road six rods wide, north and 
south from the Walton Tract, through the State lands. This road became 
and is Salina street in Syracuse, excepting that its direction has been 
changed at various points, the present Cortland Avenue having been a por- 
tion of it. As at first constructed it ran for a considerable portion of its 
length through swamps and was rudely made of logs and brush. It was 
often almost impassable until June, compelling the inhabitants with teams 
to follow the higher ground to the eastward in passing from the Valley to 
Salina. This latter route was the one oftenest followed by the Indians, to 
whom distance was of little account ; but the white settlers sought to 
shorten lines of travel as soon as it was practicable. The finding of the 
quickest and easiest passage from south to north was made necessary by the 
growing importance of reaching Salina. There lay the great Salt Eldorado. 



OPENiNf; or TuuNiMKi': Roads. 47 

We have not learned the precise date of the opening; of what is called 
the west road to the valley, but it was very early in the century, and was 
doubtless demanded more as a means of reaching the Mickles furnace from 
the valley and from the salt works of Geddes, than for any other pur- 
pose. 

On April 3, 1S07, an Act was passed incorporating the Chenango and 
Salina Turnpike Company, which was authorized to build "a good and 
sufificient turnpike road, beginning at the Village of Salina, and running 
thence south through the Onondaga Hollow to the north line of Tully," 
and so on southward. 

We have not learned the date of the opening of what is now West On- 
ondaga street, but it was quite early, and constituted a new and more direct 
means of reaching the Hill. For many years it was, like most of the early 
roads in this vicinity, almost impassable for a large part of the year. This 
continued down to comparatively recent times ; but the street was event- 
ually made one of the best roadways in the valley, by carting cinders from 
the Mickles furnace. 

On the loth of April, 1824, the Onondaga and Cortland Turnpike Com- 
pany was incorporated by Barak Niles, John Miller, Elijah Miles, and Joshua 
Forman. The stock was issued in 1,250 shares of $20 each. 

April 16, 1827, Oliver W. Brewster, Archie Kasson, and Howell 

incorporated the Tully and Syracuse Turnpike Company. This organiza- 
tion appears to have been rechartered in April, 1831 ; and in this year the 
Syracuse and Pulaski Turnpike Road Company was incorporated with a 
capital of $25,000. Gordon Williams, of Salina, and Moses D. Burnet, of 
Syracuse, were among the incorporators. 

In April, 1833, the Salina and Oswego Turnpike Company was incorpo- 
rated. John G. Forbes, the pioneer attorney, was one of the incorporators. 
The route of this line may be inferred. 

Elkanah Watson, who was a large land-owner on the Military Tract in 
the latter years of the last century and the early part of the present one, 
and from whom Port Watson, on the Tioughnioga river near the villaf^e 
of Cortland, was named, made a trip from Albany to Geneva, and this 
chapter may be closed with an extract from his account of the journey as 
follows : 

" We re-embarked, ascending the Seneca river against the current coming from the west. In 
about a mile we encountered a rapid and an eel-wear, and saw a party of Indians encamped for the 
purpose of fishing. After about eight miles sailing, passing two of these rapids, and low lands 
heavily timbered, we entered a small, narrow river, leading south into the salt lake, one mile from 
the Seneca river. * * We steered by our compass and map, and with some difficulty found the 
creek on which the salt works are now erected, half a mile from its mouth at the foot of the hill. 
These works are in a rude, unfinished state, but are capable of making about eight thousand bushels 
of salt per annum, which is nearly the quantity required for the present consumption of the country. 



48 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



The mines are so abundant as to be equal to the supply for the United States, even when our popu- 
lation shall reach one hundred millions." 

Sanguine and prophetic writer ! And so, just a century ago, they navi- 
gated Onondaga lake with compass and map ! 



CHAPTER VI. 
ONONDAGA VALLEY. 



Early Settlement South of the Site of Syracuse — Ephraim Webster — Asa Danforth and Comfort 
Tyler, the Valley Pioneers — Where they Located — The Birth of the Salt Industry — Biographic 
Sketches of Danforth and Tyler — Judge Joshua Forman and his Early Labors — The First Town 
Meeting — Early Lawyers and Merchants — The First Post Office — .Schools and Churches — Rivalry 
with Onondaga Hill. 

A HISTORY of the City of Syracuse may properly be preceded by brief 
annals of those villages which in the course of settlement sprang up 
in this locality many years before the site of Syracuse itself was occupied by 
more than a few scattered settlers — villages which were not, like Salina, 
finally absorbed to create the preseut thriving and populous city. We 
allude particularly to Onondaga Valley, or " Hollow," as it was almost 
universally known in early times, and Orfondaga Hill. 

It is a fact not without interest that the first white settler in Onondaga 
county located within the present limits of the city of Syracuse. This 
pioneer was Ephraim Webster, who took up his humble abode on the west 
side of Onondaga creek near where it empties into the lake. In the very 
early years of settlement this place was known as " Webster's Landing." 
But Webster's interest during the greater part of his life lay more with the 
other pioneers who located in the Valley a few miles to the southward, than 
it did in the immediate vicinity of his home, and before Syracuse itself had 
reached inorc than the dignity of a very small hamlet, he had passed from 
earth. 

Ephraim Webster must always remain as the central figure in the ear- 
liest history of Onondaga county and the settlements surrounding the site 
of Syracuse. He was born in 1752, in the town of Hempstead, N. H. His 
father removed to the State of New York in February, 1773. Some time 
in the year 1778, Webster enlisted in the United States service and served 
to the close of the war. Returning to his home, his natural roving disposi- 





V-VwAC«^©-'t/ ^J 



The First Settler. 49 



tion led him to migrate to the country of the Oneida Indians, and he began 
trading with them. He was accompanied by a man named Leavitt. They 
purchased a stock of goods in Schenectady for transportation to their place 
of destination. During the journey Webster's companion became discour- 
aged and returned home. Webster located at Oriskany, where he placed 
his goods on sale. He soon discovered that in order to be successful he 
must master the Indian language, which he soon accomplished. He re- 
mained two years at Oriskany and during that period made several excur- 
sions with Indian hunters to Onondaga. Webster became quite a favorite 
with this tribe, who invited him to come and trade with them. The 
invitation was cheerfully accepted. In the spring of 1786 he came to On- 
ondaga with a man named Newkerk, (or Neukirk) with a small boat-load of 
goods transported from Schenectady by water. These goods were opened 
for sale on the historic spot on Onondaga creek. Their venture was suc- 
cessful and resulted in their accumulating a valuable pack of furs. About 
the time for closmg up their season's work, Newkerk died and was buried 
near by. Webster took his furs to New York, and came on again in the 
following spring, accompanied by two other traders named Campbell and 
Maibee ; the latter proceeded on up the valley, but Webster remained at 
his former location. In the fall they all departed to dispose of their furs. 
This course was followed for several years by Webster, after which he win- 
tered with his Indian friends. 

" During the controversy with the western Indians, which was soon fol- 
lowed by the Revolutionary war, between the years 17S8 and 1794, he was, 
on account of his knowledge of Indian manners and languages, employed 
to gain intelligence in the vicinity of the Miamis. He was fully successful 
in his mission, reported to the satisfaction of those by whom he was em- 
ployed, and received a suitable reward. He was often with the Onondagas 
at Oswego while the fort was retamed by the British, and was, by the ofificers 
of the garrison, supposed to be a full-blood Indian, so completely was he 
usually disguised. From some cause they at one time mistrusted he was a 
white man and charged him with being a spy. In order to induce him to 
declare his real character, or to expose himself in some way, they plied him 
freely with strong liquor, and then used every device to effect their purpose. 
They awakened him suddenly from sleep, saluted him familiarly in the 
English language, of which he expressed entire ignorance ; being always 
guarded and prepared, they gained no advantage over him, and he left them 
as much in the dark as when they commenced." 

In the early part of Webster's sojourn with the Indians they granted 
him a mile square of land, which extended from the present east and west 
road across the valley, southward, on the west side of the creek. This was 
long known as " W^ebster's Mile Square." This lot of land, containing 640 

7 



so IVIkmoriai, History of Syracuse. 



acres, was finally granted to Webster " as a free and voluntary gift " on the 
part of the people of the State of New York, by the Legislature in 1795, 
and the Commissioners of Indian lands, consisting of Philip Schuyler, John 
Cantine, John Richardson, and David ]?rooks, were directed to execute a 
deed therefor on the part, and in the name of, the people of the State of 
New York. 

Webster had been living with an Indian woman previous to this, as was 
the custom with many Indian traders, and she died soon after the land was 
granted to him. He then married a white woman named Danks, by whom 
he had a family of sons and daughters, who became respectable inhabitants 
of Onondaga Valley. 

Webster was in the service of the United States in the war of 181 2, 
with about three hundred Onondaga warriors on the Niagara frontier. At 
that time he held a Captain's commission in the New York State militia 
and was very influential with the Indian allies. He took part in the battle 
of Chippewa and acted as interpreter in the transmission of orders. To- 
wards the close of the action, Webster found himself alone and passed from 
the woods to the open field. He soon saw Doxtator, an Oneida chief, 
pursued by five or six mounted Wyandottes. They passed near him and 
knowing well the rules of Indian warfare, he stood erect and firm, looking 
them full in the face. They passed leaving him unharmed. Doxtator was 
shot just as he leaped a fence near by, when the Wyandottes wheeled and 
rode off. 

Mr. Webster was for many years Indian agent and interpreter for the 
Onondagas. For several years he held, by lease from the Indians, 30x3 acres 
of land, the title of which was afterwards confirmed to him and his heirs by 
the State Legislature. 

Many anecdotes of the deepest interest are related of Webster's life 
among the Indians, but we can only find space here for one or two. He 
was, on the whole, a great favorite with the Indians and enjoyed their warm 
confidence, but at times, for real or fancied wrongs they would become 
offended with him and even threaten his life and make alarming demonstra- 
tions towards taking it. On one of these occasions they tied him to a tree 
and then amused themselves by hurling tomahawks at the tree, just escaping 
his head, but never touching it. Sometimes the whistling weapon would 
graze his hair. During a half hour of this nerve trying sport, Webster 
never flinched or moved a muscle, and his conduct was greatly admired by 
the Indians. He was finally liberated with shouts of exultation and pride 
for his bravery. 

On his return from a trip to Canada, Webster employed a young brave 
of the Onondagas to pilot him through the forest from near Oswego to 
Onondaga. While on the route the young Indian seemed sad and moody 



Ei'iiRAiM VVEnsTER's Cakker. 5 I 



and after endeavoring to rouse him from his gloom, Webster insisted on 
being told what was troubling him. "Me going to die, " said the Indian. 
Webster paid little attention to this, deeming it a transient whim of the 
Indian, and they tramped on through the fore.st and finally approached the 
" Castle." Here si.K Cayuga Indians made their appearance, and without a 
word one of them walked up to the young Onondaga and drove his weapon 
through his skull. The Cayugas then retired as if nothing unusual had 
occurred. It developed that this act was the final consequence of a long feud 
between a small number of each tribe, which had been continued by several 
murders. The young Indian who was killed had been instrumental in killing 
a Cayuga, whose brethren had thus watched their opportunity and taken 
revenge. The young Onondagan knew that he was being watched and would 
probably meet his death on his return ; but to have fled would have shown 
cowardice — a trait unknown to the native Indian. 

During Mr. Webster's early life among the Indians he was often in great 
peril and threatened with immediate death, through the strange fancies of 
the natives by whom he was surrounded ; but he seemed to be watched 
over by a special Providence and his life was spared. On one occasion, for 
some real or fancied wrong, he was condemned to death by the Indians. 
They seemed so determined on taking his life that for once he gave up all 
for lost. His grave was dug and he was told to prepare for immediate 
death. A ring was formed around him and his four executioners took their 
places. A sturdy brave on each side took him by either hand and held his 
arms extended, while four gleaming tomahawks were brandished in the air. 
Just before the fatal blow was to fall, he was asked if he had any request to 
make before he expired. He replied that he wanted only a cooling draught 
of water. " None, none, "shouted the warriors. He then appealed to them 
in affecting tones, begging them not to deny his last simple request. Then 
the venerable war chief stepped forth, while the tomahawks were swung aloft 
over Webster's head, and exclaimed, " Hold. Stay your hands. Offend not 
the Great Spirit. Let him drink one cup of water for the last time." The 
cup was then presented to him and one hand released that he might drink. 
Webster took the cup, gracefully bowed to the group, and then most cor- 
dially drank the health of the Chiefs and brave warriors of the Onondaga 
nation. 

This act was so unexpected, exhibited such bravery and nonchalance in 
the face of death, and was so characteristic of the Indians themselves, 
that with one voice they shouted, " Let him go free. He is one of us," and 
he was instantly released. 

This quick perception of the right thing to do in emergencies, when deal- 
ing with his savage companions, was a prominent trait with Webster, and 
was either the result of inspiration on such occasions, or had been instilled 



52 Memorial History or Syracuse. 



into him by his experience among the Indians; and it often gained from 
them considerate treatment and strengthened his position in their friendship. 

Webster is remembered by the few men now left who knew him inti- 
mately, as a man of gentle, obliging and l<indly disposition, and generous 
to a fault ; so much so that later in life, much of his land slipped awaj' 
from his possession without adequate return. This, with his natural lack 
of business sagacity, which had been neglected by the habits of his Hfe, left 
him in his old age without much means. Nothing could ever bring him the 
pleasure which he found in the forest and among his dusky friends. Physi- 
cally he was tall, muscular, and scarcely knew what fear was. Intellectually 
he was far above the average man, which enabled him to perform valuable 
service to the government. He held the ofifice of Justice of the Peace, and 
was Supervisor of the town of Onondaga in 1798. 

Mr. Webster died at Tuscarora in 1825, at the advanced age of seventy- 
two years. 

Following Webster the earliest settlers came to Onondaga Valley in the 
persons of Asa Danforth and Comfort Tyler, who made a permanent settle- 
ment there in the spring of 17S8. Mr. Danforth was born in Worcester, 
Mass., but at the time of his migration was living in the town of Mayfield, 
Montgomery county, and was forty-two years old. He had been a soldier 
in the Revolutionary war, and bore the military title of Major. In February. 
1788, he received a visit from Ephraim Webster and two Onondaga Indians, 
and their glowing descriptions of the wilderness country whence they came, 
prompted Major Danforth to migrate westward. He accordingly asked 
Webster to secure the consent of the Indians for him to locate on their lands, 
which request was willingly complied with. Comfort Tyler was born in Ash- 
ford, Conn., Februarj' 22, 1764, and was therefore only twenty-two years old 
when he started with Major Danforth for the Onondaga country. He was 
a surveyor and accompanied Gen. James Clinton's expedition to establish 
the boundary lines between New York and Pennsylvania. 

Major Danforth's son, Asa, Jr., then a young man, and Comfort Tyler 
were sent across the country on foot to the site of their new homes, ahead 
of the remainder of the Danforth family, and drove the stock. Early in 
May Major Danforth placed the family furniture and farm tools in two flat 
boats in the Mohawk river, employed three boatmen, and after a tedious 
.royage through Oneida Lake and river and Onondaga Lake, reached Web- 
ster's Landing, where they were met by Mr. Webster, Tyler and young 
Danforth. The boats were pushed up Onondaga creek, then a much larger 
stream than now, to the point selected for their settlement, about a half 
mile south of the site of the hotel on the east side of Onondaga Valley. 
This occurred on May 22, 1788. 

It is perhaps, a little difficult for us at the present time, to judge of just 



Asa Danfortu's Settlement. 53 



what were tlie attractive features of this iocalit)' which Webster liad been 
able to present to a man like Major Danforth in so eloquent and forcible a 
manner as to impel him to leave his more comfortable surroundings to settle 
in a wilderness. It is scarcely possible that he, or Danforth either, could 
have placed much prospective importance upon the salt springs, at a time 
when there had not been a bushel of salt made here by a white man. 
The general natural beauty of the region — the streams swarming with 
delicious fish, the swelling hills covered with valuable forest, and the 
broad sweep of the valleys — these were here, but they would probably 
possess only a secondary degree of importance with such men. At the 
same time, there was the section of lowland near the lake, on which a por- 
tion of the great city now stands, which was an almost impenetrable morass 
and jungle, untrodden by man ; this, however, formed only a small part of 
the lovely landscape and probably attracted little or no attention from these 
pioneers. They were not thinking of founding cities, especially not in 
swamps, so much as of making themselves homes where nature would be 
bountiful and their labors bring forth an adequate reward. Danforth, we 
may reasonably believe, saw farther into the future, and with a clearer 
vision, than Webster. He was a man of broader characteristics, sounder 
judgment, and wiser foresight. With the boundaries of settlement reaching 
westward from Albany as far as Utica, and even farther to a limited e.xtent, 
and from the west eastward to Rochester or beyond, he undoubtedly realized 
that here between those points lay a large tract of primeval country that 
must inevitably soon echo to the tread of civilization and give up its wealth 
of natural products to the pioneer. The immediate site of Syracuse was 
an impassable bog; but Danforth saw with larger vision the whole beauti- 
ful landscape of hill and valley, and lake and stream, and saw it as part of a 
great region filled with natural resources. But whatever the impelling im- 
pulse, Danforth and Tyler cast their fortunes in the historic valley of the 
Onondagas, became largely instrumental in promoting its after-growth, and 
attained a large degree of personal importance. 

Mr. and Mrs. Danforth made a long sled journey to their early Massa- 
chusetts home in the month of December following the date of their set- 
tlement here, and returned in the next March, (1789.) In this year Comfort 
Tyler and Asa Danforth, Jr., also went east and returned with their young 
wives, and accompanied by the family of John Brown. The first white 
child born in the county was a daughter to Asa Danforth, Jr., and his wife, 
born October 14, 1789. 

At the time this pioneer settlement was made, there was no saw mill or 
grist mill nearer than about seventy- five miles, and the pioneers felt the de- 
privation severely. Major Danforth was not slow to realize that here was 
an opportunity that might better his condition as well as render the new 



54 Memorial Historv of Syracuse. 



settlement a great service. He accordingly went to Utica, employed help 
and built a saw mill. He had meanwhile become possessed of lot 8i, on 
Butternut creek, in the township of Manlius, (now DeWitt) and he trans- 
ported his mill to that lot and set it up. In the following year and in the 
same manner he built a grist mill which was established near the saw mill, 
both of which, of course, became of the greatest value to the early 
settlers. 

The two men, Danforth and Tyler, naturally became pioneers in the salt 
industry; not, however, in efforts to increase their incomes from it, at least 
at the first, but merely for their own domestic uses. In May, 1788, Major 
Danforth obtained about a pound of salt from the Indians, who generously 
offered to show him and Tyler the location of the saline springs. Mr. 
Tyler put a kettle holding about fifteen gallons into a canoe and with his 
Indian guide, paddled down the creek, into the lake and across the marsh, 
(then deeply overflowed) and arrived at the spring. There and then they 
boiled out about thirteen bushels of salt of inferior quality in about nine 
hours. 

The imagination may here picture a scene which deserves to live in the 
memory of every citizen of Onondaga county, and to be emblazoned on the 
pages of history for all time. The bubbling fount of impregnated water, 
beside which the Jesuit Fathers had stood in admiring contemplation a cen- 
tury and a half before, and which they had minutely described in their jour- 
nals; the swarthy Indian watching the operations of his white companion ; 
the crackling fire which was the forerunner of half a thousand lofty and 
smoking stacks ; the look of satisfaction with which the pioneer gathered 
his precious store and the start on the return journey to the forest home in 
the valley- — these combine to form a historic picture of the deepest 
interest. 

Major Danforth, also, made his first salt in the year last named. He 
carried a five-pail kettle on his head across the country from his home to 
the salt springs, and was accompanied by Tyler with an a.x and a chain. 
Arriving at their destination they set up two crotched sticks, laid thereon a 
pole on which was swung the kettle, and boiled out sufficient salt for their 
present needs, then hid their utensils in the bushes until they should need 
them again.* 

Under the influence of the Danforths and Mr. Tyler, settlements in the 
valley followed with gratifying rapidity. Job Tyler came in not long after 
the first pioneers, and was soon followed by Peter Ten Broeck, Cornelius 
Longstreet, Peter Young, Joseph Forman, John Adams, George Kibbe, 
Drs. William and Gordon Needham, Nicholas iMickles, Joshua R. and 



•These were the parent operations of the subsequent immense salt industry, the history of 
which is so well told by the Hon. Thomas G. Alvord in another chapter of this work. 



Sketch of Comfort Tyler. 55 



William H. Sabine, Jasper Hopper, Aaron Bellows, George Hall, Joseph 
Swan, and others. Many of these and their descendants were foremost in 
advancing the first settlement of Syracuse at a later date. 

Major Asa Danforth is justly considered as the leading pioneer of this 
immediate locality. His previous unselfish service for this country in the 
war of the revolution had left him without means ; but, endowed as he was, 
with the true progressive and ambitious spirit, as well as with indomitable 
perseverance, he pushed into the wilderness far ahead of civilized contem- 
poraries, and there advanced himself to the very front rank of early citizen- 
ship. He enjoyed the enduring friendship and confidence of the Indians, 
and was well known to almost every early inhabitant of the Military Tract. 
For a number of years he was Judge of the Court of Common Fleas ; was 
for one term State Senator; was Superintendent of the Salt Springs, and 
for many years was at the head of the militia organization in Onondaga 
county. He died at his home in the Valley September 2, 18 18, at the age 
of seventy-two years. 

We have noted the fact that Comfort Tyler was a practical surveyor 
when he migrated to Onondaga Valley. He had also taught school. After 
arriving at the Valley he gained the distinction of having felled the first 
tree and of constructing the first piece of turnpike road in the State west 
of Fort Stanwix (Rome) and of assisting in the first manufacture of salt. 
He became a favorite with the Indians, who trusted him implicitly. He 
for some time kept the early tavern on the east side of the \'alley, and 
when the Military Tract was surveyed, he was selected to assist in the work. 
He was early chosen, also, for places of high official trust; was appointed 
Justice of the Peace for the town of Manlius in 1794, and in the same year 
was made one of the Coroners of Onondaga county, with Gilbert Tracy ; 
in 1797 was appointed Sheriff of the county, and after Cayuga county was 
setoff in 1799, he was appointed Clerk of Onondaga county. He repre- 
sented the county in the Legislature in 1798-99. Of his subsequent career 
and his character, Clark, the historian, wrote that " With a parental solici- 
tude he considered the whole country into which he led the settlers, and 
comprehended upon the broadest scale the means of improving it. His 
zeal for new roads and bridges was deemed romantic. But his knowledge 
and his perseverance were not to be defeated. * * To him more than 
to any other man are we indebted for the Seneca Turnpike Road and the 
bridge across the Cayuga lake." Mr. Tyler became connected with the 
famous " Lessee Company," though not as a member, which failed in its 
object of securing a large tract of land from the Indians, while he still re- 
sided in the Mohawk valley, and at a later date was associated with the 
celebrated southern expedition of Aaron Burr, which resulted disastrously. 
This latter enterprise greatly impaired his private means and destroyed his 



56 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

public prospects, such was the feeh'ng against that scheme. In 1811 he re- 
moved to Montezuma, Caj'uga county, where he became interested in 
the Cayuga Manufacturing Company, organized for the manufacture of 
salt. He died at Montezuma on the 5th of August, 1827. Mr. Tyler's first 
wife was Deborah Wemple, who died a short time after their marriage, 
leaving one daughter, who became the wife of Cornelius Longstreet. Mr. 
Tyler afterwards married Betsey Brown. 

Joseph Forman. whose name has been mentioned, had lived in New York 
previous to the Revolutionary War, but with the approach of the British 
to that city, he returned with his family to Pleasant Valley, Duchess Co., 
and there Joshua Forman, was born September 6, 1777. He was educated 
at Union College and studied law in the ofifice of Peter W. RadclifTe, in 
Poughkeepsie, finishing with Samuel Miles Hopkins in New York. Soon 
after completing his professional studies, he married Miss Margaret Alexan- 
der, daughter of Boyd Alexander, M. P., for Glasgow, Scotland. 

Joshua Forman came to Onondaga Valley in the spring of 1800, and 
during the succeeding twenty-five years he was one of the foremost men of 
the locality, as will appear in future pages. When Mr. Forman reached 
Onondaga Valley, it was only an insignificant hamlet, the chief part of the 
settlement being on the east side. He opened a law office at once and 
began with such practice as those times called for. Three years later he 
induced his father (who had already visited this locality) to come on with 
his family and settle here. The family consisted of Joseph Forman and his 
wife, and sons Samuel, John, W^ard, and Owen. The father became the 
purchaser of 400 acres of land on the west side, south of the present Card's 
hotel, from which tract the Bostwick farm was subsequently sold. There 
he built a barn and later a second one, and a mill, both of which were burned 
in 1888. He was a prominent and useful citizen and died January 15, 1824, 
at the age of seventy-two years. 

Joshua Forman, having seen his father located on the west side of the 
Valley, while the larger part of the settlement had been made on the east ■ 
side, turned his attention to the building up of the vacant space between. 
He built a hotel and the house now occupied by Miss Searl, and later the 
fine residence afterward owned and occupied by his law partner, William H. 
Sabine. Mr. Sabine formed a partnership with Mr. Forman in 1803, having 
studied with him previous to that time, and the firm had a large practice for 
that period. Mr. Forman also became a very large land owner, possessing 
a large share of the territory between the valley and Salina, much of which 
was subsequently lost through his trust in others. To Joshua Forman more 
than to any other man, the construction of the Erie Canal was due (as we 
shall show later on). In iSljhe was made First Judge of Onondaga County 
Common Pleas and filled that station with honor for ten years. In the 



Joshua Forman and his Work. . 57 



organization of the first church at the Hill (1806) and that at the Valley 
(1809) and also the founding of the Onondaga Academy (1814) Judge For- 
man was active and practically enthusiastic. In 1807 he leased from the 
Surveyor-General a water privilege at Oswego Falls and there built the first 
grist mill between Salina and Oswego. In 1808 he founded the Plaster 
Company of Camillus, which successfully worked the extensive plaster beds 
in that town. In 1813 he constructed the dyke at the Valley, excavated 
for the pond and built an excellent gristmill there. In 1819 when the ulti- 
mate success of the Erie Canal was assured, Judge Forman removed to 
Syracuse, where only a few families had yet settled, and built a residence 
about on the site of the present grocery house of G. N. Crouse & Co., in 
Clinton street, and from that time until his removal to New Jersey in 1826, 
he was largely identified with the growth and prosperity of the village. He 
obtained the passage of a law in 181 7 authorizing the lowering of Onondaga 
lake, a project rendered desirable by the annual flooding of large tracts 
around the eastern and southern sides of the lake, on account of the limited 
capacity of the outlet for carrj'ing off the waters during the wet season. 
The work done under this law lowered the surface of the lake about two 
feet and conferred great benefit on the public. 

Judge Forman was strongly influential in securing the passage of 
law under which the manufacture of solar salt was begun here. He was 
also equally prominent in securing the water power from the State and the 
erection of the pump house at Salina. 

In the early building up of the little village of Syracuse, Judge Forman 
was more influential than any other man of his time. Where others saw 
obstacles and future failure, he saw only rapid growth and eventual success. 
It was almost a prophetic vision that could discern in the little hamlet amid 
the swamps and bogs of the site of Syracuse sixty-five years ago, a future 
great city ; but such Judge Forman persistently contended would come. 

Judge Forman removed to New Jersey and was interested there in copper 
mining untill 1829, when he went south and occupied an extensive tract of 
land which he had acquired in North Carolina, where he died August 4, 
1848. His brother Owen took up the profession of surveying and accom- 
panied Judge Forman to his North Carolina home. 

John Forman settled on the west side of the Valley and purchased land 
which included the whole or part of the present Dickinson place and on 
which was a tannery, then the only one in this section. This tannery had 
been established by John Adams almost at the beginning of the century. 
Adams was for many years very prominent in the history of the X'alley, and 
was a man of sterling qualities and good ability. 

He kept for a number of years a tavern on his place at the foot of the 
hill, which was a noted halting place and was presided over by his wife and 
8 



58 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

four daughters. One of these daughters became the wife of Lyman C. Dor- 
win's father. He died July 17, 1825, at the age of sixty-nine. His son 
Richard died April 19, 1871, aged seventy-eight years; both are buried at 
the Valley. John Forman was successful in his tannery and by occupying 
a whole year in the process of tanning calf skins, produced leather that 
acquired wide reputation for excellence. His daughter married William 
Forman, son of Samuel, and is still living. He died September 17, 1852, 
aged sixty-six years. 

Samuel Forman was a lawyer and settled on the west side of the valley, 
where he built the brick house owned by William Hamilton, the second 
residence west from the corner of the two streets. He was a man of ability 
and was father of William Forman, who now lives on the west road to the 
Valley. Samuel died September 7, 1852, aged sixty-four years. 

Ward Forman was also a lawyer and built and lived where IV. r. Mai 
has recently rebuilt. He removed after a few years to Seneca Fal'" ..U 
died there. 

A post-ofifice was established at "Onondaga Hollow"* in 1794 and Com- 
fort Tyler was appointed the first postmaster. This was the first post-ofifice 
in the county. In the same year Thaddeus M. Wood came to the Hollow 
and began the practice of law. He became one of the most conspicuous, if 
not one of the most useful, men in the community, both in and out of his 
profession. He was prominent in the militia and rendered the service valu- 
able aid. He also became a heavy operator in real estate and was a lead- 
ing politician. He died at his home in the Valley January 10, 1836. 

The first town meeting for the town of Onondaga was held at the house 
of Asa Danforth in April, 1798. Ephraim Webster was chosen Supervisor; 
Jabez Webb, Town Clerk ; Samuel Searing, Daniel Earll, and Sier Curtis, 
Assessors; Elisha Alvord, Nehemiah Earll, Jr., and Elijah Lawrence, Com- 
missioners of Roads. At the next town meeting, (1799) James Geddes 
was chosen Supervisor, and in 1800 Sier Curtis filled the ofifice. 

In May, 1794, the first court was held in the county after its organization, 
in General Danforth's corn house. Seth Phillips is recorded as First J udge ; 
John Richardson, Silas Halsey, and William Stevens, Judges. No lawyer 
had yet established himself in the county, though Mr. Wood must have 
arrived very soon afterward. Two lawyers were present at the court, in the 
persons of Thomas Gould and Arthur Breese. 

The first Court of Oyer and Terminer for the county was held July 21, 
1794, and probably in Asa Danforth's house; though the late Timothy 
C. Cheney, in his "Reminiscences," (1847) states that it was held in 
Comfort Tyler's corn house, nearly opposite the Thaddeus M. Wood place, 

* The names, " Hollow" and " Valley," as applied to the region southward of the present city, 
are synonymous. In early times the valley was almost universally called " Onondaga Hollow." 



BiocKAriiicAi, Notes. 59 



and later in the parlor of Mr. Tyler's public house, and in other parts of 
the town, to suit the convenience of litigants. Hon. Egbert Benson pre- 
sided at the first court and was assisted by Seth Phillips and Andrew 
Englis, Justices of Oyer and Terminer. Lawyers were in attendance from 
Herkimer and Whitestown. From this time until 1805, the courts were held 
at various houses in the Valley, and were then removed to the new court 
house on the Hill. 

We have mentioned the fact that William II. Sabine came to the Valley 
about the first year of the century and became the partner of Judge For- 
man. He was a man of ability and soon acquired a large property in real 
estate, much of the land first purchased by Judge Forman finally passing 
into Ills possession, when the Judge became financially embarrassed. He 
^ >]' .he large brick residence back of the Academy, which is still standing 
.orms ci part of the Sabine estate. Mr. Sabine as an attorney, possessed 
ii...."-"d ability and reached a high position in the county Bar. He died 
SeptL .bcr 4, 1842, aged si.xty-three years. He had three sons, Joseph and 
William, who were twins, and Joshua R.; Joseph was a lawyer and practiced 
in Syracuse, where he married Margaret, daughter of James R. Lawrence. 
William removed to Chicago, and Joshua R., remained on the homestead. 
His wife was a daughter of Judge Mosely. Joseph Sabine, now of Syracuse, 
is a grandson of William H. 

It is stated in various publications that some of the early town meetings 
were held at the house of Reuben Patterson. He was one of the 
first settlers and married a daughter of Asa Danforth. His home was for a 
time on the Danforth place, and he afterwards kept a tavern for a short 
time on the west side of the Valley, just west of the north and south 
road, which was called " The Owl's Head." He had two sons, Sier and 
Alvord. 

Job Tyler was a brother of Comfort Tyler, but he did not attain special 
prominence and died March 10, 1836, at the age of sixty-nine years. He 
had two sons, Orin and Asher. The latter was a lawyer in Seneca Falls. 

George Hall opened a law office at the Valley in 1802 and in the same 
year was made postmaster. At a little later date he became a partner with 
Thaddeus M. Wood, thus forming a leading law firm in opposition to For- 
man & Sabine. Mr. Hall attained a high position in the Bar and held sev- 
eral prominent positions. I'^orman & Sabine were Federalists, while Wood 
& Hall were Democrats. Hence they were opponents in politics as well as 
in business. 

Roger Tcnbroeck came to the Valley in the early years of its settlement 
and for a time kept a store where Edward Fuller's house now stands. 

Dr. William Needham came to the Valley in 1793, as the first physician, 
and was followed by his brother, Gordon, two years later. The latter 



6o Memorial History of Syracuse. 



taught the first school, in 1796. They built between what is now the dyke 
and the creek, and William kept a store where Leonard Church now lives. 

George Kibbe established the first store at the Valley and was made 
postmaster in 1801, for one year. His store was on the east side and just 
below the site of the old arsenal. 

Jasper Hopper was appointed Clerk of Onondaga county in 1802 and 
immediately came on from Albany (where he had been a clerk in the office 
of the Secretary of State,) and settled at the Valley. He was a lawyer by 
profession and had served as Deputy Secretary of State. He located first 
on the east side of the Valley and had his dwelling and office together for 
several years, when he removed to the west side, remaining there until his 
removal to the Hill, about 1820. He was Clerk of the county until 181 8, 
excepting a year, and held many other positions of trust. He died at the 
Valley on June 30, 1848, aged seventy-nine years. 

Cornelius Longstreet was among the very early settlers of the Valley, 
and several members of the family in later years became identified with the 
history of Syracuse. He located on the hill-side east of the Valley and 
about a mile south of the present village. He married Deborah, daughter 
of Comfort Tyler, and died in 18 14. He had a son, James, who lived at 
the village in the latter years of his life. He operated a plaster mill at the 
foot of the hill where the Mickles furnace stood, and was Superintendent of 
the Poor many years. He died at his home in the Valley on May 22, 1873, 
aged sixty-seven years. He had three sons, Rev. Joseph B. and Rev. Ol- 
iver, both of whom are dead, and Cornelius, now in Florida. Another son 
of the pioneer was Cornelius T. Longstreet, who was prominent in Syra- 
cuse history, and will be mentioned in a later chapter. 

Nicholas Mickles settled at the Valley at an early day and became a his- 
torical character, especially in connection with one of the earliest manufac- 
turing enterprises of this vicinity — the establishment of a successful furnace. 
This was done soon after the beginning of the century. It stood on the 
west side of the west road from Syracuse to the Valley, just north of where 
the Hill road turns westward, on land now embraced in Elm wood park. 
This furnace was used largely in the war of 1812 for casting cannon shot 
for the government and men are still living who saw many pyramids of shot 
stacked up awaiting shipment. He lived near the furnace and was an esti- 
mable citizen m every sense. He died in August, 1827, and his tombstone 
bears this record : " He was one of the original enterprising citizens of this 
county. As a citizen he was esteemed and respected. As a friend, warm 
and sincere. As a husband and father, tender and affectionate. In his 
views, upright. In his actions, just. In his intercourse with mankind, 
benevolent and hospitable. In all the duties of religion, consistent and 
devout. " 



Religious anp Eoucational. 



6i 



A law was passed in 1808 autliorizing the (jovernor of the State to 
deposit five hundred stand of arms at Onondaga and such other military 
stores as would be necessary in case of an invasion. The Governor was 
also authorized to appoint a suitable place to store such munitions. For 
this purpose the Old Stone Arsenal, the walls of which are now fast crumb- 
ling away, was erected in 18 12, under direction of the Governor, on the 
hillside east of and overlooking the village at the Valley. It was not used 
many years as a military store house, the apparent necessity for it having 
passed away. 



I' 




THE OLD ARSENAL. 

Among other early settlers at the Valley was James Rowland, who had 
one of the first blacksmith shops. 

Morehouse Hickok was a cabinet maker, probably the first. He was a 
merchant at one time, his store being west of the west road. As a cabinet 
maker he had an excellent reputation and it was said he could " make any- 
thing. " One of his daughters is the widow of the late Earl Alvord, and 
another married the father of Henry E. Warne of Syracuse. 

Dr. Daniel Huntington was an early physician at the Valley where he died 
July 17, I S37, aged si.\ty-five years. He lived in the first house south of 
Henry Card's. Dr. Joseph W. Brewster also practiced there in early years, 
and died there on September 6, 1849. 



62 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

In 1S09* tlie " Onondaga Hollow Religious Society" was organized, and 
John Adams, Aaron Bellows, Nicholas Micklcs, Thaddeus M. Wood, and 
Joshua Forman, were chosen Trustees, and George Hall and Joseph Sloan 
presided at the meeting for organization. A few members from Salina 
joined in this Society, and Rev. Dirck C. Lansing, then of Salina was 
called as pastor in February, 1810, and continued as such until May, 1814. 
The church edifice was erected in 1810-11, the inhabitants in Salina aid- 
ing liberally in the work. 

Although there were in 1803 only eight frame houses in the settlement, 
it grew quite rapidly under the energetic labors of its enterprising people 
and gave early promise of some day becoming a populous center. 

A log school house, the first one in the place, was built near the later 
site of the academy, and in 180S a frame building was erected and occupied 
for school purposes. 

In 1813 the Onondaga Academy was incorporated, and the original 
building was erected in 18 14. The institution was endowed by the State 
with a gift of land from the Literature Fund, and has always been a pros- 
perous institution of learning. Rev. Caleb Alexander was the first Princi- 
pal, and he also preached at the Valley and in Salina. He was a man of 
fine attainments and great enthusiam in the cause of education. He was 
instrumental in the founding of Fairfield Academy and was elected first 
President of Hamilton College, but declined tlie honor. He was also 
author of several educational works, translations, etc. He died at the \'al- 
ley April 12, 1828, aged seventy-two years. 

The first newspaper was established at the Valley by Thomas Crittenden 
Fay, in December, 181 1. It was called Tlic Z,j7/.r, and adopted for its 
motto, " Liberty and my Native Country." This paper was a small affair, 
and was published every Wednesday at $2.00 per annum. It was in the 
office of this journal that Thurlow Weed gained his first knowledge of the 
printer's art, and of the profession that was afterward to make him famous. 

In September, 1814, Lewis H. Redfield established at the \'alley the 
Onondaga Register, a journal that flourished under the wise and prudent 
management of its founder for many years. Mr. Redfield's office was on 
the north side of the east and west street, nearly opposite the present church. 
The Register was issued at the Valley, gaining an excellent name, until 
May, 1829, when it was removed to Syracuse and continued as the " Onon- 
daga Register and Syrneiise Gazette. 

Onondaga Lodge No. 98 of Free Masons was established at the Hollow 
in the winter of 1803. The charter obtained from the Grand Lodge of the 

* The records of the Presbytery of Geneva give the date of this organization as March 20. 
iSio.and Rev Dirck C. Lansing's call as November 10, iSlo, while Mr Clark's history gives the 
date above quoted. The records are probably correct. 



DECLixii OK TiiK Hii.i. Village. 63 

State was dated January 21, A. L., 1803. Jasper Hopper was appointed 
W. M. : Walter Colton, S. \V. ; George W. Olmsted, J. W. 

The records of the county were for a few years kept in the dwelling 
of Mr. Olmsted, on the east side, and later in a building erected by 
Jasper Hopper for a store, nearly opposite the Dickinson place, on the west 
side. In a later chapter of this work will be found an account of the build- 
ing of the court house on the Hill, which was first occupied in 1S05 ; but 
the county records were kept at the Valley a few years longer, when the 
clerk's ofifice, which was constructed of stone, was finished on the Hill and 
they were removed thither. There was considerable rivalry between the 
two villages, but it never acquired the bitterness that some writers have 
ascribed to it. There was a good deal of strife over the location of the 
county seat, but when that question was disposed of, the inhabitants of the 
two places pursued their several ways without much friction. More or less 
of the people of the Valley removed to the Hill, but the reason in most 
cases was either that the Hill was considered the healthier of the two points, 
or that the county seat drew them thither for business considerations. As 
far as any great growth was concerned for cither village, that prospect was 
killed when the settlement at Syracuse was begun by the many energetic 
men who founded the present city. 

It is said that when Judge Forman first became interested in the Erie 
Canal project, before he removed to Syracuse, he endeavored to secure the 
co-operation of the inhabitants at the Valley, with the intention of laying out 
the course of the canal through that village and thence northward along the 
west side of the valley to the vicinity of its present course westward. But the 
people at the Valley, like those at Salina at a little later date, received the 
scheme only with ridicule, and thus lost their one grand opportunity for be- 
coming a city. 



64 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



CHAPTER VH. 

ONONDAGA HIl.L AND ITS VltlNITV. 

ICarly Settlement on the Hill — Location of the Village — Influences Leading to the Selection of 
the Site— Sketches of Prominent Karly Residents — The County Seat — Early Lawyers and Judges — 
Pioneer Mechanics — The Newspaper — Mercantile Operations — Decline of the Village. 



w 



7HILE the foregoing historical events were occurring in the Valley, 

/ similar one? were being enacted on the Hill. The earliest settle- 
ments began there about the year 1795, one of the first to locate in that 
vicinity being William Laird who, it is said, kept a tavern in his log 
house for a time. He committed suicide by hanging, in October, 1S02. 

In 1796 Nehemiah and Daniel Earll, and Jabez Webb located on the 
Hill. Nehemiah Earll afterwards built the large dwelling subsequently oc- 
cupied by William P. Walker, a lawyer, and now by Oscar Britton. He 
was a pioiTiinent citizen and the first postmaster on the Hill, in 1800. 
In later years he removed to Skaneateles and died there. Jonas Earll was 
a brother of Nehemiah, and was also prominent in the history of the lo- 
cality. He was for a time a merchant in the old stone store, still standing, 
was Sheriff of the count)-. Canal Commissioner, and member of the State 
Senate. 

Onondaga county being erected in 1794, included all of what is now 
Oswego county and parts of Cayuga and Cortland counties. In 1798-9 a 
number of leading men of the county, including Judge Stevens, Elisha 
Lewis, Comfort Tyler, John Ellis, Parley Howlett, Asa Danforth, Thad- 
deus M. Wood, William Laird, Medad Curtis, and others, developed the 
project of establishing a village somewhere near the center of the county. 
After ample investigation and discussion, they settled on Onondaga Hill as 
the most desirable location. Although there was then considerable settle- 
ment in the Valley, it was avoided for this ambitious project, on account of 
the supposed greater healthfulness of the Hill. This company of men 
made purchases on the Hill and employed Judge James Geddes to lay out 
the proposed Village into lots and streets, with a suitable site reserved for 
court house and jail. But for a few years later, in spite of the efforts of 
those energetic men, the village in the Valley grew with considerable 
rapidity. 

Joseph Wadsworth bought about two hundred acres of land between 
the site of the village and the present Poor House, in 1802. His son Am- 
brose was a cooper and followed that occupation. Ambrose S. Wadsworth, 
who is still living at the Hill and has furnished much data for these pages, 




\ Qy/^Zr^^ cjA^^^TyC 



Prominent Settlers on the Hill. 65 

is a son of Ambrose. He is a carpenter and builder and has assisted in the 
erection of nearly or quite two hundred buildings in the village. 

Reuben and Simeon West came to the Hill in 1805. Simeon combined 
farming with his trade of hatter and had a shop where Mr. Hoyce now 
lives. Reuben was a merchant and in 1823 built the old stone store 
before mentioned and carried on business there. He also built on the site 
of the Catholic church. 

Medad Curtis was among the prominent early settlers. He first lived 
on the Cossit place, his dwelling afterward serving as Mr. Cossit's corn- 
house. He subsequently located where the Noxons afterwards lived. He 
was a lawyer, a Justice of the Peace, and for a number of years was con- 
spicuous in all the public affairs of the place. He removed from the Valley 
to the Hill about the time of the establishment of the county seat there. 
After his death his widow married Dr. Daniels, of Salina. 

Oliver R. Strong took up his residence at the Hill in i8o3. The first 
school was established there in November of that year and was opened in 
a log building, iMr. Strong being the first teacher. It stood near the site of 
the court house, and the school continued there during three winter terms. 
The old Strong place, now occupied by Charles Bryant, is opposite the 
old hotel, recently burned. Mr. Strong was elected County Judge and was 
Deputy Sheriff under Col. Elijah Phillips; he also held other positions of 
honor. His wife was a sister of the wife of James R. Lawrence. Judge 
Strong died in Syracuse October 3, 1872. His brother, Hezekiah Strong, 
kept a store several years, directly opposite the old hotel site in a building 
now being used as a horse-barn. This store was afterwards kept by Charles 
Potter and still later by Edward Strong, a son of Hezekiah. 

Josiah Bronson.sr., was a pioneer at the Hill, and was a farmer. He 
also built and for a time kept the old hotel, now burned. Josiah Bronson, 
jr., was his son, and his granddaughter married Dr. Tefft. This old hotel 
was next kept by a man named Ingalls, and then by Mr. Giddings, who 
was succeeded by Zebulon Rust. After Zebulon and George Rust (^father 
and son) had managed the hotel, it was taken by Philo Rust, and he was 
succeeded by Allen Taylor. It was afterwards kept by Jonathan Stanley, 
jr., and then by Augustus Norton. He was followed by Charles Potter, 
who was succeeded by Jonathan Langworthy (now living in the Valley), who 
built on an addition. John W. Stackhouse then became the landlord and 
also improved the house. It was on the piazza of this old hotel that Gen- 
eral Lafayette stood in June, 1825, to listen to an address of welcome 
from Thaddeus M. Wood, before going down to the city to meet a similar 
welcome. 

Zebulon Rust settled at the Hill early in the century and became some- 
what conspicuous. He lived where John Wright now resides, and was a 

9 



66 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



butcher, the first in the place. About the year 1815 he moved into the old 
hotel, already alluded to, and kept it for some years, his sons, George and 
Philo N., being with him a part of the time. George Rust succeeded his 
father as proprietor of the house, while Philo N. removed a little later to 
Syracuse, where he became prominent as a landlord. Another son of 
Zebulon Rust was Charles, who was a cabinet maker and had his shop 
and built the house where George Curtis now lives. 

In a later chapter of this volume, devoted to the Courts and Bar of 
the county, will be found a full account of the steps taken that led to the 
building of the first court house and the location of the county seat on 
the Hill. As already stated, there was considerable strife between the two 
villages, in the Valley and on the Hill, for the location of the court house. 
The claims of the Valley rested principally upon the facts that the courts 
had always been held there, the records were kept there, and the village 
was easy of access. On the other hand the Hill set up the claim that that 
village, chiefly on account of its beautiful, sightly and especially healthful 
situation, and having a site all provided, should have the court house. By 
the activity of the strong men living on the Hill, with 'Squire Medad Cur- 
tis prominently in the foreground, and with the liberal offers of assistance 
to erect the building, the court house was built there and first occupied by 
the courts in the year 1805. A clerk's ofifice constructed of stone, was built 
there a few years later, just south of the present stone school-house, which 
was erected from the materials in the clerk's ofifice when the latter was 
abandoned and the records taken to the city. The court house stood a lit- 
tle farther north, very near to or partly in the road now running northward 
from the main street of the village; this road was not opened until after 
the court house was removed to the city. 

The location of the court house on the Hill gave a great impetus to 
settlement and business operations ; lawyers, doctors, merchants and others 
came in rapidly, and the village grew apace. Mr. Wadsworth states that 
at one time there were seven public houses and eight stores, besides numer- 
ous shops of various descriptions, in the village. 

Daniel Mosely settled at the Hill in 1S09 and began practicing law. He 
had studied his profession with Forman & Sabine, at the Valley. He lived 
in the large dwelling now occupied by John Q. Fellows and had his ofifice 
on the same premises. He was Judge of the Supreme Court and an able 
man. He died October 3, 1 851, at the age of sixty-five years. William T. 
Mosely, son of Daniel, was a merchant at the Hill, where Charles Bryant 
now has a store. He died February 11, 1876, aged sixty years. Charles 
Mosely, another son of Daniel, was a farmer two miles south of the village. 

B. Davis Noxon, the eminent attorney, (a sketch of whose career will 
be found in a later chapter of this work) located at the Hill soon after the 



Churches and Schools on the Hii.i.. (tj 



courts were established there. He lived next to the brick house still stand- 
ing which was built by Josiah Hronson, jr., on the south side of the main 
street. Mr. No.xon followed the county seat to Syracuse. He had sons, 
Robert, George, James, B. Davis, and Henry. James and George Noxon 
were attorneys and prominent in the profession. 

James Mann established a large store at the Hill in i8io. He also had 
stores in Camillus and Baldwinsville. His partner for a time was Joel Dick- 
inson, his son-in-law, and the store was on the north side of the road, just 
east of the lower hotel. Having large business interests elsewhere, Mr. 
Mann did not begin his residence at the Hill until 1817. The house occu- 
pied by him and Mr. Dickinson was burned in October, 1820, and soon 
afterward Mr. Mann took the lower hotel and kept it one year, when he 
removed to Syracuse and kept the " Syracuse Hotel," afterwards called the 
Syracuse House. A few years later he went on a visit to his daughter in 
Aurora, Cayuga county, and died there September 22, 1835. Joel Dickin- 
son kept a store also opposite the lower hotel, which was removed in 1833, 
by Charles Judd and Joseph Stanley, to a lot opposite Mr. Fellows's resi- 
dence. 

St. John's church (Episcopal) was organized on the Hill in November, 
1S03, by Rev. Davenport Phelps. It afterwards became the Zion church. 
It stood on what is now the Luther property and nearly in front of the old 
building now used for a barn. Adjoining this church was what was called 
a " hearse house," in which was kept a sort of public hearse. This building 
is still standing against the old barn mentioned, and is used as an ice-house. 
The records of the Presbyterian church state that "The First Presbyte- 
rian Society of Onondaga was formed on the Hill at the log tavern kept by 
Daniel Earll ; present, Joshua Forman, Jasper Hopper, John Ellis. Jonah 
Ellis, Jonas C. Baldwin, John Adams, and Oliver R. Strong." The pastors 
of this church previous to 1806 were Revs. Higgins and Healy. Rev. Dirck 
C. Lansing was called and settled in 1806; Rev. Jabez Chadwick in 181 1, 
and numerous others have since occupied the pulpit. The church edifice, 
which is still standing, was erected in 1819. 

Other early business enterprises, besides those mentioned, were the fol- 
lowing : Capt. James Beebe, who died on the 12th of September, 1812, at 
the age of sixty years, owned and kept a public house near the court house, 
which was at a later date kept by Judge Jonathan Stanley. John Wright 
now lives in that ancient building. Major William A. Cook also kept this 
house at a later date. 

Augustus Ellis carried on a blacksmith shop near Mrs. Howd's present 
home : and Roger Billings who, in later years, became a prominent wagon- 
maker in Syracuse, had his iron-work shop in the tottering old stone build- 
ing still in existence on the south side of the main street. Mr. Billings 
died October 21, 1869, at the age of seventy-three years. 



68 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Silas Ames was a harness-maker and had his shop over the store which 
stood opposite the old hotel site. Franklin S. Hovey also was a harness- 
maker and had a shop where the post-office now is. A Mr. Howland was 
an early shoe-maker and built and occupied the house where Reuben West 
died and Owen Higgins now lives ; and William P. Morse had a wagon 
shop where Mervvin Tripp now lives. 

Sylvester Munger was a jeweler and had a shop in the village, and there 
was a tannery near where the Widow Griffin now lives. 

Daniel Case kept a tavern about opposite the lower hotel and later had 
a wagon shop across from the upper hotel recently burned. He died Octo- 
ber 20, 1840. Another public house was kept for a time where Miss Eaton 
now lives, by a Mr. Cheney, who was by trade a hatter. 

Major John Ellis had a store where John Lynch is now located, and he 
also built a carding mill and a saw mill on the brook at that point, but they 
were never very extensively operated. 

As the village grew, physicians came in, as they always do in the track 
of settlement. The first that are remembered were Drs. Mann and Heale)', 
who were in partnership during an early period. They were followed by 
Dr. Salmon Thayer. He had a long and successful practice and died in 
Geddes. Dr. Jared Parker came ne.xt. He was father of Richard H. Par- 
ker, now of the city. Dr. George Smith also practiced there and removed 
to the city. The late Dr. N. R. Tefft practiced at the Hill many years and 
lived on the Hezekiah Strong place. The late Dr. E. W. Phillips came to 
the Hill at a later date, and enjoyed a successful practice for many years, 
and subsequently removed to the city and joined his brothers in a large 
leather business. 

Moses Johnson and Ebenezer Wilson at a very early day built the old 
wagon shop that is still used for that purpose. They carried on a store 
there and had a distillery nearly in the rear of that building. Moses John- 
son was father of John Holland Johnson, who became a conspicuous figure 
in later Syracuse history, and owned a large tract of land on West Onondaga 
street; he died February 10, 1868, aged sixty-nine years. 

The village had become a thriving community by 1816, a fact that is 
indicated by the establishment of a newspaper there in that year by Evan- 
der Morse. The first editor of the paper, which was named the " Onondaga 
Gazette," was William Ray, who had something of a local reputation as a 
poet. Mr. Morse sold the establishment to Cephas McConnell, and in 
August, 1821, the title was changed to the Onondaga Journal. McConnell 
sold out to Vivus W. Smith, father of Carroll E. Smith, now of the Syra- 
cuse Journal, who continued the paper there until 1829, when he removed it 
to Syracuse and joined it with Mr. Wyman to form the Onondaga Standard. 

The first Agricultural Society in the county was organized at the Hill in 



Mercantile OrEUAXioNS on the Hill. 69 

the spring of 18 19. A fund had been provided by the State for the 
advancement of such societies, of which this county was entitled to $300, 
provided the county raised an equal amount and organized the society. 
The first fair was held at the Valley November 2, 1819, and premiums 
amounting to $200 were awarded. The first officers of the society were : 
Dan Bradley, president; Squire Munro, Martin Cossit, Augustus Wheaton, 
vice-presidents; Job Tyler, recording secretary; George Hall and A. Yel- 
verton, corresponding secretaries ; Leonard Bacon, treasurer ; H. I>. Gran- 
ger, auditor; L. H. Rcdficld, D. W. Forman, O. W. Brewster, committee of 
publication. 

Among the merchants at the Hill at somewhat later dates were Charles 
and Henry Easton, who kept a store in a building now occupied by Andrew 
J. Betts as a dwelling. The I^astons are both deceased. 

William T. Mosely continued his store, already mentioned, until a com- 
paratively recent time, and John W. Stackhouse had a store in the old hotel 
that was burned. Charles Potter had a store opposite the old hotel, which 
was kept in early years by Hezekiah and Oliver Strong. Samuel Howd 
had a store about the time of the last war, in the building now used as a 
dwelling by his widow. Mercantile business here in recent years has grad- 
ually diminished until now there is very little done. 

It is proper that something should be here recorded of the farmers who 
were prominent in early settlements and cleared the lands that afterwards 
became so productive, and contributed so largely to the wealth and pros- 
perity of the county. 

Rufus Cossit .settled in 1818 on the well-known Cossit farm, where he 
died August 27, 1878, at the age of eighty-eight years. He studied law 
with Mr. Noxon, who was his brother-in-law. Major Davis Cossit. son of 
Rufus, now occupies the homestead and is a prominent breeder of sheep ; 
has held the offices of Sheriff and Supervisor. 

Joseph and Ezra Bryant came in as early as 1800 and settled and cleared 
the farm purchased in 1833 by Nathaniel Potter, two miles south of the 
village. Joseph Bryant died there September 30, 1835. Ezra Bryant re- 
moved to Michigan. Nathaniel Potter, who cleared sixty acres of this land, 
subsequently sold it to Alfred Hewlett and purchased the farm now owned 
by his son, Lyman Potter. This farm was settled and cleared by Bensley 
Mann, father of Enoch Mann, now living in Syracuse. Nathaniel Potter 
died July 12, 1869. 

Levi Huntington settled on the farm on the same road which is still 
owned by his son Lewis. His other sons were Andrew, and Jeremiah, and 
he had three daughters. Silas Carpenter located on the farm adjoining the 
Huntington place. He was an excellent farmer and had a son Charles who 
taught school at the Hill, and a daughter Lois who married John Wright ; 



70 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



they live in the building that was formerly a hotel, opposite the court house 
site. 

On the other road running southward from the village Jeremiah Hunt- 
ington, brother of Lewis, cleared an excellent farm two miles south of the 
village. He had two sons, Edward and Asa, who died on the place. 

Walker Knapp lived many years on the next farm north. He was a 
pushing, energetic man and subsequently removed to a farm of two hun- 
dred acres a little east of the city, and fitted it up for the accommodation 
of drovers. He was a brother of Noah Knapp, who still lives at the Hill; 
and both were sons Eben K. Knapp, one of the pioneers of the town. 

Williams Partridge settled on the farm now occupied by DeWitt Ran- 
dall. He was a prominent farmer and connected conspicuously with the 
Presbyterian church. His sons were Edwin, Bidwell, Theodore, and 
George B. 

James Hutchinson was an early and prominent farmer two and a half 
miles west of the village. His sons were Orrin (father of Captain Charles 
Hutchinson) James, and Seth. The elder James died March 24, 1826, aged 
fifty-four years. Across the road settled Porter D. Lawrence, an excellent 
farmer, who is still living there. 

Ebenezer White was a pioneer west of the village and died April 10, 
1839, ^^ ^^^ ^S^ °^ seventy-five. His son was Royal White, who also lived 
west of the village, and died May 10, 1871, aged seventy-four years. 

Parley Howlett, father of Alfred A. Howlett, now of Syracuse, settled 
early about a mile west of Loomis Hill church. He was an energetic man 
and engaged successfully in meat packing and shipping from the west. He 
died on the farm May 18, 1861. 

John Morse, who died in 18 16, settled a mile west of the village. 

John Raynor, father of William and Jacob Raynor, both deceased, cleared 
and settled the farm now occupied by his son, John, a little southeasterly 
of the village and adjoining the Bensley Mann farm. 

Giles Cornish lived about four miles west of the Hill and was a histor- 
ical character. He was a professional surveyor and laid out much of the 
land in that vicinity; he was a Justice of the Peace and widely known. 

Levi Pitts settled west of the Hill in 1801. He was uncle to Levi Pitts, 
now living in Syracuse. He died January 20, 1856, aged ninety-one years. 

The Village on the Hill and, for that matter, the one in the Valley^ 
were bustling and thriving places for many years and he who should have 
predicted their early stagnation and decay would have been laughed at and 
scorned. But they were doomed. A little too far distant to be absorbed 
by the young Municipal Giant by the lakeside, and too proud in their 
strength of priority of settlement and possession of the county buildings, 
they neglected possible opportunities which would, maybe, have given them 
a prosperous future ; and the day of decline came. 



Early History of Sauna. 71 

As far as the Hill was concerned, this condition of its prospects was 
directly created when it was settled that the court house should be removed 
to the city. This was accomplished after much strife, (as related in another 
chapter of this work) in 18289, and soon afterward there was a hegira of 
leading men, lawyers, merchants, doctors, and others to Syracuse, and the 
village gradually took on its present quiet, peaceful, rural character. 



CHAPTER Vni. 

HISTORY OF SAUNA VILLAGE. 



Formation of the Town — Laying Out the First Village — The Tioneers of " Salt Point " — The 
First Dwellings — Isaac Van Vleck's Settlement — Natural Beauty of the Site — Unhealthfulness of 
the Lowlands — Difticulty of Obtaining Provisions — The First Grinding Mill — Indian .-Knecdotes — 
Elisha Alvord's Settlement — The First Krick Hnilding — Fears of British Invasion — The Hlock 
House — Sketches of Settlers — Mercantile Operations — Mechanics and their Shops — The Growing 
Salt Industry. 

LET us now turn our attention to events which had occurred on the 
shores of Onondaga Lake during the progress of the settlements 
described in the two preceding chapters, which resulted in the building up 
of the village of Salina into a thriving community, to become at a little 
later period an extremely active and aggressive rival of Syracuse and 
eventually to be absorbed to swell the importance of the present city. 

Going back to the year 1794, in which Onondaga county was organized 
we learn that the town of Salina, as briefly stated on an earlier page, was 
comprehended in the original towns of Manlius and Marcellus. From this 
latter territory the town of Onondaga was set off in 1798, and Camillus in 
1799. At the same time, that portion of the Salt Springs Reservation not 
included in the town of Onondaga and lying on the west side of the Lake 
and Creek, was attached to Camillus. In 1809 a triangular tract of territory 
containing nine and one half lots, was taken from the northwest corner of 
the town of Manlius, which tract, with the land embraced in the Salt Springs 
Reservation, formed the town of Salina. 

Within the boundaries of the town of Salina, as thus described, grew 
up first, the settlement and village of that name, then the settlement and 
hamlet of Geddes, and finally, the settlement and village to be subsequently 
named Syracuse, all of which, with more recently added territory, now con- 
stitute the city. 



^^ Memorial History of Syracuse. 

But previous to this, in 1797, the Surveyor-General was authorized by 
law to lay out a part of the Reservation in order to provide for the manu- 
facture of salt, and a portion of the marsh and upland was thus laid out 
and called " Salina." In the following year (1798) according to Act of Leg- 
islature, a village was laid out which also was called Salina. The language 
of this Act is as follows : 

" Be it enacted, that the Superintendent shall, on the grounds adjoining to the southeast side of 
Free street, so named on the map of the Salt Springs, made by the Surveyor-General, lay out a 
square for the village, consisting of sixteen blocks, each six chains square, with intermediate streets, 
conforming to the streets laid down on the said map, made by the Surveyor-General, and divide each 
lot into four house lots, and deliver a map and description thereof to the Surveyor-General," etc. 

The Act further provided that no lot should be sold for a less sum than 
forty dollars ; and that no lot on which was a building worth fifty dollars, 
should be liable to be sold, if the owner or occupant should agree to secure 
a deed for it, at the average price of other lots sold. 

We have already described in detail the arrival in Onondaga valley in 
1788 of Asa Danforth and Comfort Tyler, and their very limited operations 
in salt making in the same year. These salt springs were already quite well 
known, and it is not surprising, therefore, that within a very short period, 
men of foresight should have turned their attention towards those saline 
fountains bubbling from the earth in the midst of a great extent of territory 
then otherwise wholly unsupplied with salt, as probable sources of wealth. 
The salt springs were, undoubtedly, the chief incentive in bringing the 
pioneers to Salina. 

Almost simultaneously with the settlement of Tyler and Danforth in 
the Vallej-, the first settlers located their homes near the salt springs. Dur- 
ing the year 1789, and possibly in one or two instances in 1788, Nathaniel 
Loomis, Ilezekiah Olcutt, Asa Danforth, jr., John Danforth (brother of the 
pioneer in the Valley) Thomas Gaston, and a Deacon Loomis, whose chris- 
tian name we have been unable to learn, came to Salina and took up their 
permanent homes, and most of them soon became prominently identified 
with the young salt industry. 

Asa Danforth.jr., who came in 1789, was, without doubt, already initiated 
by his father into the mysteries of boiling brine in a kettle swung on a pole 
in the open air. Hezekiah Olcutt at a little later date became a member 
of the "Federal Company," organized for the express purpose of carrying 
on the manufacture of salt on a large scale. 

In 1790 Colonel Jeremiah Gould, with his three sons, Jereiniah, James, 
and Phares, and one daughter, caine from Westinoreland to Salina, (being 
most frequently called "Salt Point," a name that the old settlers still love 
to roll as a sweet philologic morsel under their tongues). The Gould 
family became quite a prominent one in the community and Jeremiah (the 
son) built the first frame house in 1792, which was also the first one in the 



Isaac Van Vleck's Settlement. 73 

county. The building of those early frame houses was somewhat peculiar 
and is thus described in Clark's "Onondaga:" Sills were laid, and posts set 
up at proper distances, and the beams and plates put in. Grooves two 
inches wide were cut in the posts, and sticks laid in horizontally, and the 
whole plastered up with mud, tempered with straw, which made very com- 
fortable dwellings. Chimneys were made of sticks and clay, and the fire 
places had no jams, only a plain stone wall on the back." 

In 1791 Samuel Jerome came from his home in Saratoga county on a 
tour of observation, visited the salt springs, and on his return took a little 
salt with him through the towns of Pompey, Fabius, Homer and Manlius, 
reporting to ready listeners that he had found the "promised land." This 
was the means of inducing several families to come to Salina to locate. A 
family named VVoodworth and another named Sturges,* of whom we have 
been unable to learn particulars, settled at Salina in 1791. 

On the 2d of March, 1792, Isaac Van Vleck arrived at Salina, coming 
from Kinderhook, Columbia county, with his wife and four children. This 
was the si.xth family to make a permanent home there. Mr. Van Vleck is 
given the credit of building the first arch for a kettle in which to boil salt. 
He was a conspicuous character at Salina until his death, which occurred 
about the year 1800. His son Abraham was born at Salina October 16, 
1792, and is believed to have been the first white child born within the pres- 
ent boundaries of Syracuse, and the first male child born in Onondaga 
county. About the time of his birth an Indian was accidentally drowned at 
Oswego Falls, and the grief of the dead man's friends bore so heavily upon 
them that they named Abraham, " Ne-un-hoo-tah," meaning, sorrow for the 
departed. He was always called thus by the Indians, whose friendship for 
him was unwavering. They gave him a mile square of land near the outlet 
of the lake, but the title was not recognized by the State. Abraham Van 
\'leck was born in what was afterwards called the " Schouton house," which 
was used later for a blacksmith shop, corner of E.xchange and Free streets. 
Isaac Van \'leck's family eventually consisted of three sons and three 
daughters ; the sons were Matthew, Abraham, and Henry. The latter re- 
moved to Illinois, where he died. Matthew became a prominent citizen 
and a large landowner; was a Member of Assembly in 1833, and Super- 
visor many years. He was owner of a large tract of land at Mud Lock, 
with three hundred acres now owned by Smiths, Powell & Lamb. He was 
killed on a hand car in a collision on the Syracuse and Oswego railroad. 

After Isaac Van Vleck's death his widow removed to Pittstown, Rens- 
selaer county, where Abraham learned his trade of tanner and currier, and 



* The absence of several given names and other minor details is much to be regretted, but una- 
voidable. The records of the town of Salina down to 1830. as well as most of those of the village, 
are missing, with the exception of scattering reports of otticials. How, when, or by whose careless- 
ness this calamity occurred, no one seems to know. To the historian the loss is a grievous one. 

10 



74 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



he followed it at Kinderhook. He came back to Salina in 1834 with his 
family, and died there in 1867. James Van Vleck, now living in Salina, 
and Isaac, living in Clay, are sons of Abraham. The late Mrs. O'Blennis 
was a daughter of the pioneer, Isaac Van Vleck, and before her death sup- 
plied memoranda to various persons of the early history of Salina. She 
stated that there were in Salina in 1792, besides those above mentioned, 
Josiah Olcutt, who was a surveyor and laid out several of the early roads, 
and James Peat. Nearly all of those who came here in early years were in 
some way connected with the salt industry, and located here with that end 
in view. 

In this year (1792) Phares Gould built what was then called a mud 
house. It was constructed by laying up narrow strips of boards flat-wise 
on the four sides, lapping the ends at the corners of the house, and filling 
between the boards with mud or clay. The roof was made of rough planks 
split from logs, running from the eaves to the peak. By the end of the 
year 1792 there had been built eight or nine dwellings, two of which were 
of mud, one frame (Jeremiah Gould's) and the others of logs. Three of 
these houses stood on what is now Salina street, (called m early times. 
Canal street) and as many more on Free street near Carbon, as those streets 
now appear. The latter were built either directly against each other, or 
very near, with an entrance for each. No sales of land had yet been made 
and settlers erected their rude houses wherever their fancy dictated. 

These few families thus far mentioned were, with the exception of 
Ephraim Webster, the pioneers of civilization in what is now Syracuse. 
Let us see what manner of country it was to which they had come, and 
what circumstances befell them in the early days of their wilderness life. 

Whether or not those men noted the fact, it is true that no fairer spot 
for a village or a city could be found in many a day's walk, than the grace- 
fully swelling slope that rises from the lake shore at that point. E.xcepting 
a few isolated spots (in one of which were situated the saline springs) this 
rounded, rising lake shore was covered with original forest, or a large second 
growth of timber, from among the shore-line shadows of which could be 
seen the placid lake and the distant wood crowned hillsides, now thickly 
studded with the dwellings, shops, ard stores of Geddes. This lake and the 
streams near by were filled with e.vcellent fish for the table, with the noble 
salmon first among them, and the surrounding forests abounded in game of 
various kinds. It was fortunate for the early settlers that this was the fact, 
for other provisions were for a few years very scarce and difficult to get" 
Such as could be obtained at all, came from Tioga, or Herkimer, or Whites- 
town, and were brought only in small quantities and at infrequent intervals. 
The settlers actually suffered at times for those articles necessary for whole. 
some food in connection with fish and game. On several occasions in 1792- 



Circumstances ok the Settlers. 75 

93, when there was a scarcity of provisions, boats were sent from " Salt 
Point " to Kinfjston, Canada, by way of Oswego, to procure the needed 
articles. Mr. Clark says, ("Onondaga," p. 140,) he was informed by old resi- 
dents " that they at different times procured bread, biscuits, salted meat and 
fish that were made and cured in England which, though of inferior quality, 
were nevertheless accepted with a relish which hunger never fails to give." 

It should be remembered that there were then no grist mills or saw mills in 
this section, the nearest saw mill being Asa Danforth's small affair near 
Jamesville, already described. The first corn raised or brought here was 
pounded into coarse meal in the top of a hollowed stump. But the scarcity 
of provisions ceased to exist after a few years. In those days deer were so 
plentiful that they often herded with the cows and came home with them 
at night. ]5cars, wolves, foxes, coons, and other small animals were also 
very numerous. Wolves and bears were often seen in the road leading to 
Cicero and exhibiting very little fear of man. The names of Bear and 
Wolf streets were derived from this circumstance. The Indians caught 
many )oung bears and traded them to the settlers, who in turn exchanged 
them for provisions with the river boatmen. Prominent among the earliest 
of these was a man known as Captain Canute who ran a boat hither from 
Albany, bringing in provisions, etc., in exchange for salt, furs, young bears 
and other animals ; for the latter he always found a ready market at the 
other end of his route. 

Such was the country and such the surrounding circumstances of the first 
settlers of Salina. During the year 1793 a number of families joined their 
fortunes with the little community at "Salt Point." Thomas Orman came 
and brought the first cauldron kettle in which to boil salt, and Aaron Bel- 
lows, a good cooper, was a welcome accession, as he could and did supply 
barrels to hold the staple product. Simon Phares (followed in 1796 by An- 
drew Phares) and William Gilchrist also located there in that year. The 
latter has been given credit for having kept the first public house ; but it is 
certain that Elam Schouton kept a tavern earlier (1791-92) and was succeeded 
by Isaac Van Vleck in 1793. Andrew Phares was Justice of the Peace 
from 1808 to 1 82 1, and held a military ofifice. He, with his wife and daugh- 
ter Lois, then one year old, made a journey to New Brunswick, N. J., on 
horseback in the year 1812, when there was no wagon road over much of 
the route. Andrew I'hares removed to Geddes at a later date. 

During the year under consideration (1793) Isaac Van Vleck rendered 
the little settlement a great service by journeying to Albany and returning 
with a large grinding mill, which he set up in Mr. Bellows's cooper shop, 
and thither all the families came to grind their corn. In the same year 
John Danforth, a brother of v\sa Danforth, built the second frame house in 
the place, and about the same time Isaac Van Vleck and Asa Danforth, jr., 



•]6 Memorial History ok Syracuse. 

built better dwellings for themselves. The lumber for these structures was 
brought in batteaux from Little Falls and Tioga Point, and the nails came 
from Albany. 

One of the early settlers at Green Point was a Mr. Lamb. The follow- 
ing anecdote concerning the family was related by Mrs. O'Blennis: In the 
year 1793, when Mr. Lamb's daughter was about fourteen years old, she 
was left in his rude house alone while he attended to his farm. Mr. Lamb 
heard a noise in the house and approaching, saw a young Indian kissing 
his daughter and taking liberties with her. Lamb killed the Indian on the 
spot, and fled to the Salina settlement for safety. The Indians declared 
they must have his life, according to their custom. The people called the 
chiefs together and, w'ith Webster as interpreter, related the circumstances 
of the occurrence. A council was called at Salina (the last one held there) 
and Kiacdote stepped into the ring, threw ofT his blanket, gave three 
whoops and made a motion with both hands at the same time. The mean- 
ing of this performance was, " pay strict attention." He then related the 
circumstances to the tribe, and said it was the first time an Indian had ever 
been known to insult a white squaw. Although they had had many pris- 
oners of white blood, no Indian had ever been found so low as to degrade 
himself and tribe by insulting a white squaw until this occurrence. He de- 
clared that the killing was justifiable, and that Mr. Lamb must not be pun- 
ished. His decision was adopted, providing that Mr. Lamb would pay 
to the relatives of the Indian killed, a three-year-old heifer, which was to 
cement peace and good-will between the posterity of both parties forever. 
The Indian was buried where he was killed. 

The progress of the little settlement thus far will be understood by the 
fact that at the close of the year 1793 there were only si.xty-three persons in 
the community, and of these, more than twenty were ill. No sooner had 
the early settlers taken up their homes here, than the fact developed that 
it was a most unhealthy locality. The decaying vegetation of the marshes 
which were alternately overflowed and then left to give out their deadly 
vapors, and perhaps other conditions not so well understood, caused an 
alarming prevalence of fevers of the various types, and the resultant sick- 
ness and mortality were frightful. Often there were not enough well per- 
sons in the community to properly care for the sick. Under these circum- 
stances the Indians were exceedingly kind and lightened the burdens of 
many families. Dr. Molbrook, who had settled at Janiesville, probably as 
the first physician in Onondaga county, came over daily and was very faith- 
ful in ministering to the sick. Dr. Burnett was probably the first physician 
to locate in Salina (1797) and during his residence contributed not a little 
to the healthfulness of the people. 

It is a question that is, perhaps, open to discussion, whether the new 



TiiK First Bru k Huh. ding. 



n 



settlement would not have been depopulated on this account before the 
beginning of the century, had it not been for the stimulating incentive of 
the probable future importance of the place and wealth to its inhabitants 
through the medium of salt. By about the year iSoo these prevalent fevers 
were much reduced by drainage of the lowlands, but they were not wholly 
dispelled until the outlet of the lake was lowered in 1821-22. The Hon. 
Thomas G. Alvord states that as late as 1830 he has seen the canal bridge 
covered with persons just well enough to get out of doors, leaning on the 
railings to get the benefit of the sunshine. 

But in spite of all obstacles, "Salt Point" grew in population. Such 
was its destiny. In 1794 came hither Elisha Alvord, to be joined four 
years later by his brother, Dioclesian. Both of these men became promi- 
nent citizens and foremost in developing the infant salt industry, as detailed 
in the chapter devoted to that interest. They were from Farmington, 




THE OLD ALVORD BUILDINC. 



Conn. Immediately upon his arrival in the new settlement Elisha Alvord 
made his presence felt. He engaged in the salt industry and acquired the 
honor of erecting the first permanent structure under which salt was manu- 
factured. In 1806, he was appointed to lay out what was called the "Salt 
Road," extending from Salina north through Cicero and on to Sackett's 
Harbor. In 1808 he and his brother built the first brick building within 
the present limits of Syracuse, which is still standing on the southeasterly 
corner of Salina and Exchange streets. The brick for this building, were 
made by David Marshall on the banks of the Yellow Brook near where it 
crossed South Salina street, between Jefferson and Onondaga streets, and 
the stone in the cellar were quarried in the line of what is now Center street 



78 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



in the First ward. The Alvord Brothers kept a hotel for a few years in 
this brick building. At the organization of the town in 1809, Elisha Al- 
yord was elected Supervisor, and rose in the militia service to the office of 
First Major. He was largely instrumental in the organization of the "F"ed- 
eral Company" in Salina for the more extensive manufacture of salt. The 
company was composed of himself, with Jedediah Sanger, of Oneida, 
Thomas Hart, Ebenezer Butler, of Pompey, Hezekiah Olcutt, Daniel 
Keeler, and Asa Danforth. Owing to disagreements this company was 
bought out by Mr. Ah'ord and his brother after about two years, and their 
interests were thus combined. Mr. Alvord removed from the county in 
May, 1 81 3, and died in July, 1S46, at Lansingburg. Dioclesian Alvord died 
in Salina March 10, 1868, aged ninety-two years. The Hon. Thomas G. 
Alvord, of Syracuse, is a son of Elisha. 

During the year 1793 the little settlement at Salina became fearful of 
active antagonism and possible assault by hostile Indians, and perhaps by 
the British in Canada. The western Indians were then at war with the 
settlers in Ohio and Indiana and the belligerent feeling reached eastward to 
some extent among the si.x nations. A little later, about the beginning of 
1794, fears of incursions by the British became more prevalent even than 
dread of the Indians' attack. The principal event that led to these appre- 
hensions occurred in the spring of 1794, when Sir John Johnson had been 
passing from Albany to Oswego with a boat load of supplies for his Mohawk 
settlement, then recently made on Grand River, and had been waylaid and 
plundered near Three River Point by a party of some thirty or forty men. 
Johnson, highly incensed, proceeded to Oswego, where the British garrison 
was still kept, and there related the story of his wrongs. This at once 
aroused the ire of the British officers, and it was forthwith determined that 
Johnson and Brant should at once raise a body of soldiers and Indians in 
Canada and make a sudden descent upon the Onondaga settlements, where 
it was presumed most of the aggressors resided. Indians soon gathered in 
considerable numbers in the vicinity of Niagara and Oswego, and it was 
reported that five hundred Messasagues were on their way to destroy the 
settlements in this county. At this time, too, a number of disaffected 
Onondagas had joined the western Indians against General Wayne, expect- 
ing he would be defeated, as had been his predecessors, Generals Harmer 
and St. Clair, in which case they were all to return and with the remaining 
Onondagas assist the common enemy in the destruction of the Onondaga 
settlements. 

The action of the liritish garrison at Oswego in assuming the right to 
collect duties on all American boats passing the fort was the exciting cause 
of the Americans committing the act complained of. The British had 
employed spies to give notice of any boat designing to "run" the fort, and 



Fears of Militakv Invasion. 79 

through this agency several had been seized and confiscated. Two of the 
spies had been captured by the Americans and publicly whipped at Salina. 
No active military collision occurred, however, and affairs became settled 
under the treaty with Great Britain in the following year. 

But while the troubled circumstances existed, the little hamlet at Salt 
Point was in a state of dread and foreboding. Many families there, as well 
as at other places in the valley, thought seriously of leaving the borders. 
For consultation upon the situation a meeting was held in Onondaga Val- 
ley and, as a result, Johnson Russell was sent to Albany to explain the 
situation to Governor Clinton. In response to this appeal for protection, 
the Governor sent General William Worth, General Stephen VanRen.sselaer 
and Adjutant-General David Vanllorne to visit Baron Steuben at his home 
in Oneida county and with him proceed to Onondaga county. These men 
belonged to a Commission which had been appointed by the Legislature 
for the erection of such fortifications on the frontier as should be deemed 
necessary. The sum of /■ 12,000 was appropriated for this purpose. They 
came to Onondaga Valley, stopped with Mr. Morehouse, reviewed the coun- 
ty military force and then proceeded to Salina. After an examination of 
the locality, they recommended the erection of a Block House. A Com- 
mittee of Public Safety was named, consisting of Moses DeWitt, Isaac Van- 
Vleck, Thomas Orman, Simon Phares, and John Danforth. These men, 
in company with Baron Steuben and several military officers, staked out the 
ground for the structure and Major Asa Danforth and Major Moses DeWitt 
were authorized to superintend the erection of the block house. The site 
chosen was on the bluff at a point just across to the northerly side and on 
the right of the present Oswego canal bridge, nearly in front of the pump 
house. 

The block house was built by Cornelius Higgins, who finished it before 
the beginning of the year 1795. It was made of oak timbers hewed square, 
and was surrounded by a high palisade of cedar posts. The building was 
about twenty feet high and was pierced with square port holes through 
which to fire upon an enemy. It was manned by a volunteer company 
called the "Grenadiers," whose headquarters had been at Onondaga llill. 
A six-pounder cannon and other arms and munitions were supplied by the 
State commissary. The old block house was not long occupied as a mili- 
tary post, the necessity for it passing away, and it subsequently served a 
more peaceful purpose as a State storehouse for salt. 

It is, of course, impossible to follow in detail the arrival and settlement 
of every one of the pioneers of Salina ; such a task is especially difficult in 
the absence of records. But brief notes have been obtained regarding most 
of those who attained to any early prominence in the community. 

Benajah Byington came in before the beginning of the present century 



8o Memorial History of Syracuse. 

and devoted his energies to the salt industry. He spent portions of many 
years boring wells on the high ground away from the lake shore, in the be- 
lief that he would strike a bed of rock salt. In this manner he lost much 
valuable time and considerable money. He died February i8, 1854. 

David Brace came to Salina in 1794, and himself and descendants be- 
came prominent in the history of the village. Horace Brace, brother of 
David, was also an early settler. Both were merchants for many years. 
When a boy David Brace carried the mail on horseback from Onondaga 
Valley to Oswego, finding his way through the wilderness by marked trees. 

Oris Curtis was a pioneer as early, probably, as 1795. He was father of 
Fisher Curtis, who became quite prominent as a merchant and manufacturer. 
Fisher Curtis was at one time a partner in mercantile business with Elisha 
Alvord, and he also had a store alone on the corner of Free and Spring 
streets. He was elected the first President of the village in 1824 and was 
Town Clerk in 18 10. The Curtis family came from Farmington, Conn. 
Oris Curtis died when only thirty-eight years old, on January 23, 1804. 
Fisher Curtis died at fifty-one years of age on the 27th of April, 183 1. 

In 1795 the first regular store was opened by Benjamin Carpenter. He 
traded in furs, trinkets, ammunition, etc., with the Indians, and in general 
goods with the settlers. He died at Salina and his widow removed west. 

Judge William Stevens, who was the first Salt Superintendent, lived at 
Salina before 1795, and in connection with Mr. Gilchrist and Isaac Van 
Vleck, took the preliminary steps in 1795 for placing a duty on the manu- 
facture of salt. Mr. Stevens died in 1801. 

Ryal Bingham was the first Justice of the Peace at Salina and came 
there from Three River Point about 1796. 

William Kellogg settled there probably before 1800, and died on the 21st 
of March, 1819, aged si.xty years. He came from Vermont. Hewasfather 
of Ashbel Kellogg, one of the able men of the place and a well known 
surveyor. He lived and died on the corner of Bear and Lodi streets. 
Ashbel Kellogg's daughter became the wife of the Hon. Thomas G. Alvord. 

Thaddeus Ball, who died on the 15th of January, 18 15, must have located 
before 1800. His sons were James and "Jack", the latter being honored 
with the office of Salt Inspector. He finally removed south to New 
Orleans and established coarse salt fields there. The widow of Thaddeus 
Ball married James Matthews, brother of Samuel R. Matthews. 

Thomas Wheeler was a prominent Salina pioneer at about the beginning 
of the century, and died March 30, 1862, at the age of eighty-one years. 
He was also a practical surveyor and kept a store on the north side of the 
canal, where most of the early business was carried on. His wife was a 
daughter of John J. Mang, who was probably the first German to settle 
there. Mr. Wheeler was also interested in salt manufacturing. His sister 
married Dioclesian Alvord. 





1/ 



-c 



Growth of the Village. 



Tchabod Brackett reached Salina about 1800 and became a leading mer- 
chant and accumulated wealth through his business ability and shrewdness. 
He was also interested in the salt industry. He built a dwelling and store 
combined, on the corner of E.xchange and Park streets. He died Oct. 1832. 

The foregoing names embrace nearly all who settled at Salina previous 
to the beginning of the century, and who became at all prominent in the 
history of the place. Quite a large portion of the settlers during this pe- 
riod and for many years afterward, were laboring men, possessing little else 
than sturdy muscles to give them position in the community ; the record of 
their lives has passed away, except as their deeds have left an imperishable 
impress on the general prosperity of the place. 

During the first decade of the present century the village increased 
considerably, keeping pace with the increasing magnitude of the salt indus- 
try, but its most rapid growth was during the succeeding ten years. In the 
entire absence of the records of this period, we are obliged to confine these 
brief annals, down to the incorporation of the village (1824) to such matters 
as could be gathered from the few old residents of the village who are living. 

Among those men who located at Salina to carry on some kind of busi- 
ness during the period just preceding, or soon after, the incorporation of 
the town (1809) may be mentioned the following: 

Richard Goslin had a store on the north side of Free street and was at 
ore time a partner of Elisha Alvord. Richard C. Johnson also kept a store 
in that vicinity and near the pump house. Isham West located early as a 
hatter, on Salina street, where John Bierhardt is now established. West's 
sister married Fisher Curtis. Davenport Morey was one of the early mer- 
chants and also started a distillery near the site of the present Excelsior 
Mills. In connection with Ashbel Kellogg he also had a brewery at the 
foot of Bear street. He afterwards established a distiller}- where the Green- 
way brewery is located. Mr. Morey 's daughter was the second wife of the 
late Vivus W. Smith. 

Samuel P. Smith was a cabinet maker (probably the first of any promi- 
nence). His shop was on Exchange street near Salina. 

Thomas ^IcCarthy settled at Salina in 1808 and won the foremost po- 
sition as a merchant and salt manufacturer. His early store was located 
on Free street. He also attained prominence in public affairs ; was a 
Member of Assembly one term ; Trustee of the village many years, and one 
of the directors of the first bank established there. Mr. McCarthy was 
father of the late Dennis McCarthy, one of the leading merchants and 
public men of Syracuse. 

David W. HoUister settled in Salina in 1808. He carried on a bakery 
for a time and later became a prominent man. He built the first saw-mill 
at Geddes, where he afterward lived. He held the ofifice of Poor-Master 
II 



82 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

and was a soldier in the war of 1812 at Oswego. His son, the late James 
W. Holh'ster, who was Deputy Sheriff 1865 to 1877, was born at Geddes in 
the year 1822. 

Dean Richmond's father and his uncles, John and Anson Richmond, 
came to Salina from Vermont before 1810, and were connected with the 
salt industry. Anson died of cholera in 1834. Dean Richmond resided at 
Salina for a period and was interested in boating operations, and at a later 
date as a merchant on Exchange street. He was a man of great capacity 
and, as is well known, eventually became one of the leading railroad presi- 
dents in the country, with his residence in Batavia. 

Hon. William D. Stewart, son of David Stewart, was one of the noted 
men of Syracuse. He was born at Salt Point in 1805, and was soon forced 
to depend upon his own efforts for a livelihood. After the school attend- 
ance of his youth he was employed in the old Eagle Tavern for two years, 
and then was employed by Philo D. Mickles, who was running a boat be- 
tween Salt Point and Oswego. Later he worked as tavern clerk, and was 
connected with some of the early stage lines. In 1829-30 he took up salt 
manufacture. The Erie canal was now open and transportation facilities 
were not equal to the demand upon them. Mr. Stewart saw his opportunity 
and fitted up a packet boat which he commanded with great success for 
seventeen years. He then conducted the Welland House in Oswego two 
years, after which he came to Syracuse and became the proprietor of the 
famous Syracuse House, which attained its greatest popularity under his 
management. During the ten years of his proprietorship the Syracuse 
House was one of the best and most widely known hotels in the country. 
In 1865 Captain Stewart was elected Mayor of the city by the Democrats 
and was re-elected the two following years. In this and other positions held 
by him, he sustained his reputation as an honest and capable citizen. He 
died on April 9, 1874. 

Russell Buckley was another early boatman and is said to have carried 
the first boat-load of salt through the Erie canal to Utica. His son, Chris- 
topher, was one of the unfortunate victims of the Canadian rebellion and 
was executed. 

The town of Salina was incorporated in 1809 and the first town meet- 
ing was held at the house of Cornelius Schouton, on the nth of March of 
that year, when the following ofificers were elected: Elisha Alvord, Super- 
visor, and Fisher Curtis, Town Clerk; Rufus Danforth, Martin Wandle, 
Richard C. Johnson, Henry Bogardus, Assessors; Michael Mead, William 
Buckley, jr., and Jonathan Fay, Commissioners of Highways. In 1810 
Cyrel Hunt was elected Supervisor, and Fisher Curtis, Town Clerk; Rufus 
Danforth, Daniel Wheadon, Nathan D'Lamater, Asses.sors. The early 
elections were held one day in Geddes, one-half day at Liverpool, closing 



Sai.ina in riiK War ok 1812. 83 



with a day at Salina ; and later, down to 1846, they were held one-half 
day at Gcddes, one-half day at Liverpool, one day in Syracuse, with the 
last day in Salina. The polls in this village were held in the old Eagle 
Tavern. 

The salt industry, the key to the prosperity of the place, at the begin- 
ning of the 19th century began to assume large proportions. That neces- 
sary commodity brought a high price during the next few years, and the 
market was practically unlimited. While there was no manufacturing of 
any account outside of salt, that in itself was sufficient to engross the atten- 
tion of a large portion of the inhabitants. Mercantile operations also 
multiplied and a general air of thrift and growth characterized the village 
during this period. The opening of the middle section of the canal in 
1820, and the cutting of the lateral canal to the salt works in the same year 
gave still further stimulus to the community. 

The war of 1812 had little appreciable effect on the community in a 
business way, but it excited the apprehensions of the inhabitants to a con- 
siderable e.xtent, who anticipated a possible invasion by the British by way 
of Oswego. Communication by water to Lake Ontario was comparatively 
easy and it was considered extremely probable that the fort at Oswego 
might be captured. It was on this account that a man-of-war was built at 
Sacketts Harbor (but never entirely finished) and the old Arsenal was erect- 
ed at the Valley. American soldiers passed through Salina on their way to 
the frontier, which fact tended to further stimulate their apprehensions. 
But with the close of the war, all fears from this source permanently 
disappeared. 

Elizur Clark came to Salina in 1823 and from his memory we are able to 
give a reliable account of the situation in the village at that date. Several 
years previous to Mr. Clark's arrival, Henry Seymour, father of the Hon. 
Horatio Seymour, and Sylvester Peck had built a saw mill about on the 
site of the present chemical works. This mill was then operated by water 
brought in a ditch from Onondaga creek near the Chlorine springs, where a 
low dam turned a portion of the water into the ditch. The mill had two 
upright saws and a general lumber business was carried on. It was the first 
of the kind in what is now Syracuse. This old mill was burned in 1840 
and a new one erected, which was taken down in 1S52, and a steam mill 
was then built containing a gang of upright saws, a circular saw, a planer, 
and other machinery. In 1834 Mr. Clark began business for himself under 
lease from Mr. Seymour, and was for a time in partnership with Horatio 
Seymour. In 1846 Mr. Clark purchased the entire business and subse- 
quently sold one-half to the Hon. Thomas G. Alvord, and the firm of Clark 
& Alvord carried on the business until 1863, when it ceased. The mill 
property was rented to the Salt Company of Onondaga, and it was de- 



84 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

stroyed by fire about 1876. Mr. Clark has been prominently identified with 
the salt industry, director in the Salt Springs bank, and a trustee of the 
Syracuse Savings bank; was one of the first Aldermen from the First ward 
of the city, and represented his district in the Legislature in 1863. 

In 1823 there were about twenty general stores in Salina, many of which 
have been alluded to. One of the leading establishments was that of Wil- 
liam Clark, which was on the westerly side of the Oswego canal near the 
site of the present State reservoir, on Free street. Most of the business of 
the place was then congregated in that locality. Mr. Clark bought the old 
brick hotel, (heretofore described as having been built by Elisha Alvord in 
1808) now used by Horace P. Freeman. Thomas McCarthy's store was 
near Mr. Clark's. Ezra M. Knapp located there about 1822 and built the 
old distillery already described and also a flouring mill near it, which was 
burned. He had a store at a later date on Salina street. 

The old Eagle Tavern was an ancient institution conducted as early as 
1810 by Jonathan R. Beach. He was an excellent player on the violin and 
for many years was a teacher of dancing and polite behavior for Salt Point 
and its vicinity. He was afterwards a merchant of the firm of Beach & 
Foot. He died some years ago, beloved and honored by all. The Eagle 
Tavern was afterwards owned by Mrs. Field and managed by her son, Al- 
bert. It stood about opposite the site of the street car barns, on Salina 
street. Richard Sanger, father of Augustus H. Sanger, kept this house a 
long time and was a prominent citizen. Another hotel stood near the car 
barn site on the eastern side of Salina street, which was kept for a period 
by Augustus H. Scoville. These buildings and others in that vicinity were 
of wood, and were all burned in the destructive fire of 1856. 

Alonzo Crippen had a grocery on Free street and engaged in salt making. 
He subsequently built the brick building on the site of the Moj-er wagon 
works. 

The firm of Williams & Co., composed of Coddington, Gordon, and 
Frank Williams, had a store near the canal, which t-hey eventually removed 
and then built on Exchange street a brick structure which is still standing. 
Ira H. Williams, a brother of Frank, subsequently bought out the others. 
Hezekiah Barnes, Noah Wood, Jeremiah Stevens, Richmond, Marsh & 
Clark, Barnes & Fifield, Hunter Crane, Felt & Barlow, Crane & Risley, 
Williams & Allen, James Lynch, and others, had stores on Exchange street, 
after it was opened in 1827-28. 

Asa Foot and Roger Bates were a firm of early blacksmiths, and later 
Mr. Foot had a shop alone on the site of the Kearney brewery. 

Christopher Nott was a wagon-maker on Carbon street, and Albert 
B. Congdon was a carpenter and builder who lived in later years in the 
central part of the city. He was killed by a run-away horse, in September, 



TlIK I'OUNDIXG OF GkDDES. 8S 



1880. Seth Castle was also a carpenter who lived at about this time, ami 
died in January, 1872. 

Deacon Stanton P. Babcock came early to Salina from Connecticut. 
He was a wealthy citizen and his son, who had preceded him, was at one 
time a partner in mercantile business with Ira H. Williams. Deacon Bab- 
cock died April 7, 1857, aged seventy-eight years. 

Charles O. Holbrook, who was for many years a clerk for Dioclesian 
Alvord and Thomas McCarthy, reached Salina at an early date. He was a 
son of Dr. Holbrook, whom we have before mentioned, and lived in the 
house now occupied by Widow Maloney, corner of First North and Bear 
streets, which is one of the oldest dwellings of the old village. 

John G. Forbes was about, if not quite, the first lawyer to locate in 
Salina and became a prominent figure in its history. He was considerable of 
a politician and served in the Assembly in 1S25. He entered the militia as 
Lieutenant in Col. Thaddeus M. Wood's regiment in May, 1S09, and was 
gradually promoted to the office of Colonel in 1817. He resigned in 1820. 
He removed to Syracuse in later years, and died there. 

Enos D. Hopping practiced law at Salina at a little later date. He was 
a brother-in-law of Dean Richmond, was appointed Brigadier-General of the 
Volunteers by President Polk and died in camp at Mier while in command 
there during the Mexican war. Dr. Daniels was one of the first physicians 
who practiced in Salina. 

This record brings the history of Salina down to its incorporation as a 
village, its continuation after that event being reserved for a later chapter. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE SETTLEMENT OE (lEODES. 

Sketch of James Geddes— Opening New Roads— The First Salt Works at Geddes— Map of the 
Early Village— Biographical Sketches of Pioneers— Early Merchants and Mechanics -Growth of the 
Village — Prominent Builders. 

TAMES GEDDES was born on the 22d, day of July, 1763, near Carlisle, 
I Pa., and was of Scotch descent. As a boy he made the most of his limit- 
ed opportunities for acquiring knowledge, and from the time he reached his 
majority he taught school much of the time until he was thirty years old. 



86 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

In 1793 the spreading fame of the Onondaga Salt Springs drew him hither 
and the prospect was so gratifying to him that he returned home, organized 
a company for the manufacture of salt, and early in 1794 came on by way 
of Seneca lake to the site of Geddes (which derives its name from him) 
bringing with him kettles, etc., and began the first operations of the salt 
industry in that locality. The other members of the company followed in 
June of the same year, and the little settlement thus formed was given the 
name of Geddes. The salt works were located near the lake shore, which 
then overflowed a large area of the present lowlands. In 1798 Mr, Geddes 
removed to Fairmount, in the present town of Camillus, where he settled 
upon land acquired by him from the State, which remained his home until his 
death. Very soon after his settlement, Mr. Geddes was called upon to fill a 
public station, and from that time forward his energies were almost wholly 
given to official work of various kinds. Being employed by the Surveyor- 
General as an assistant, he took up that profession and made it his chief life- 
work, in which he rendered the State the most valuable services in survey- 
ing the canal, as elsewhere described. He was appointed a Justice of the 
Peace in 1800 and in 1804 was elected to the Legislature. In 1809 he was 
appointed Associate Justice and in 1812 a Judge of Onondaga County 
Common Pleas. In 1S13 he was elected to Congress and in 1821 was again 
sent to the Legislature. After a life of great usefulness he died at his home 
August 19, 1S38. He was the father of seven children, one of whom was 
the late Hon. George Geddes. 

Such is a brief sketch of the founder and the founding of the village 
which finally became and now is a part of the city of Syracuse. It will be 
noted that the settlement at the head of the lake was begun only a few 
years after that at Salina, and long before any one had thought of a village 
on the site of Syracuse. 

At the time of the settlement. Judge Geddes found a rude road extend- 
ing from Salina to Onondaga Hollow. This was the only means of com- 
munication with either that point or Salina and Judge Geddes and his as- 
sociates saw the necessity of connecting with it by a new road. By the aid 
of a fund then in the hands of Commissioners, and by large contributions, a 
good road was constructed connecting with the Salina and Onondaga 
Hollow road.* Mr. Clark in his " Onondaga," p. 151, says of another early 
road attributed to Judge Geddes: "One of the earliest, and greatest im- 
provements about the village of Geddes, was the making of a road from 



* \Vc have been unable to trace the line of this highway: but it is quite probable, according to 
the belief of old settlers, that it followed near the line of the Seneca Turnpike (now Genesee street); 
for that was the most natural course for a roadway, and as such would be the one most likely to be 
selected by Judge Geddes. Just how or where it joined any road then e.xisting between the " Hol- 
low " and Syracuse we cannot determine, nor is it very important. 



Early Punuc Improvements. 87 



that place to Salina. The ground over which the road was to pass, was a 
perfect ([uagmire, filled with thick cedar timber and low brush-wood. It 
was so miry, so thick with underbrush, and so much covered with water 
that it was completely impassable and could not be surveyed by the ordi- 
nary methods. In this case the surveyor set his compass at the house of 
Samuel R. Mathews, at Salina, and took the bearing of Mr. Hugh's chim- 
ney, above the trees, and from this observation the route of the road was 
commenced by cutting brush and laying them crosswise on the line of the 
road and covering them with earth. The process was slow, but time and 
perseverance has accomplished the work, and an excellent road, perfectly 
straight between the two villages, is the result." 

This road ran nearly or quite on the line of the present road across the 
marshes. 

In these works, which were more or less for the general public good, the 
people who had located at Salina evinced no interest, and it was recorded 
that they were somewhat jealous of the incipient salt works of the Pennsyl- 
vania Company at Geddes. If this is true, it could not have endured long, 
for the market for salt was soon found to be greater than could be supplied. 

But the Indians were certainly jealous. They claimed an exclusive priv- 
ilege of the use of the salt springs at the head of the lake. Through the 
influence of Ephraim Webster a council was called and Judge Geddes was 
present. After due deliberation he was adopted into the tribe and given 
the name of "Donda-dah-gwah," thus solving the problem in a peculiarly 
Indian fashion. 

The next settler at Geddes was Freeman Hughs who came from West- 
field, Mass., when eighteen years of age. There was then not a single 
house in the town of Geddes, except at the salt works, and they had been 
abandoned. Mr. Hughs became a prominent citizen, especially in the later 
operations in salt, and was a Justice of the Peace. Hebuilt the house where 
Col. W. R. Chamberlain now lives. He died in Geddes at the age of sev- 
enty-five years, on the 29th of August, 1856. His son James was the first 
child born at Geddes. 

In 1807 Judge Geddes made a map of the "village laid out atthe settle- 
ment commonly called Geddes Works, Onondaga county, with the pasture 
and marsh lot belonging to the manufacturers at said village." This map 
was made for William Kirkpatrick, then Salt Superintendent, and is on file 
in the Surveyor-General's office. This map shows about twenty lots on 
both sides of what is now Genesee street. The village was re-surveyed and 
mapped by Judge Geddes in 1812, and in 1821 the map was enlarged. In 
1822 John Randel, jr., laid out the village substantially as it now appears. 
The streets were laid out one hundred feet wide. 

Isaac Fharis came to Geddes in 1811 while young and afterwards mar- 



88 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

ried Lavina Root. He subsequently bought a lot on Emerson avenue, 
(formerly Orchard street) and spent his life there. He died July 14, 1845, 
aged forty-nine years. His sons were Charles E., Isaac R., Mills P., and 
Sheldon P. The first three of these have been prominent in the history of 
Geddes. Mills P. Pharis, who still lives there, was connected with the salt 
industry nearly forty years, during nineteen of which he was in State em- 
ploy as Inspector. He manufactured quite largely and built blocks. I. R. 
Pharis was also prominently identified with the industry and was a man of 
ability. He died in October, 1889. Charles E. was also in the salt business 
and one of the leading men in the American Dairy Salt Company. He 
died September 13, 1877, aged fifty-eight. Sheldon P. was engaged in boat- 
ing a few years, when he went to California and engaged alone in the man- 
ufacture of shingles and lumber in the mountains, overcoming almost insur- 
mountable obstacles and accumulating wealth. When he died, March i, 
1884, he owned nearly 6000 acres of land in California, besides much other 
property. 

Jacob Sammons, a veteran of the Revolutionary war, lived at Geddes in 
the early part of the century, and died there in 1815. His son, Thomas, 
served in the war of 1812, and was a boatman and salt-maker at Geddes. He 
died in 1876 at the age of eighty-two years. 

The Root family into which Isaac Pharis married, had an eventful expe- 
rience. The father with his family started for the Western Reserve from 
Connecticut in 1810 with an ox team. Reaching Buffalo, an acquaintance 
induced them to hire a farm and remain there. Two years later, when the 
British came across and sacked Buffalo, the family fled to Batavia and Mr. 
Root soon returned to Connecticut. He afterwards went west to the Re- 
serve, but his sons, Jesse, Erastus, and Jonathan, and daughters, Nancy, 
Lavina, (who married Isaac Pharis) Sally, and Maria settled at Geddes. 
When the village was mapped the public square was laid out and a lot was 
reserved for school purposes east of the park. There, in a very primitive 
school house, Nancy Root taught a very early, if not the first, school in the 
village. The old school house was displaced ere many years by a brick one 
and there Simeon Spaulding taught in 1825. Mr. Spaulding was an early 
resident of the place, was Justice of the Peace and highly esteemed. 

James Lamb settled at Geddes in 1803 and built the first frame house 
in that year and kept a tavern until after the war of 1812. It stood on the 
site of Dr. A. L. Whedon's present home on Genesee street. He came 
from near Seneca lake and died in Geddes. 

Simeon Phares was a soldier of the Revolution and located at Geddes in 
1803. He was a brother of Andrew, who settled in Salina. Simeon built 
a log house where the Lake Shore house now stands and lived there until 
his death about the year 1820. His wife was Anna, daughter of James 



Early Mkkciiants and Manufacturers. 89 

Lamb, the pioneer tavern keeper. Simeon Phares engaged in salt making 
with Thomas Orman, another Salina pioneer. Orman used to go back and 
forth, as others doubtless did, between Geddes and Salina in a canoe, and 
the place where he habitually moored his craft near the site of the present 
pump house, was then called " Orman's Landing." John Y. Phares, who 
is still living at Geddes, son of Simeon, was born August 22, 1810, and 
was the second child born at Geddes, and has always lived there, doing bus- 
iness as a shoemaker. Me learned his trade with John Sanborn, who was 
the first resident shoemaker in the place and had his shop just east of the 
site of Dr. Whedon's house. 

Andrew Phares, a brother of John Y., also learned the shoemaker's trade 
and died at South Onondaga. But long before he began shoe-making he 
taught what was doubtless the first school at Geddes, in a log house that 
stood near the site of the present school house. This honor has been ac- 
credited to Xancy Root (as above noted) but her mother did not come here 
to live until after the close of the war of 1812-14 and there was certainly a 
school taught there previous to that date. 

One of the earliest merchants was John Dodge who had a store where 
Dr. Flint's house now stands. Dodge afterwards, and before 1824, built a 
store on the line of the canal, where the Gere block now stands, and carried 
on business there. He subsequently removed from the place. 

Charles L. Skinner in company with Joseph Shepard kept a store in the 
Dodge building after Dodge left it, and in 1S31 built for himself on the site 
of the present Geddes House. 

Li 1825 Sheldon Pardee kept a store at the end of Furnace street (now 
West Fayette) and in 183 1, Charles Pardee, his brother, put up a building 
on the site of the present street railroad building. He was a resident of 
Skaneateles. 

Joel Dickinson was an early merchant in the old "Green" store, on the 
canal. He failed and James H. Mann, son of James Mann (who has been 
mentioned in our history of Onondaga Hill,) came and helped to continue 
the business for a time ; but both finally gave it up. Dickinson was son-in- 
law of Mann. 

David Vrooman was here very early. He was a carpenter and hewed the 
timbers used in the construction of the old salt reservoir before 1812. He 
married Nancy Root. 

Noah Smith was another pioneer in the salt industry at Geddes, going 
there before 1812. He removed to Phcenix in 1833 and died there in De- 
cember, 1 86 1. 

In 1 8 19 a road was opened running from the site of the present Meth- 
odist church to Onondaga Hill. This highway is nearly abandoned. In 
1S19 on the site of the Methodist church, Andrew Wilson kept a tavern. 
12 



90 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Charles Carpenter came to Geddes first in 1812, but went away and after- 
wards returned and took up his permanent residence in 1816. He was 
prominently identified with the salt industry, was Inspector for a period, 
and was a Justice of the Peace. He first lived in a log house that stood 
directly in what is now Willis avenue, very near the line of Genesee street. 
Mr. Carpenter is still living at the age of ninety years. 

Capt. John G. Terry was an early settler. He had five sons, John, 
Erasmus, Ralph, Norman, and Griswold ; and four daughters named Sa- 
brina, Louisa, Phcebe, and Chloe. Captain Terry died in 1838 at the age of 
sixty years. 

We have thus named most of the early settlers and business men of 
Geddes. The village amounted to almost nothing, except as a station for 
the manufacture of salt, until the opening of the canal in 1825. This gave 
it quite an impetus, the population increased and several new places of bus- 
iness were opened. 

William W. Tripp located at Geddes very soon after the opening of the 
canal and began boatbuilding. His yard was at the old canal basin. He 
died at Geddes August 2, 18S4, aged eighty-eight years. 

Harvey Stewart came in at about the same time and opened a grocery 
in the old brick building near the bridge, where Nathaniel Kelsey, a son-in- 
law of Mr. Stewart, now carries on business. Mr. Stewart afterwards en- 
gaged in the salt industry. This building was erected by Mr. Stewart and 
Simeon Spaulding just before 1850. 

Joseph M. Willey had about the first manufacturing industry here, 
aside from salt, where he made the small, round wooden boxes in which fine 
salt was formerly packed, and he did quite an extensive business in that 
line. He died in 1857, aged sixty-three years. 

Joseph Shepard, who died in Geddes in June, 1867, at the age of eighty- 
eight years, came there about the year 1S31. His son Joseph bought the 
stone-ware pottery not far from 1855. This pottery was started some 
years earlier by William H. Farrar, for the manufacture of " red ware " 
from the clay found at Geddes. This was afterwards given up and 
gray ware made from clay brought from New Jersey by boat. The pottery 
burned down a few years ago. Joseph Shepard's daughter Elvira married 
John Y. Phares. 

Oliver Barker located in Geddes about 1825 and kept a grocery in a 
building erected by Mr. Pardee, before alluded to. He lived to be more 
than ninety years old and died in November, 18SS. 

In the spring of 1824 Robert Gere settled on a farm about one and a 
half miles west of Geddes village. His two brothers, William S. and 
Charles, also located there on adjoining farms. At a later date Robert 
Gere became an extensive manufacturer of salt and engaged largely in the 



Sketch ok Roheki- Gkre. 91 



lumber business. In 1835-36 he was a large contractor and associated with 
Elizur Clark in supplying ties for the railroads of the State. In 1843 he 
removed to Syracuse and associated himself with William H. Alexander 
and C. C. Bradley in the foundry and machine shop business. He was Su- 
perintendent of the Salt Springs from 1848 to 1851 and al.so filled other 
stations of honor and trust. With the late Horace White he founded the 
Geddes Coarse Salt Company, situated west of the village, of which he 
was president, and for many years he was widely engaged in active and 
prosperous business pursuits, and was in every sense a representative citi- 
zen. He died in 1887 at the age of eighty-one years. His sons, the Hon. 
R. Nelson Gere, George C. Gere, Hon. W. H. H. Gere, and the late N. 
Stanton Gere, have all been prominently identified with the manufacturing 
interests of Geddes, Syracuse, and other places. Robert Gere's only 
daughter is the wife of the Hon. J. J. Belden, Member of Congress. 

In the early history of Geddes, burials were made in a lot in what is 
now the Sackett Tract, but in the year 1854 the beautiful lot on the high- 
lands overlooking the village, the lake, the city, and the adjacent territory 
was secured and has since been used as a cemetery. 

Ferris Hubbell came to Geddes about 1827 and became somewhat con- 
spicuous in the community. He was connected with the salt industry and 
at a later date with other manufacturing interests of the place. He was 
father of Charles E. Hubbell, president of the Onondaga Pottery Company. 
He died in Geddes in January, 1885. 

Charles Woolson was a resident of Geddes and father of Albina Wool- 
son and of Gardner Woolson, who was a contractor. 

Benjamin Avery took up his residence at Geddes before 1830, and was 
engaged with Parley Howlett, of Onondaga Hill, in buying and slaughter- 
ing cattle. His slaughter house stood on the bank of the canal and a large 
business was carried on. After the canal was opened Mr. Howlett establish- 
ed a packing house opposite the present weigh lock and did a large business 
there. There are men living who remember his hanging fresh hides on the 
rude fence then surrounding Fayette Park, but this was soon stopped 
by the authorities. Cyrus Avery was a son of Benjamin, and his daughter 
married Col. W. R. Chamberlain. The cattle and packing business was 
afterward carried on by Alfred A. Howlett, son of Parley, on the site of 
the Sanderson steel works. 

Stephen W. Smith who came to Geddes about 1289, kept a tavern soon 
afterwards, just west of the Methodist church site. He died there in 1864. 
In 1 83 1 Messrs. Piatt & Durkee built the large brick structure near the 
canal bridge, with pillars fronting the first story. This was intended for 
stores, but very little was done there in that line. Cyrus Thompson the 
founder of the so-called "Thompsonian" system of medicine, came to Geddes 



92 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



sometime before 1830 and began his business of manufacturing remedies. 
He afterwards bought the large building and used it as a sort of sanitarium 
on his plan, and accumulated wealth. He died in the west, though his resi- 
dence continued in Geddes until his death. 

At the same time that this building was erected (1831) Jonas Mann had 
a large grist-mill built where Genesee street crosses the canal, but his death 
put an end to the enterprise and the mill was never operated. 

C. T. Longstreet carried on a tailoring business in Geddes for about 
three years, beginning with 1832. Edwin R, Smith, who is still living in 
Geddes, and was born there in 1819, learned his trade with Mr. Longstreet 
and followed that business down to recent years. 

The town of Geddes was erected in 184S and included all that portion 
of the town of Salina west of the lake and not embraced in the city of 
Syracuse. The first election was held on the 4th Tuesday in March, 1848. 
Elijah W. Curtis was elected Supervisor; Edgar Vrooman, Clerk; George 

E. Tefft, Henry G. Stiles, and James H. Luther, Justices of the Peace. 
The village of Geddes was incorporated by Act of Legislature passed 

April 20, 1832. The first election of village officers was authorized to be 
held on the first Tuesday in June, 1832. All of the village records down 
to 1850 were destroyed by fire on the night of the 8th of February, 1850 ; 
consequently no proceedings of the village authorities, or lists of officers, 
can be given for the interval of eighteen years. Following is a list of 
Trustees, Clerks, and Postmasters, down to the time of its admission to 
the city, in February, 1887 : 

TRrsTF.KS. — 1S50, Simeon Spaulding, Stephen W. Smith, Isaac R. Tharis, Albina Woolson. 

1851, Daniel D. Smith, R. Nelson Gere, Edgar Vrooman, Daniel W. Coykendall, Albina Woolson. 

1852, Thomas Sammons, Joel V. Paige, Hiram Slade. Sullivan H. Morse, John Whiting. 1S53, 
Joel V. Paige, Albina Woolson, Joseph Shepard, jr., Thomas, Robinson, William W. 'I'ripp. 
1S54, Elijah W. Curtis, Daniel Coykendall, Edgar Vrooman, \Vm. J. Sammons, John V. Phares. 

1855, Elijah W. Curtis, Daniel W. Coykendall, Wm. J. Sammons, Mills P. Pharis, Wm. Boulian. 

1856, Thomas Sammons, R. N. Gere, Isaac. R. Pharis, Henry Duncan, Elijah W. Curtis. 1S57, 
James W. Patten, A. Cadwell Belden, Henry Case, John D. Stanard, Henry Duncan. 1858, B. V. 
Willey, E. R. Smith, Wm. J. .Sammons, Norman Vrooman, Wm. W. Tripp. 1859, Wm. H. Far- 
rar, liurlingame Harris, R. N. Gere, Francis H. Nye, Ferris Hubbell. i860, Francis H. Nye, R. 
Nelson Gere, Gardner Woolson, Harvey Stewart, Joel F. Paige. 1861, Joel F. Paige, R. Nelson 
Gere, Francis H. Nye, Gardner Woolson, Harvey Stewart. 1862, Joel F. Paige, Harvey Stewart, 
Francis H. Nye, R. Nelson (iere, Isaac R. Pharis. 1S63, Joel F. Paige, Harvey Stewart. Stephen 
W. Smith, Perry C. Rude, Hiram Slade. 1864, Thomas Robinson, Mills P. Pharis, Richard G. 
Joy, W. H. H. Gere, Wm. D. Coykendall. 1865, Thomas Robinson, Mills P. I'haris, Richard 
G. Joy, W. H. H. Gere, W. D. Coykendall. 1866, Samuel E. Barker, llarviy Stewart, Charles 

F. Gere, (jilbert Sweet, John V. Phares. 

C/nJfr New Charier.— K. Nelson Gere, 1867. Mead Belden, 1867 to 1874 inclusive. Samu- 
el E. Barker, 1867-68-69. Charles E. Pharis, 1868 to 1873 inclusive. Reuben C. Holmes, 1870 
to 1875 inclusive. Terrence E. Hogan, 1874 to 1877 inclusive. Richard Tremain. 1875 to 1878 
inclusive. George C. Gere, 1876 to 1884 inclusive. George A. Cool, 1878 to 1881 inclusive. A. 
M. Smart, 1879. Austin G. Ward, 1880. Henry C. Day, 1881-83. Barnard Wente, 18S3-84-85. 
Philip Gooley, 1884-85-S6. James C. Rann, 18S5-86. Martin Lawler, 1886. 



The Site of Syracuse. 93 

Cl.K.KKS. — J. \V. Woodwaril, 1S50. James II. Luther. 1S51. Ferris Ilubbell, 1852 and 1S55. 
Charles IC. I'haris, 1S54. N. Stanton (Jere, 1856. Stephen Duncan, 185S. K. K. Smith 1859 to 
the end, excepting 1863, when B. G. Lewis was Clerl<. 

Until after the war of 1 861-65, Geddes still remained a .small village, having 
a population of less than one thousand in iS68;but the impetus given to 
all kinds of manufacturing and business operations by the close of the war 
and the general feeling of confidence incident thereto, with shipping and 
other advantages of the place, contributed to give it a very rapid growth. 
Its population had reached more than 6,000 by the year 1880, much of the 
increase being due to the influx of working families whose presence was 
demanded by the establishment of several iminense manufactures, among 
them being the Onondaga Iron Company, the Onondaga Pottery Company, 
Sanderson Bro's Steel Company, the Syracuse Iron Works, the Sterling Iron 
Ore Company, and several salt companies. All of these are properly de- 
scribed in the chapter devoted to the manufactures of the city at large. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE SITE OF SVK.VCUSE. 

Primitive Conditions of the Site of Syracuse — Map of i8iy — The Walton Tract and its .Sale 

The First Treasurer— The First Uuildings in Syracuse — The Earliest Tavern — The Original Names 
of the riace — The Old Red Mill — Salina Street — The Canal and Its Influence — Forman, Wilson 

& Co.— Celebration of the Opening of the Canal — Population in 1820 — Lowering of the Lake 

The Name of Syracuse — Oliver Teall and the Water Works — Conditions in 1825. 

WHILE the settlements which we have described in the preceding 
chapters were progressing, the site of Syracuse as originally laid out 
reinained almost wholly in its primitive condition, except as it had been 
invaded here and there by the road-builders and the wood choppers em- 
ployed by the salt-makers. No one will marvel that such was the situation 
— that the beautiful, sloping lake shore at Salina, and the rising hillside of 
Geddes, should attract the early settlers as being far inore desirable sites for 
pleasant and healthful homes, than the low and swampy jungle where the 
first buildings of Syracuse were subsequently erected. It is not, perhaps, 
too much to say that no city in the United States was founded in such a 
dismal, uninteresting, and impracticable spot as this Central City of the 
Empire State. It was not until some years after 1800 that it was deemed 



94 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



possible that a good road could be maintained across it, except it was made 
of logs laid in the mud — the "corduroy" road of early days. Even the 
great turnpike from east to west, finished in 1812, was thus constructed 
across the swampy jungle on which now stands the business center of the 
city. And the Indians shunned it also, for their trails passed over the high 
grounds on either side. Quite extensive tracts of this territory would not 
produce even forest trees of any considerable size, and were overgrown by 
the rank shrubbery and large and small saplings that constitute the ordinary 
cedar swamp. The Onondaga creek, then much greater in volume than 
now, wound its wonderfully devious way from south to north across the 
tract, and the Yellow brook flowed into it from the northeastward, trailing 
its sluggish current among the logs and sinkholes, and creating a paradise 
for frogs in numbers sufficient for an Egyptian plague. No, it was not in 
any sense (except, perhaps, its centrality in a great State) a spot to com- 
mend itself to intelligent human beings as a site for a city. 

The site of Syracuse, originally in the town of Manilas, remained as a 
part of the Salt Springs Reservation in that town until the organization of 
the town of Salina (1809). In the year 1804 an Act of Legislature author- 
ized the Surveyor-General, Simeon DeWitt, to survey and sell two hundred 
and fifty acres of the Reservation and apply the proceeds to the improve- 
ment of the Seneca Turnpike in Onondaga county. 

The boundaries of this tract are shown on the map of 1S19 herein, 
and embrace the original site of Syracuse. The survey was made by James 
Geddes, who endeavored as far as possible to shun the more swampy por- 
tions, but the effort was largely fruitless. The tract was advertised for sale 
and was bought in June, 1804, by Abraham Walton, for $6,550, about 
$26.20 per acre. The least valuable acre of that land is now worth a far 
greater price than that ; but the person who can now clearly realize the 
general character of much of the tract and the surrounding circumstances 
at that date, wonders that a man could be found who would pay so much 
for it. 

The advertisement of this land contained a statement that on the tract 
was a good mill site. This announcement elicited the ridicule of the dwell- 
ers in the Valley and at .Salina, but Judge Geddes understood his business 
and to silence these scoffers the Surveyor-General drove in a gig from Al- 
bany and with the assistance of Mr. Geddes, took the level of the creek 
and the fall was found even greater than the surveyor had reported. The 
mill was eventually built and operated with the water power for many 
years. 

Three Commissioners were appointed by the State to disburse the 
money received from the sale of this land, which has ever since been known 
as the " Walton Tract;" they were James Geddes, Moses Carpenter, and 



TiiK First Buildings in Syracuse. 95 

John Young. Mr. Geddes was made the treasurer, but on account of his 
absence from home much of the time, Mrs. Geddes handled the fund and 
made most of the payments to the contractors on the turnpike. She was, 
in realit}-, the first acting treasurer in the earliest financial operation in 
which Syracuse was directly interested. Moses Carpenter was the first 
treasurer of the county and held the office five years. 

The first permanent building on the site of Syracuse was the cabin of 
Mphraim Webster, which has been described on an earlier page of this work. 
There were also in the last decade of the last century, quite a collection of 
Indian dwellings along the west bank of the creek near the lake. 

In the springof 1800 Calviti Jackson came to the site of Syracuse and 
built a log house just south of where the Central Railroad crosses East Gen- 
esee street, near the corner of Montgomery street. There Albion Jackson 
was born on the 28th of December, 1800, the first white child born within 
the limits of Syracuse, excluding Salina. Calvin Jackson was father also 
of John G. Jackson, formerly Indian Agent at the Reservation. 

There is no clear record of other residents on the site of Syracuse, until 
the year 1805. Mr. Clark says that two or three log cabins had been built 
as early as 1797-99, in the vicinity of Bogardus's tavern site, one by a Mr. 
Hopkins, and another by a Mr. Butler. They were not far from the site of 
the first bridge over the Oswego canal (James street) near Salina street 
where there was a spring of water. If this is true, it is the only record 
left of those cabins. 

Amos Stanton came here to reside in 1805 and was one of the first per- 
martent residents. During winter seasons for a period he engaged in mak- 
ing salt. He was the father of Isaac and Rufus Stanton. He bought an 
acre of ground on the east side of Salina street, then commonly called 
" Cooper " street, at about the point where it is crossed by the Oswego 
canal. He cleared this lot soon afterward and it continued as a wheat field 
several years. He also hired a few acres adjoining his land on the south- 
east, which he worked as a small farm. Rufus Stanton came with his 
father and was then about seventeen years old. He assisted in clearing the 
lot for Mr. Bogardus's tavern, on the site of the Empire House, and in 
1807 began baking and brewing. He continued this about two years when 
he turned his attention to the salt industry. He afterwards kept a tavern 
in Salina. He mingled farming with his other pursuits, raised rye on the 
site of the Syracuse House in 18 16-17, and in 1820 worked a large farm 
on a part of what is now University hill. He died September 10, 1874. 

In 1S05 William Lee and Aaron Cole located here and opened a black- 
smith shop. 

In the terms of sale of the Walton Tract was a stipulation that the pur- 
chaser should, within a specified period, cause to be erected a suitable build- 



g6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



ing for a tavern for the accommodation of travelers. In the same year of 
his purchase, Mr. Walton laid out a portion of the tract into village lots* 
and sold to Henry Bogardus for $300, half an acre of ground, binding him 
to erect the tavern conformably to the original stipulation, and to keep it, 
or cause it to be kept, as a public house. The tavern was erected on the 
site of the present Empire house in the year 1806, and was the first perma- 
nent building of much pretension on the site of Syracuse. The tavern was, 
according to Mr. Clark, two stories high and 35 x 45 feet in dimensions; 
but Timothy C. Cheney, in his " Reminiscences," stated that it was a story 
and one-half structure and about 20 x 30 feet square. He had staid in the 
house with his father within a few years after its erection. He says, " I do 
not recollect of seeing any other houses, though there may have been two 
or three small ones." 

When Mr. Walton laid out his little village it was called "South Salina," 
and the Bogardus tavern was known as the " South Salina Hotel." To 
many the locality was known as " Bogardus's Corners." Mr. Bogardus was 
succeeded by Burlingame in 1S08, and two years later Joseph Lang- 
don took the house. He kept it two years and in 181 2 James Ingalls be- 
came the proprietor, to be succeeded in 1 8 1 5 by Sterling Cossitt, from whom 
the name of the place was changed in the ordinary speech of the locality 
to " Cossitt's Corners," and a little later to "Milan." 

A small house was built by Mr. Bogardus, in which he lived while erect- 
ing the tavern. It stood about on the site of the Convention block, and 
was occupied in 1824 by Paschal Thurber. Henry Bogardus died in 1841. 

in the same year that Mr. Bogardus built his tavern, or the year after, 
a Mr. Merrell erected a small frame house nearly opposite on the east, but 
the prevailing sickness of the locality and his dismal prospects caused him 
to take down his dwelling and go away. 

The need of saw-mills and grist-mills was felt as soon as the settlement 
began to show signs of increase, as is always the case in new communities. 
In 1805 Mr. Walton built the first grist-mill on the site of the city. He 
constructed a dam of logs across the creek about where it is crossed by 
West Genesee street, and the roadway was made on the top of the dam. 
This created a pond of considerable depth and area, extending southward 
beyond the site of the present D. L. & W. railroad station, and eastward to 
Clinton street. (See accompanying map, of 1834.) The grist-mill stood on 

• The inference is given by this statement (which is from MSS. of Judge Ceddes and, there- 
fore, quite authoritative) that a map of some kind was made of the lots thus laid out. Hut if so, it 
must have been lost at an early day and never placed on record. The late 1 Ion. E. W. Leaven- 
worth made diligent search for such a map and became convinced that the first map made, aside 
from the map of the tract as a whole, was that of Owen Korman and John Wilkinson, made in 1819 
and noticed a little further on. 



W.A.UTON 




98 Memorial Histokv of Syracuse. 



the east bank of the creek near to the dam, partly on the High School site, 
partly in Genesee street, the water from the pond being carried to its wheel 
in a race way. The mill was two stories high with an attic, was painted 
red and bears historical interest. There were two "run" of stone in it, 
with other machinery common at that time. The first dam stood about 
one year, when a spring freshet carried it away. A new dam was construct- 
ed of logs and earth a few rods farther up the stream, about where Water 
street crosses the creek, and a wooden bridge was built across the creek at 
Genesee street. This dam was removed in 1824 and a stone dam built in 
its stead. It was then thought that this would be the business center of 
the place. This dam created a large pond which extended southward to the 
vicinity of Onondaga street, and eastward to Clinton street. 

In 1807, by direction of the Surveyor-General, a road running north and 
south from the Walton Tract, was laid out as a State road six rods wide. 
A part of this became and is now Salina street. In was laid out by Moses 
Carpenter and two other surveyors. This street has been encroached upon 
on the west side between Onondaga and Adams street in a manner that has 
called forth the condemnation of many good citizens. M. C. Hand, who 
owned property on the cast side of the street was one of the most deter- 
mined opponents of this encroachment and made the most thorough investi- 
gations to prove that the street was originally laid out six rods wide. The 
result of these investigations he has printed in detail in his work, "From a 
Forest to a City," p. 95, etc. It is sufficient for our present purpose to state 
that, in spite of all opposition, embodying applications to the Common 
Council and other legitimate efforts to accomplish the object, the owners of 
the lots on the west side of the street in that locality crowiled their side- 
walks, trees and buildings eastward, cutting down the width of the street 
several feet and forever destroying its beauty and much of its usefulness. 
This north and south road opened up more ready communcation with the 
valley and southward during the part of the year when it could be traveled 
at all. 

A Mr. Blake had made a small clearing in this year (1807) or before, 
about half way between Bogardus's tavern and Salina and begun farming 
on a small scale. 

From the date when Mr. Walton built the grist mill, families to use it 
gathered very slowly in its immediate vicinity, until the opening of the 
canal in 1820. One reason for this was the notorious unhealthfulness of the 
place. Andrew Young was miller for Mr. Walton for a time and the latter 
built a house about the year 1808 on West Genesee street, near his mill, in 
which lived his hired help. In the same year the grist mill was built (1805-6) 
a saw mill was erected nearly opposite across the creek from the grist 
mill and at a little later date Rufus Parsons built near by a linseed oil mill, 



First Agitation of the Canal Project. 



99 



both of which were ill operation down to about 1830; the oil mill subse- 
quently became an axe factory. 

Dr. Ziba Swan built a small frame house in 1807 and in 1S08 Jonathan 
Fay located near the site of the old Court House. 

The gri.st mill was operated in i8i4by Sidney Dole and Milan C. Taylor, 
and they opened a small general store at that time, about on the site of 
Wieting Opera House, next west of the one afterward built by William 
Malcolm. This was the first store in the place. Northrup & Dexter, who 
had a contract on the canal in 1817, succeeded Dole & Taylor and continued 
business until 1821, in which year Gen. Amos P. Granger came down from 
Onondaga Hill, bought land between James street and the canal where now 
stands the Syracuse Savings Bank Huikling and there built the largest frame 
building (excepting perhaps the Bogardus tavern) in the village. He opened 
a store and lived for a time in a part of the building. He was very 
successful in business, invested largely in real estate and became a promi- 
nent, useful, and wealthy citizen. He died August 20, 1S66. 

Rufus Stanton, who had before 1810 cultivated thrifty fields of wheat 
near the Salina street bridge over the Oswego canal, kept a tavern in 181 1 
just south of the site of the bridge on the east side of the street in a build- 
ing that was standing until within a few years. 

By this latter mentioned date the prospects of the place began to im- 
prove, in spite of the unusual obstacles encountered. Judge Forman, Wil- 
liam H. Sabine, Daniel Kellogg, and other energetic men who have been 
mentioned, had lived at the Valley a number of years and that locality had 
felt the influence of their enterprising spirit in many ways. The salt 
industry was now growing rapidly and the canal project began to assume a 
definite character before 1810 — a project which was destined to revolution- 
ize the situation at the unpromising site of the embryo city. The details 
of the construction of the canal are given in a later chapter of this work ; 
but its inception, growth, and the final selection of the route are so inti- 
mately and directly connected with the very early growth of Syracuse, that 
the subject must be alluded to here. The agitation of the canal question 
began in a small way very soon after 1800, and Joshua Forman was one of 
the first and certainly one of the most enthusiastic advocates of the project. 
It was this simple, though very important, fact that answers the often-asked 
question, why a prosperous city like Syracuse came to be located in a swamp. 
When the building of the canal became almost a certainty and Judge For- 
man's public labors in its advocacy were far advanced, he naturally turned 
some attention to the possible benefits that would accrue to the locality in 
which he lived. He was then the owner of large tracts of land in the Val- 
ley, at some point in which he saw with the gaze of a prophet, a beautiful 
city uprising at an early day, nourished into rapid growth by the great 



loo Memorial History of Syracuse. 



water-way from the lakes to the sea. He therefore appealed to his friends 
and neighbors at the Valley to give liberally in influence and means for the 
final accomplishment of the object, strengthening his arguments with the 
promise that the canal should approach to or run directly through their 
village, continuing up the western side of the Valley to near the lake and 
thence on westward. Signatures to a memorial prepared by Judge 
Forman to the Legislature were quite easily obtained, but in many in- 
stances with a shrug of the shoulders and predictions of high taxes and 
eventual disaster. As to any particular advantage to the little village in 
the Valley, or that on the Hill, by the proximity of the canal, that was 
something simply ridiculous to many prominent citizens. Judge F"orman 
endured a good deal of opposition and more ridicule, until finally the latter 
had its legitimate effect. He transferred to Salina his prophecies, hopes, 
and promises, eloquently portraying the advantages that would surelj- fol- 
low if the canal passed through their midst. But the leading men of that 
village received his overtures with even less confidence and respect than had 
the people in the Vallej-. 

And then Judge Forman resolved to do his utmost to teach both vil- 
lages a lesson and use his powerful influence towards directing the line of 
the canal in the straight course where it was finally constructed, without 
making a detour for either Onondaga Valley or Salina.* He resolved and 
maintained his position in all places and on all occasions with the most per- 
sistent, unflinching, and eloquent argument that a city, and a great one, 
should bestride the canal on the shores of Onondaga Lake. The idea was 
a preposterous one, when calmly considered by a person who had looked 
over the site ; but Judge Forman's mettle was stirred, and he at once put 
the machinery in motion to accomplish his object, as we shall see. 

One of Judge Forman's first steps towards this end was to form the 
company of Forman, Wilson & Co., composed of himself, Ebenezer Wilson 
and John B Creed, in 1814, and purchase the Walton Tract at a cost of 
about $9,000. A part of this had been previously sold to Michael Hogan 
and Charles Walton, but they held their purchase in common with Abraham 
Walton. During the succeeding four years Judge Forman and his associates 
did not let a day or an opportunity pass when they could in any possible 
manner advance the interests of the site of Syracuse. The first of their 
enthusiastic labors soon became apparent, and Syracuse was founded. 



♦The Salina route for the canal would undoubtedly have been a good and natural one, the 
course being from a few miles east of the present city, northwestward behind the liigh grounds of 
the Second and Third Wards, to Salina, and thence on westward. The Hon. Thomas G. Alvord 
believes that it was the general expression, even by opponents of the project, that if we were to 
have a canal at all, it ought to pass through Salina ; but the prominent people of the pl.ice at that 
time placed no faith in either the praclicability or desirability of the undertaking— and lost it. 



\'ii.LAGE Map or 1S34. 



lOI 




I02 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



It was learned about this time through an attempt to secure a post- 
office for the place, that the name, "Milan" could not be retained, as there 
was already an office of that name in the State. Judge Forman, therefore, 
applied the name of "Corinth" (i8 18-19) ^o the settlement, which name it 
retained, with its everyday appellation of "Cossitt's Corners," (from the 
then landlord of the old Bogardus tavern) until 1820. 

About the time of the purchase by Forman, Wilson & Co., they built and 
started a large slaughter house and packing establishment in a grove north 
of Church street, where a large business was done until 1817. During the 
latter part of the war of 181 2 they filled contracts for the army ; it was the 
first business of this nature in the place. 

We have alluded to the fact that Rufus Stanton had a field of grain in 
181 5 on the lot of twenty acres on the northwest corner of which was built 
the Syracuse Hotel. It was afterward sowed with grassand enclosed with a 
rail fence. This lot was bought in 1820 by Luther Buell, brother of the grand- 
father of II. B. Buell, of D. McCarthy & Sons' wholesale house, and Shubael 
Safford, grandfather of John D. Safford, now of Syracuse, who began the 
erection of a brick hotel fifty feet square, two stories high with abasement. 
The roof slanted to the north and south, the end walls reaching to the peak, 
with two chimneys in each, as was common with such buildings at that time. 
During the work on the building Mr. Safford and another man fell from tiie 
upper portion. Mr. Safford struck on the bottom of the cellar and was 
killed; the other man's fall was stopped by a joist and he escaped with 
severe injuries. This accident delayed the completion of the building and 
the property passed into possession of Henry Eckford, who finished the 
hotel in 1822. A large yard was connected with the house and the stables 
were on the Genesee street side, well back in the yard, and were reached 
through a large gate in the high fence. The house was rebuilt and enlarged 
in 1S27 by the Syracuse Company, who re-named it the Syracuse House. 
This hotel, a portion of which remains to-day as it was remodeled in 1827, 
is one of the historic landmarks of the city. To its hospitable doors drove 
up the old-time stage coaches, and in its rooms and on tlie broad platform 
surrounding it were held many important consultations over village and 
county affairs and discussions of politics and other topics of interest to the 
villagers. 

Permanent settlers came in slowly during tliose early years. There was 
almost absolutely nothing to recommend the place for residence, except the 
elocjuent adjectives of its founders, while there was almost everything else 
to condemn it. Meanwhile the canal project was becoming an accomplished 
fact. Judge Forman was sent to the Legislature as an advocate of tiie 
undertaking and rapid progress was made. Judge Geddes made his final 
report upon the route in 1816, and in the following year the work was begun 



The Opening oi nii: Canal. 103 

on the middle section, and on April 21, 1S20, the first packet boat arrived 
in Syracuse. It was a notable occurrence in the village. The event had been 
well advertised anil anticipation was keen. Crowds came in from all direc- 
tions, and the "doubting Thomases" were present also; they always are. 
The boat would never lloat a mile in that ditch, they cried, and Governor 
Clinton and others who had, through its construction, involved the State 
in lieavy indebtedness, were cheerfully consigned to the bottom of the 
canal. But the Monti-znma, as the boat was named, was smoothly and 
rapidly floating eastward, ami was soon welcomed by the exultant shouts of 
the people. A general feeling of hopefulness followed this auspicious 
event, and a new dawn opened to Syracuse. Men of means began to share 
the anticipations of the founders of the place and came to the village to 
engage in business, while the growing salt industry aided powerfully in 
attracting public attention to the place. 

To celebrate in a measure the opening of the canal, as well as Independ- 
ence Day, a very enthusiastic gathering was held in the village on the 4th 
of July. Invitations were sent out liberally to friends of the canal and 
thousands came to witness the novelty of canal navigation and celebrate 
the day. 'Thaddeus M. Wood was president, and many prominent men of 
the State were present. The Declaration of Independence was read by 
N. P. Randall, and an eloquent oration was delivered by -Samuel Miles 
Hopkins. The procession formed in front of Cossitt's tavern, under escort 
of the Salina band. They marched to a beautiful pine grove in rear of the 
Townsend block site and there under a lofty tree the exercises took place. 
This was the first celebration of national independence in Syracuse. 

Stirring and active the village undoubtedly was ; but new-comers still 
found a most unattractive hamlet in which to locate. We may briefly pic- 
ture the general appearance of the village in 18 19, the year in which judge 
Forman took up his residence in it, and only one year before the Montezuma 
called out the plaudits of the crowds on the banks of the canal. 

We must first imagine nine-tenths of the entire valley as covered with 
forest of some description. Along each side of the north and south road 
and the great turnpike east and west, now respectively Salina and Genesee 
street, the trees and bushes were cut away for a few feet, to enable loaded 
vehicles to pass. The " clearing " in which the village stood extended only 
from the canal near Clinton street south to Fayette street and east to War- 
ren street. North of the canal it reached to Church street and etist to 
Warren. The remainder of the dry ground of the village, as surveyed, 
was covered with pine trees and oak shrubs, and saplings. All not thus 
covered was a swampy jungle of cedar and other small trees. 

There were only two other frame houses in the village besides the tavern 
on the Empire House corner. Log houses were scattered about on the 



I04 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

dry ground, and numerous slab cabins had been erected and occupied by 
the canal laborers. Judge Forman's pasture ran back perhaps fifty rods 
from the present Clinton street, where his dwelling stood, and eastward to 
Salina street, most of it covered by an open pine grove. A lot of about 
twenty acres covering the block where the Syracuse House now stands and 
extending southward and eastward, was fenced in and used for tillage and 
pasture until 1820. The late Mrs. E. W. Leavenworth and Mrs. M. D. 
Burnet were lost during the most of one day in 1819, in the dense forest 
undergrowth that covered Prospect Hill and the highlands in that vicinity. 

By the year 1820 the population of the little village had reached only 
two hundred and fifty persons. One of the chief causes of this slow growth 
of the place was its notorious and continued unhealthfulness. During the 
building of the canal, fevers were alarmingly frequent and fatal. Thirty of 
the laborers died and were buried in ground at the corner of Fayette and 
Clinton streets. The stagnant waters of the eastern part of the city's site 
did not subside until May or June and then only to leave masses of decay- 
ing vegetation festering and bleaching in the sun. Often in the spring 
and in early summer teams being driven from Onondaga Valley to Salina, 
were forced to travel the high grounds east of the city, it being impossible 
to follow the road. \"ery much of the present city was a dreary waste of 
swamp, approached only by means of "corduroy" and "gridiron" roads. 
Along where now is located the beautiful Fayette Park, was then a famous 
shooting ground for partridges and rabbits and farther back were plenty of 
wood-cock, snipe, owls, and mud-turtles. This condition and the great un- 
healthfulness of the locality caused the founders of Syracuse not a little 
an.xiety. It was clearly seen that if something was not done and promptly 
to counteract the evil, Syracuse would remain a hamlet, even with the canal 
to give it impulse. Judge I'orman and his associates took the matter in 
hand with their usual energy. In the winter of 1 821 and 1822 Judge For- 
man took a careful survey of Onondaga creek and lake and found that the 
lake was nearly on a level with some of its surroundings when the water 
was the highest, that it set back from the creek and lake and flooded the 
low and swampy lands. After making a survey of the outlet of the lake 
into the Seneca River, he believed it was possible to lower the lake several 
feet by making its outlet much wider and deeper. He petitioned the legis- 
lature for an appropriation for this purpose and also for surveys and maps 
for a thorough system of drainage. A part of the expense was to be a 
local tax upon the lands as they were benefited. 

The Judges of the County Courts were authorized to appoint three 
discreet free-holders of the county, who should assess the amount of money 
necessary to be raised, on the owners of the lands contiguous to the drains, 
in proportion as they were supposed to be benefited by the same. In case 



Sale ok the Walton Tract. 105 



of the non-payment of any assessment, the lands after being advertised 
four weeks, could be sold for taxes, and if not redeemed within six 
months, with ten per cent, interest and costs, the sale was made absolute and 
unchangeable. The law allowed the citizens to construct their own ditches 
on their own lands, according to rules prescribed by the Commissioners and 
the plan laid down on the map. In case they would not, the Commission- 
ers were authorized to build them and charge the owners with the cost of 
construction and collection. 

This law was considered at the time highly arbitrary, but it was the only 
feasible method by which the lands could be drained and the locality render- 
ed healthy. The great advantages resulting from the improvement soon 
reconciled all parties to the means employed. This has since been regard- 
ed by thousands who have enjoyed its benefits as the most beneficent meas- 
ure ever adopted in connection with Syracuse. The place assumed an air 
of healthfulnes, confidence was restored and prosperity increased. 

Moreover, against the former untoward state of affairs, soon was felt the 
stimulus of the great water-way and the results of the energy of those men 
who were determined that nothing should retard the growth of Syracuse. For 
reasons which need not be detailed here, the Walton Tract passed into 
possession of the firm of Daniel Kellogg and William H. Sabine (the latter 
being Judge Forman's law partner at the Valley) in 1818.* They sold it 
five years later (1823) to Henry Eckford of New York city and in May, 
1824, "The Syracuse Company" paid him S30.C00 for that part of it then 
remaining unsold. Under these various ownerships a good many lots had 
been sold. Judge Forman acted as agent for Kellogg & Sabine while they 
owned the Tract, and his interests as well as those of other leading men, 
soon centered at "Corinth." In 1819 he removed from the Valley and 
built and occupied a substantial frame house, which stood about in the line 
of what is now Clinton street, a little south of Water street. His family 



' Kollowing is a copy of the old deed under which the transfer was made. It is recorded in Book 
\ , p. 319, in the County Clerk's office: 
Jonas Earll Junior, Sheriff of Onondaga County, 

To 
Daniel Kellogg, and William II . Sabine. 

DKEl) Dated October 26th, 1S18. Consider.ition |io,ql5.oo. 

Hy virtue of a Writ of fieri facias, issued out of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, 
against the lands of Joshua Forman, Ebenezer Wilson Junior and John B. Creed. He sold at 
public auction to the highest bidder, a large quantity of l,ind in the town of Onondaga, on Lots 74- 
75-88-89-90-91-106 and 107. ".Mso all that tract or parcel of land, granted by the People of the 
State of New Vork, by Letters I'atent to Abraham M. Walton, dated the first of January, 1807, for 
two hundred and fifty acres, lying and being in the town of Salina, in the County aforesaid, at 
the place commonly called the four corners, saving and excepting thereout, one small lot, of one half 
of an acre of land, and also two small lots, of one quarter of an acre each, and heretofore conveyed 
to Henry Bobardus, Ziba -Swan, and one Van Tassel, etc. etc." 

14 



io6 Memokiai. IIistokv of Syracuse. 



consisted of his wife and daughters, one of the latter soon to become the 
wife of the late Hon. E. W. Leavenworth. In the same year John Wilkin- 
son also remo\'ed from the Valley and was the first lawyer to settle on the 
site of Syracuse. Me had pursued his studies with Judge Forman and was 
admitted to the Bar in 1819. A little later he built a small office 12 x 14 
feet on the Globe Hotel corner, where he had purchased land. He after- 
wards built a substantial dwelling a little farther south and lived there many 
years. 

In the spring of 1819, Owen Forman, a brother of the Judge, and Mr. 
Wilkinson, acting under direction of Judge Forman as agent for Kellogg & 
Sabine, laid out the Tract into village and farm lots. It was a tedious task 
owing to the difficulty of ascertaining the lines of the original survey. 

There has been at various times considerable dispute as to who had the 
honor of bestowing its final name upon the village of Syracuse, but the 
matter is definitely settled, and doubtless with entire authority, by M. C. 
Hand in his work, " From a Forest to a City," p. 15. He gives the entire 
credit to John Wilkinson and supports his position with proof that cannot 
be controverted. The name was suggested to Mr. Wilkinson while reading 
a poem on ancient Syracuse, in which he noted the similarity between that 
city and the site of the modern village, with a " Salina " near both. It 
having become necessary to find a new name for the post office, a committee 
was appointed consisting of Judge Forman, Rufus Stanton, Mr. Wilkinson, 
and two others. The proposed plan was that each should select a name 
and from those submitted choose the one that seemed the best. Judge 
Forman had expressed himself strong!}' in favor of Corinth, but as it had 
already been displaced, he would decline to propose another. Mr. Wilkin- 
son then proposed the name of Syracuse and gave his reasons as above 
indicated. This name was then selected by a unanimous vote of the com- 
mittee and gave general satisfaction. 

Oliver Teall settled in Syracuse in 18 19 and located in that [jart which 
had received the name of Lodi, (see map of 1834). He bought largely of 
land in that locality and built mills there which were operated by the sur- 
plus water from the canal, for the use of which he obtained a concession 
from the State. On the 27th of March, 1821, a law was passed by the 
Legislature (chap. 176,) entitled, "An Act to supply the Village of Syracuse 
with wholesome water." The franchise under this Act was transferred to 
Mr. Teall in 1829 and he constructed the first water works in the village, as 
fully described in a later chapter. 

Mr. Teall became a superintendent of the repairs on the middle division 
of the canal, and was among the active men in securing the construction of 
the Syracuse and Utica Railroad. He was one of the managers of the 
Onondaga County Bank, and conspicuously identified with the temperance 



First Church, School, and Printing Office. 107 



movement. He entered the militia service as Lieutenant in Major Forbes's 
battalion in March, 1814, and was commissioned Captain in 1817. 

Harvey Baldwin becaine interested with Mr. Tcall as a land owner and 
for many years was a leading citizen. He was Mayor of the city in 1848 ; 
was conspicuous in the promotion of education, and enjoyed to an eminent 
degree the esteem and confidence of his fellows. Aaron Burt, also, was 
associated with Mr. Teall and Mr. I5aldwin in the improvement of the Lodi 
section of the village. 

In 1S20. as nearly as can now be ascertained, the first school house was 
erected in the village. It stood on the north side of Church street on the 
first lot east of the present Northern railroad crossing, where subsequently 
the brick school house of district No. 4 was built. In 182 1 the late Hiram 
Deming taught the school there and was succeeded by William K. Blair. 

In the year last mentioned (1S21) the First Baptist Church was also 
organized, as described in the chapter devoted to the religious institutions 
of the city, and the first church edifice was erected in 1824, on the present 
site of the Universalist church. Previous to the organization of this society 
the inhabitants had met for religious worship in private residences and in 
the old school house. 

After the transfer of the Walton Tract to the "Syracuse Company" in 
1824 and the draining of portions of it, new vigor characterized the village. 
This locally noted Company was composed of William James, John Town- 
send, Isaiah Townsend, and James McBride. The deed transferred the 
land in trust to Moses Burnet and Gideon Hawley, and the sale of lots was 
pushed energetically, the growth of the village being \ery rapid. The Com- 
pany had a map made of their property by Mr. Lathrop and nothing was 
left undone by them to promote the growth of the place. 

Thus far Syracuse had progressed without the "lever that moves the 
world" — a printing press. Onondaga Valley had been favored with an ex- 
cellent newspaper since 1 8 14, besides an earlier one started in i8ii, and 
Onondaga Hill also had a public journal in 1816. In April, 1823, the first 
number of the Onondaga Gaizctte was i.ssued in Syracuse by John Durn- 
ford, which is further described in the chapter devoted to the city press. 
The appearance of this first newspaper was another indication of the pro- 
gress of the village. It contained only one mercantile advertisement, that 
of Kasson & Heermans. 

By the beginning of the year 1825, in the spring of which the village 
of Syracuse was incorporated, there were about fifteen merchants in the 
place, with the usual complement of shops of various sorts; streets had 
been extended in a limited degree ; the canal was almost completed (finished 
in November, 1825); the salt industry was experiencing an exceedingly 
prosperous era, and all outward signs pointed to the rapid advancement 
which followed, and which we shall attempt to describe in future chapters. 



io8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



CHAPTER XI. 

SYRACUSE AS A VILLAGE. 

Incorporation of the Villnge— Rivalry between S.ilina and Syracuse— The First Election of Vil- 
lage Ofiicers— rroceedings of the Karly Meetings of Trustees— Some of the First Ordinances— The 
First Fire Protection- Visit of Marquis de La Fayette— General Condition of the Village at the Time 
of Incorporation— Early Improvements and Sales of lots— Location of Buildings between 1825 and 
1830. 

AN Act of the Legislature incorporated the village of Syracuse on the 
13th of April, 1825. It was still a very insignificant hamlet, with a 
few hundred inhabitants, and with scarcely any indication of its ever grow- 
ing to be a great city, excepting a certain unusual degree of enthusiasm and 
enterprise among the citizens, and salt, and— the canal. But it appears that 
these three elements were all-sufficient ; and they were, moreover, the chief 
incentive to the incorporation of the village at so early a date. There was 
al.so one other factor which, unseemly and unwarranted as it appears to us 
of to-day, undoubtedly had not a little influence upon the early incorpora- 
tion of the place, as well as upon its growth during the period from 1820 to 
1830. We refer to the active and aggressive spirit of rivalry which 
sprang up between the contiguous villages of Syracuse and Salina and 
reached disagreeable, if not disgraceful, proportions and continued down 
as late as 1843. It should be stated that the larger share of the bur- 
den of opprobrium for the consequences of this rivalry must be bestowed 
upon a class of the inhabitants of Salina ; chiefly because they were prompt- 
ed to take the initiative by the circumstances of the case. Salina was a 
village when Syracuse was an unsettled swamp ; it was, therefore, wholly 
natural that the people of Salina found it dif^cult to stand idle and uncon- 
cerned while a rival was coming into being at their very doors. For a num- 
ber of years the extreme paltriness of Syracuse and the rank improbability 
that it ever could become a rival of the older village, excited merely the 
ridicule of the dwellers at Salt Point : but the time came when they saw 
with dismay that Syracuse would probably overtake, and perhaps pass, 
them in size and importance. This feeling of jealousy was greatly intensi- 
fied by the opening of the canal. The far-seeing men of Salina began to 
realize that the influence of the great artery would surely give Syracuse an 
impetus which, added to the energy that was being displayed by her found- 
ers, mu.st eventually produce the very results that have followed. It .should 
not be inferred that this spirit of rivalry caused any overt act on the part of 
the authorities of the village of Salina, (incorporated March 12, 1824, a 
little earlier than Syracuse) or by the better classes of the inhabitants, in 
order to gain any advantage over, or gratify spite against, the young rival. 
Such was not the case, with the exception of the active and unremitting 



TiiK First \'ii.lage Officers. 109 



opposition to the location of the Court House in Syracuse (1828-9); but 
the spirit of antagonism and jealousy was communicated to the younger 
generation and even pervaded the social strata of the two villages. While 
there were very many excellent citizens in Salina, there was also an clement 
of the laboring classes connecteil principally with the salt works, who were 
rough in their natures and cjuite ready to presume that Syracuse had no 
real right to be a more important village than their own ; that it never could 
be, and never should be, if they could prevent it. And they supported 
this argument on all possible occasions, and often with their fists. That is, 
the "roughs" of Salina visited Syracuse as occasion arose and so provoked 
the young men of their rival village as to bring on conflicts which some- 
times reached almost the proportions and desperation of a riot. On one 
occasion, as will be related, the military was called out to quell one of these 
brawls. The old Mansion 1 louse was the usual scene of these disturbances 
in the early days, and they were afterwards frequently transferred to the 
Syracuse House and other popular resorts. 

The first village election in Syracuse was held at the school house on 
the 3d day of May, 1825, when the following officers were elected : Joshua 
Forman, President; Amos P. Granger, Moses D. Burnet, Heman Walbridge, 
John Rogers, Trustees ; James Webb, Alfred Northam, Thomas Spencer, 
Assessors; John Durnford, Treasurer; John Wilkinson, Clerk; Henry 
Young, Pound-master ; Jesse D. Rose, Henry W. Durnford, Constables; 
Daniel Gilbert, Justice of the Peace. 

The trustees began holding meetings with great frequency and were 
verj' active in establishing the village government. The corporation was 
divided into two highway districts, with Henry Young as overseer of No. i, 
and John Garrison, of No. 2. The canal was made the dividing line be- 
tween the two districts from the east line of the village to the " stone bridge ; 
thence along the center of the Turnpike to the Onondaga Creek ; thence 
up the same to the canal, and from thence along the line of the same to 
the west line of the village." All the territory south of this line was com- 
prised in district No. 2. The accompanying map shows the village bound- 
aries. 

The ne.xt meeting of the Trustees was held on the following day (May 
4) and a resolution was passed to the effect " that Othniel H. Williston, 
George W. Palmer, Hiram C. Woodworth, and James Mann are severally 
fit persons to be licensed tavern keepers in said village." Provision was 
made for a village seal. 

At the meeting of May 8, several important measures were adopted. 
Grocer's licenses were then in vogue and were issued to Joseph Thompson, 
Henry Newton, Stephen W. Cadvvell, Paschal N. Thurber, Joel Owen, 
Peter \'an Olinda, Henry W. Durnford, lla\-den Rice, William T. Arnold, 



no Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Ambrose Kasson, Bush & Vose, Andrew N. Van Patten, and Ralph Waldby. 
Any of these men could sell liquor by the payment of §25 in addition to 
their grocer's license fee. As almost all dealers of that day who sold any- 
thing at all, sold groceries, it may be safely assumed that the list embraces 
nearly all the merchants of the place, excepting, perhaps, any who may 
have sold hardware exclusively. 

What has since been commonly called " Robber's Row," was ordered to 
be opened, four rods wide. Canal street, (now Pearl) "running parallel to 
the Lateral Canal, (from the Erie canal to .Salina, now a part of the Oswego 
canal) at the distance of one hundred feet therefrom," was ordered opened 
from Foot street to Salina street. Willow street was opened from Lock 
street to the lateral canal, and Lock street from Foot to Willow. Heman 
W^albridge was appointed to ascertain the e.xpense of opening these streets. 

At a meeting held May 9, measures were adopted to "procure a good 
fire engine," and Moses D. l^urnet was appointed to ascertain on what terms 
one could be purchased. This step was the beginning of the present mag- 
nificent fire department of Syracuse, which is fully described in this work. 

On the lOth of May ordinances were adopted providing, among other 
things, that the " streets and canal should be kept clear of logs, lumber, etc. ; 
that no property should be landed on the banks of the canal on Sunday, 
penalty $5 ; that liquor shops should be closed on Sunday and at 1 1 o'clock 
evenings, penalty $2.50 ; that no guns should be fired in the village, penalty 
$1 ; that no hogs be permitted to run at large, penalty 25c; that no bois- 
terous noise, profane or obscene talk should be permitted, penalty, $5. 

At the meeting of May 13, Salina, Warren, Clinton, Water, Washing- 
ton, Fa)-ette, and Church streets were authoritatively named and it w^as 
enacted that " the Seneca Turnpike through said village shall be called 
' Genesee street.' " " The street leading east from the public square north of 
the canal " was named Foot street. "The street running from the Turn- 
pike to the canal, next west of Giffcrd's house with its continuation," was 
called South Franklin street. " The street leading to the mill race, north 
of the canal, thence along the same to the Seneca Turnpike," was made 
Mill street. The street west of Onondaga Creek from the turnpike to the 
canal, which had been known as Apple street, was re-named West street. 
At this meeting steps were also taken for building the canal bridge in James 
street, and for opening " Clinton street, on each side of Washington." 

On the 24th of the same month it was ordered that proposals be adver- 
tised for, for lighting and trimming the four lamps "now put up, and such 
as may be put up." It was also provided that " persons applying shall 
state the price they will charge per lamp, to be lighted only on dark nights." 

The somewhat chaotic condition of the streets and squares at that time 
may be inferred from a resolution passed at the meeting of the 0th of June, 



Tiiii Visit of LaFavette. m 



ordering that the lumber, etc., which had been left on the " Public Square 
be removed to-morrow, and John Wilkinson sec to this order." Mr. Wil- 
kinson himself had to remove the lumber and the owner diJ not appear — 
unless, perhaps, it was Mr. Wilkinson himself. 

At the meeting held June 15, $125 were appropriated to enclose the 
"burying ground with a decent fence, painted, with a gate." M. D. Burnet 
was also authorized to provide a "decent pall and bier." 

At a meeting held on the 14th of July, §450 were appropriated for open- 
ing and improving Clinton street, and $250 " for improving the road to the 
furnace." 

On the 9th of June, 18J5, the M;ui[uis de Lafayette visited Syracuse, 
lie was escorted from Onondaga Hill by a large body of citizens on horse- 
back (by way of the Hollow) to the Mansion House, where he received a 
cordial greeting from the citizens of Syracuse and the surrounding country. 
Judge Forman, as President of the village, addressed the veteran in behalf 
of his fellow citizens in an appropriate address replete with generous affec- 
tion, tendering to the guest the heartfelt hospitalities of a grateful people. 
During the delivery of Judge Forman's address, the illustrious hero stood 
with his hat in his hand, leaning on his cane, the other on his hip, giving 
his undivided attention to what was said. The gallant General responded 
in appropriate and feeling words which were received with generous ap- 
plause. A bountiful repast was then furnished for the guests. After break- 
fast the General and suite, together with the Onondaga Committee of Es- 
cort, left the village in the packet boat Koc/ustcr, for Utica, to which place 
the Committee accompanied him. 

The condition of the streets in 1825 will be appreciated when we state 
that at a meeting held on the 1st of August, the overseer of the district 
north of the canal was authorized to expend the necessary labor to " render 
Foot street from Lock street to the village line passable for wagons." This 
h'oot street, one of the finest avenues of the city, has undercrone "reat 
changes. The late General E. W. Leavenworth thus speaks of it and its 
immediate vicinity as existent many years ago, in his recently published 
Reminiscences:" 

" On the north side of James street all the land was in woods, except a narrow strip on each 
side of North Salina street, north of the bridge. Hlock No. 35 was then higher than any part of it 
now is, and extended of 3 uniform elevation to the west end of the block. There it crossed the 
I-oote road and extended north to the south end of Prospect hill. It was a solid bed of pure gravel, 
and brought their lots down nearly to the level of the Foote. 

" Between Block No. 35 and Willow street there was a perennial frog pond, which was grown 
up to alders and other bushes, and was full of old rotted lags. It extended south to about the mid- 
dle of the Foote road, west to the Dr. Colvin lot, and east to the west line of the second lot east of 
Townsend street, now owned by Mr. Butler. 

"No attempt was made to drain this till Mr. Forbes built his house, when he induced the 
trustees of the village to put an eight-inch wooden pipe across James street not far from the east line 
of Townsend street. When the lot owners graded James street in 1833-4, they cut through the bed 



113 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



of gravel crossing the street at Lock street and used the gravel to grade the street from tlic canal to 
Lock street, and to fill up the north half of James street occupied by the frog pond. The pond 
must also have been filled six or eight feet nearly its entire length. The south end of the second 
hill, in front of the west half of Hlock 31, was cut down at the same time, and the low ground filled 
in that came away in front of the east half of said block." 

A meeting of the Trustees was held on the i ith of October, at which 
Judge Forman announced that he had engaged a fire engine at the cost of 
$935, and Thomas B. Heermans was appointed captain of a fire company, 
with authority to enlist thirty-five men as members of the company. 

It will be seen by the foregoing procceedings of the meetings of 1825, 
that the Trustees were thoroughly aroused and determined to do their best 
to advance the material interests of the village. Their very frequent early 
meetings and their ardent zeal again suggest a part, at least, of the answer 
to the oft-repeated inquiry why Syracuse became a city. 

At this point we can do nothing that will so adequately complete the 
history of the village down to about 1830, as to compile a brief account of 
the actual conditions existing here during that period, which task is ren- 
dered comparatively easy by the published reminiscences of the late Timo- 
thy C. Cheney (1857) and of the late Hon. E. W. Leavenworth (iSyo), the 
latter referring to the village as he remembered it in 1827. 

There were only about five hundred inhabitants in the village in 1825, 
and the map of 1834 shows considerable change from the conditions of 
1827, which gives Gen. Leavenworth's annals of the latter date great value. 
"There were then," he wrote, " no blocks in what is now the Fourth ward ; 
none north of the Walton line ; none west of Apple street on the north 
side of the canal ; none west of Clinton street on the south side of the 
canal; none south of Fayette street and none east of Mulberry street. 
They were all laid out by Judge Forman, excepting three unimportant 
blocks east of Montgomery street." 

In describing that portion of the village lying north of the Erie canal 
and east of the Oswego canal, it should be stated that no street in that sec- 
tion had been opened or worked in 1827, excepting North Salina street, 
though the " Foot Road," Lodi and Lock streets had been laid out on the 
map of the Salt Springs Reservation made in 1821-2. When the Syracuse 
Company laid out this part of the city, they gave their names to several of 
the prominent streets, as McHride, Town.send, and James, while Burnet and 
Hawley streets were named from Major Burnet and Gideon Hawley, who 
were agents of the company. 

The only bridge over the canal east of Warren street was at the Lodi 
locks. Maj. Moses D. Burnet had built a cottage house on the lot now occu- 
pied by the Century Club. Dr. David S. Colvin lived there in 1829. Nel- 
son Gilbert lived in a small white house on the corner of Lock and Willow 
streets, the site of the cathedral parsonage. On the small block between 




■^^^iryF, i^Harriii'.. .'■' '^ ' 



\ A ^. 



P'-^tJ-e.-^l^ 



%^ 



JwiKS Strket in Rari.n' Times. 113 

the two 'canals, an old Scotchnnan named John Boyd had built a very 
small dwelling, little more than a hovel, surrounded it with a high, tight 
board fence, and obtained a living by raising and selling vegetables. He 
dwelt in great seclusion and was popularly known as a hermit. In the year 
of the cholera epidemic he was found dead in his bed. 

There was a small house on block 281, near the present corner of Mc- 
Bride and Ash streets. There were a few white-washed shanties along the 
Oswego canal, north of Willow street, bearing the pretentious name of 
"White Hall," probably from the white-wash. 

I'eter Wales was the first butcher in the village and lived in a small 
house just north of the Oswego canal bridge on the west side of Salina 
street. This lot, and the old structures still on it, constitute what is still 
known as the Wales property. 

On the same side of the street, at the corner of Division, was the tavern 
kept at that time by Henry Blake. This was known at various times as the 
"Center House," and the " Half Way House." 

"There was then," (1827) wrote General Leavenworth, " no way to reach 
Major Burnet's cottage on foot except by the towing path of the Erie canal 
east to the lock, and then by a fine, broad gravelled walk leading up to the 
front door which was on the south side of the house. The lock was then as 
near to Lock street as it now is to McBride street. No plough had then 
been used on any of the streets east of the Oswego canal and of Salina street 
north of the bridge. A sort of log causeway had however been made some 
seventy-five or one hundred feet long in front of the east half of block No. 
31, to the residence of William Malcolm. The Foote road could not be used 
by teams except west of Lodi street. The gulf at the residence of Dvvight 
H. Bruce extended across the Foote road and rendered it substantially 
impassable, and the hill extending easterly beyond Oak street, was too steep 
and too rough for a road. South of the Foote road there was no cleared 
land east of Lodi street. From Lodi street west to about Catharine street, 
and south of Gertrude street, the woods had been cut off and the stumps 
still remained. From the neighborhood of Catharine street west to about 
Townsend street, there was a very fair meadow. From Townsend street 
west to the Oswego canal the land was cleared, but there was little cultiva- 
tion. All the residue of this portion of the village was in woods of second 
growth." 

In 1830, Mr. Leavenworth secured a refusal of Major Burnet of the lot 
where he subsequently erected his handsome residence. This was the first 
lot sold on James street. Within a few years after this date all of the lands 
then owned by the Syracuse Company in what is now the Fourth ward were 
laid out in blocks, lots, and streets. Blocks 30 and 3I, and the two blocks 
in their rear on Willow street, were each divided into two lots, the front lot 
15 



The Early Occupants of "TlonBER's Row." 115 



being offered at S600 and the rear ones at $250 each. Those four blocks 
were bought by Mr. Leavenworth, John G. P""orbes, the Salina lawyer, then 
about to remove to Syracuse, Volney Cook, and George S. Fitch. 

The reader's attention is now called to that section of the village lying 
north of the Erie canal and west of the Oswego canal, the early streets and 
blocks of which will be understood by reference to the map of 1846. Block 
88 faces James .street, between Salina and Warren. Of this block Mr. Cheney 
says: "In 1824 that portion of James street styled ' Robber's Row' had 
been surveyed and laid out as a street but had not been worked. The trees 
and brush had been cleared off, and the passage of teams had made consid- 
erable of a trail. Stores and houses on the south side of the street had their 
front entrances ojjening on the towing path. The gable ends and back 
yards of the houses were on James street." In 1827-30 " Robber's Row " 
was a very busy part of the village, made so largely by the canal traffic. 
Columbus C. and David Bradley occupied the basement of General 
Granger's building fronting on the canal at the Salina street corner. 
Thomas and Elisha George occupied the next store on the east, and Dexter 
Pepper next. William K. Blair's store occupied the next thirty feet, where 
he carried on a large and profitable business, and subsequently built a sub- 
stantial four-story block. The site of these structures is now covered by 
the Syracuse Savings Bank building. Stephen W. Cadwell and Paschal 
Thurber carried on for many years a grocery, the largest one in the village; 
the next store on the east and adjoining them was owned and occupied 
by Deacon Henry Chamberlain. These firms were all grocers. Next to 
Deacon Chamberlain's, Robert I. Brockway had a butcher's shop before 
1830, and was succeeded by Caleb Davis, from Salina, father of Thomas 
Davis, who was chief of police of the city many years. 

The north side of James street (block 82) was built up before 1824, but 
by insignificant structures. The old Greyhound hotel was on the corner of 
James and Warren streets and was occupied in 1827 as a dwelling by Gilbert 
Fitch. Thomas Spencer, lived in a small dwelling next on the west. Mr. 
Fitch and Deacon Spencer were brothers-in-law. The next building was a 
two-story dwelling owned and occupied by the families of Messrs. Cadwell 
and Thurber. On the Salina street corner was a small wooden building oc- 
occupied by Hugh Hancock as a shoe store. It fronted on Salina street. 

On the Salina street side of this block (82) were in 1824 the dwellings of 

Dr. Colvin, Lewis (a brother-in-law of Sterling Co.ssitt) and James 

Sackett, the latter a very eccentric and peculiar old bachelor. "In 1874," 
.says Mr. Cheney, "he contracted with a man to build him a house about 22 
X 40 feet. The contractor did not come and put up the house as he agreed. 
He then contracted with another builder to put up the same kind of a house, 
which was immediately done. While the second contractor was finishing 



ii6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



the first house, the first contractor came with the second house. Although 
Mr. Sackett was under no obligation to accept the house, he said to the 
builder, ' Here, put it up at the end of this one.' Of course he had a 
house 22 X So feet. He had a rough board fence put around the lot, which 
was entered by a gate swinging on a post in the center." Mr. Sackett had 
also singular tastes in the matter of dress. He wore a frock coat reaching 
down to his heels, a wide brimmed hat with a large veil over his face. Such 
an outfit on a tall, fleshless man like Mr. Sackett, made him an object of 
notice to every person. He always hired masons to fill his ice houses, so 
that the work should be well done. He usually traveled about the country 
in an old rickety sulky, with a patched top of various colors, drawn by a 
splendid horse. Whenever he went on foot he carried an old umbrella with 
a large white patch on top. But with all his oddities he was a well disposed 
man, and correct and prompt in business matters. He died possessed of an 
estate valued at $150,000. 

In 1827, just north of the building on the northwest corner of Salina and 
James streets, was a plain, painted twostory building, the lower floor of 
which was occupied by General Thaddeus M. Wood and his son-in-law, 
Charles A. Baker, as a law ofifice. On the second floor was John F. Wyman's 
printing office, and in rear Alfred Northam's law ofifice, also occupied by 
Mr. Leavenworth until 1828, when the firm removed to the east wing of 
the Syracuse House. All north of that to Willow street was still owned 
and occupied by James Sackett. There were no houses on the Willow 
street and Warren street sides of the block. 

The block now covered by Andrews Brothers' grocery was then unoccu- 
pied, and the block north of it was used for a boat yard and a small dry 
dock by Deacon Thomas Spencer. We here quote from Gen. Leavenworth : 

" There was a small stream of water in what is now Canal street, which came down from the 
Lodi swamp, running in a ditch probably made for it. On reaching the Oswego canal it turned 
north and ran nearly northwest to the canal, to about the center of this block, where it was taken 
under the canal and to Warren street, .\t the same point there was a waste weir from the canal, the 
water from which was taken into this brook. The brook passed along Warren street and diagonally 
across Willow street and onward to Salina street, which it crossed nearly on the Walton line ; it then 
ran north nearly parallel with West street and about fifty feet west of it, making its way through the 
swamp north into Knapp's mill race and thus to the lake. When the new weigh lock was built, the 
water was carried away by a culvert across the Erie and under the Oswego canal, into this brook. As 
the land on the west side of North Salina street increased in value, this water on crossing Salina 
street was taken in a culvert direct to Onondaga creek. 

On the block next north of Willow street on Salina street the first house 
was occupied in 1827 by Elisha F. Wallace, father of Judge William J. 
Wallace. It .stood perhaps 100 feet north of the corner, which was vacant. 
A little north of this and on the ground now occupied by the We.st Shore 
railroad, stood the house built by Rufus Stanton in 1808. 



Location of Early Stores and Dwellinos. 117 



On the l-.mpire House corner (block 81) stood the historic Mansion 
House. In 1827 it was kept by (). H. Williston. It was a rather old tliree- 
story wooden building fronting on the square with a hail through the center 
of the original building, an office and bar-room in the corner, a sitting-room 
on the west side of the hall, and still west of this was a spacious dining-room 
which had been added to the original building. There was no building on 
this block on Salina street north of this. The old Mansion House was re- 
moved in 1844-5 to clear the site for the Empire block. 

Just west of the Mansion House and fronting Clinton Square was a cheap 
onestory building containing three stores. They were occupied in 1827, 
the eastern one by \'olney Cook and George S. Fitch as a dry goods store. 
It was then the fashionable store of the village. The next one was first 
used as a harness shop, and Silas Ames came from Onondaga Hill soon after 
1827 and carried on the same business there. The next building on the 
west was a brick block of considerable size, erected by Asa Marvin and John 
D. Norton as a firm. Marvin was Norton's father-in-law and lived in Oneida 
county. They occupied the two eastern stores where they had a large bus- 
iness as hatters and furriers, and Adonijah Root the west room as a shoe 
store. The remainder of the space to "Clinton Alley" (now North Clinton 
street) was covered by a cheap two-story wooden building, used as a dwell- 
ing on the second floor, and by Benjamin 15. Batchelder in the corner store, 
with dry goods and notions, where he was succeeded by Samuel Ketchum. 
The other store was taken about 1S27 by Frederick Rhyne, and other 
transient tenants were there. 

The only dwelling on Clinton alley then was on the southeast corner of 
that and Church street. It was built by Asa Marvin for his daughter, Mrs. 
Norton, and remained there until the erection of the county buildings. In 
1824 there were large stables on the east side of the alley carried on by 
John A. Green. They occupied a part of what is now the Court House 
premises, and were removed previous to 1827. A little east of the Norton 
house on Church street, was a small one-story house built by John Wall for 
the Syracuse Company, which was occupied in 1827 by Gardner Lawrence 
and family. The remainder of this block was given up to the grounds and 
stables of the Mansion House. It was on the corner of Salina and Church 
streets the first circus in the village was exhibited. It was numerously at- 
tended by both red and white men, and on that account Andrew N. Van 
Patten and John Rogers built in 1825 what was long known as the " Circus 
House," on the north side of Church street, between Salina and Warren. 
It was a large wooden building which sheltered the "ring" and gave rough 
seats to the audience. It was afterwards occupied as a stable for the Onon- 
daga House. 

Block So is surrounded by Church, Clinton, and Genesee streets. On 



ii8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



the southeast corner of tliis block and fronting Genesee street, was a small 
yellow two-story building, kept as a hotel in 1 827 bj' a Mr. Gates, who was a 
son-in-law of Sterling Cossitt ; he soon afterward removed to Louisiana. 
Capt. Joel Cody, the popular canal boat "skipper" between Syracuse and 
L'tica, lived in the next dwelling west. Matthew W. Davis, son of Matthew 
L. Davis, the early merchant, lived in a pleasant house standing back from 
the street, next west of the Haptist church. The house was burned with 
the church in August, 1859. The ne.xt building west of Mr. Davis's is still 
standing. It was occupied for many years by Joseph Slocum, who was the 
father of Mrs. Russell Sage. On the lot next east of the old Baptist 
church on Church street, was a small one-story house where lived the mother 
of Seneca and Royal Stewart. On the west corner of Church street and 
the alley, was the two-story wooden house of Philander Denslow. 

On the corner of Church and Salina streets, opposite (north) of the On- 
ondaga House, was Isaac Stanton's stone-cutting shop, and there was also 
a small house on the lot. Mr. Stanton died with the cholera in 1832. The 
three lots next west of the corner were bought in 1829 successive!}- by B. 
Davis Noxon, Iliram A. Deming, and Amos P. Granger. They built the 
brick houses still standing there, the lots having previously been occupied 
by cheap houses built by the Syracuse Company. The ne.xt house west 
stood partly in what is now Clinton street. In it lived Capt. Ezra Foster 
and later Silas Ames. Joel Canficld built and lived in the next house west, 
and Samuel IJooth occupied the ne.xt one. 

West of the school house was quite a large vacant lot running back to 
the Walton line, through which access was had to the salt fields of the Syr- 
acuse Salt Company. The map shows the extent of these salt fields, all of 
which have been removed and the ground covered by buildings. 

On the southwest corner of Genesee and Clinton streets was erected in 
1 824 by Booth and Elliott what became known as " the old saleratus factory." 
It bore a general resemblance to the present structure there and in it were 
three stores in the first story of the building. When business drifted away 
from this locality the building was taken by James Taylor & Co., who for a 
number of years manufactured .saleratus there. The building was burned 
on the 23d of August, 1859. On the ground west of this block was in 
1S27 the Eagle Tavern, first opened by Frederick Rhyne and afterwards 
kept by Wm. A. Robinson, who in later years was proprietor of the Onon- 
daga Hotel. The house next west of the tavern was built by Judge For- 
man about 1820 and the next three were owned by I^liny Dickinson, Rev. 
Dr. John W. Adams, of the First Presbyterian church, and Josiah Wright. 

The house on the corner of Genesee and P'rankiin streets was built in 
1824 by the late Henry Gifford, and was occupied in 1S27 by Dr. George 
Hooker. This dwelling and that of William Malcolm, corner of Washing- 



Till-; (XxiM'ANTS OK Various Hi.ocks. 119 



ton and Salina streets, were then the finest residences in the village. Henry 
Gilforil built and occupied the first house south of Genesee, on the east side 
of Franklin street, until he erected his handsome residence, corner of Gen- 
esee and North West streets. 

IMock 76 then included the small block 198 (see map.) On this lot, 
partly on the site of the present High .School building and partly in the 
line of Genesee street, stood the old red mill, which has been described. 
On the corner east of the mill was a cheap dwelling called the " mill-house." 

On block 85 were three small wooden houses fronting on Genesee street, 
near the east end of the block, and two on Franklin street which remain 
substantially as they were in 1827. West of these and near the center of 
the block lived Archibald L. Fellows, a mason, and a man who was much re- 
spected. On the northwest corner of the block was a small house then 
occupied by John Smith, who was a teamster. On the west side of Frank- 
lin street was a two-story house then recently built by Heman and Chester 
Walbridge, the successful merchants. 

Block 197 was occupied at the time under consideration chiefly by the 
saw mill, the oil mill and a tannery. On block 66, west of the creek, there 
was a small dwelling nearly on the site of the Allen Munroe residence. 
Sterling Cossitt lived there for many years. 

Near the southern corner of block 65 stood a large two-story dwelling 
fronting on Genesee street, which was built by Judge Forman, and was 
occupied in 1827 by Moses D. Burnet. There were then only two buildings 
on these two blocks. There were only a few poor houses on Apple (now 
North West) street, occupied at that tfme by Herman Hyde, William 
James, the miller in Burnet's stone mill, and Gilbert Horton, a cooper. 

West of blocks 68 and 72 as far as Van Rensselaer street, and from the 
Erie canal to the bluffs on the north, the entire tract was covered by the 
coarse salt fields of the Syracuse and Onondaga Salt companies. Just east 
of Leavenworth avenue and on the north side of Genesee street the On- 
ondaga company had a large house, occupied by Joseph Savage, the su- 
perintendent of the company, and their employees. West of the salt fields 
on Genesee street, there were no dwellings of any value. John Rowley 
lived in one and Henry and Andrew Young in two others. All the land 
about the head of the lake, and south of the road leading from Salina to 
Geddes, and below the bluffs was an undrained, uncleared, swamp. 



I20 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THK VII, LACK oK SYRACUSE, 1S24-30. 

Ten Picture of the Village of 1S27— I.athrop's Lodging Mouse— Yellow Brook— Clearing of 
Lands by the Syracuse Company— liuildings on Various Streets in 1S27— W. 1!. Kirk's Tavern— 
The Old Episcopal Church— I'helps's lil.icksinith Shop— The Site of the Hastable ISIock— The Sec- 
tion South of the Canal and West of Salina Street— William Malcolm's liuildings- Description of 
the Western Tart of the City Site — The Cinder Road. 

In continuing our description of Syracuse from 1820 to 1S27, we will 
take up that section of it lying south of the canal and east of Salina street. 
Of the eastern portion of it General Leavenworth gives this picture as he 
rode through it on the 17th of November, 1827: 

" When I came from the east through what was then dignified with tlit name of the vilUage of 
Lodi, I saw no symptoms of a village. There was one poor small wood-colored house on the north 
side of the road, about half way down the eastern hill, occupied by a family named Krooks. 
.Another small house, which was called a tavern, stood on the south side of the road just west of 
Spruce street. This was hcpt by John U. Lathrop. He had a fine well on his premises affording 
the best of water. Teople coming from the east to trade in Syracuse, would stop with Mr. Lathrop, 
and from his house they would go to the village and trade during the day, returning as the shades of 
evening fell on the gloomy swamp, to his house for food and lodging. They did this in preference 
to stopping at one of the village taverns and running the risk of taking the ague. Calvin Mitchell, 
a contractor, lived in another small house west of University avenue and nearly on the ground occu- 
pied by the residence of Jacob Crouse. And at or near the foot of the hill on the south side of the 
ro.ad. lived a very worthy old man and his family, named Rufus Moss. These were the only dwell- 
ings on the Turnpike. The only other house worthy of notice was the large and, for those days, 
fine dwelling of that worthy and public-spirited citizen. Captain Oliver Teall, which is still standing 
on lieech street, north of the Central railroad. There were two or three small tenements near Cap- 
tain Teall's and occupied by his saw-mill employees.* M the foot of the hill, near the Ccnesee 
road. Lemuel Benton began making brick in 1825, and the late Henry Shattuck worked in his yard." 

Between what are now Chestnut street and Fayette Park, and from the 
canal .southward there were no buildings, no improvements, no cultivated 
land. The woods had been cut on the north side of the Turnpike, but the 
stumps were all standing at that time. On the south side the swamp and 
its shrubbery and trees were still in their primeval condition. The land was, 
of course, undrained, always impassable for teams, and most of the year by 
the footman. 

The early roads or streets in the eastern part of the city as late as 1827 
were the Turnpike, the Jamesville road, and the short piece of Beech street 

" Captain Oliver Teall owned and ran two small saw mills and a grist mill near the Lodi locks. 
He obtained the w>itcr which moved his mills by tapping the canal. He was then Canal Superintend- 
ent under Henry Seymour, as Commissioner, and obtained the right to use the water for running his 
mills from the State. — Cheney's Reminiscences. 



TiiK V.vvK OK \'i:i.i.()\v Br(iok. 121 

extending from the Turnpike to the canal. There was a sort of wood road 
running from the Turnpike southward about on the line of Renwick ave- 
nue, and continuing on to the valley. This road was probably traveled to 
some extent before what is now Salina street was opened. 

Yellow Brook came down from Lodi in Water street as far west as Lemon 
street, where it turned south and southwest, crossing Genesee street east of 
Almond street. It rambled about through the swamp as far south as the 
neighborhood of Harrison street, when it turned northwesterly and passing 
under the west end of the Farmer block crossed Warren street at right 
angles in front of the residence of the late Dr. Powers, and across the lot or 
lots next north of his. Then it ran northerly, bearing west, and crossed Jef- 
ferson about midway between Salina and Warren streets, and Salina street 
about three hundred feet south of Fayette street, then turning southwester- 
ly ran into the Onondaga creek. All along the course of the stream from 
Warren street there was a gentle depression of from five to eight feet in 
which it ran. 

The Yellow brook was finally disposed of in 1838. A few years prev- 
ious to that, when improving South Salina street, the Syracuse Com- 
pany almost filled the bed of the brook between Jefferson street and the 
creek; but in order to make a permanent improvement, the Company laid a 
culvert from a little east of Salina street to the Onondaga creek. But in 
1838, when the Syracuse & Utica railroad was built, the railroad company 
was induced to wholly fill up the brook, in consideration of franchises grant- 
ed to the company. 

There was no building on the west side of Salina street, south of the 
Yellow brook, now on the east side farther south than the fourth lot south 
of Fayette street. A small bridge crossed the brook. When the Walton 
Tract came into possession of the Syracuse Company in 1824 they found 
that portion of their property lying along Salina street south of Fayette 
street covered with stumps and underbrush, the forest having been cleared 
away. They built a farm house and a barn not far from the corner of Jef- 
ferson and Salina streets and placed therein a German named Jacob Husen- 
frats, (or Hausenfradt) with whom they contracted to clear their lands and 
cultivate them. Hausenfradt worked faithfully and soon had the lands in 
that vicinity covered with grain and vegetables. There was quite a deep 
ravine in Salina street where Yellow brook crossed it, and there were other 
considerable depressions. Mr. Cheney says that in 1824, "Salina street was 
fully six feet higher than at the present day, and very irregular, passing over 
a series of mounds or hillocks the whole distance, making a bad road to 
travel with a loaded team." These were all leveled when the street was sub- 
sequently graded by Moses D. Burnet. 

Olmsted Quick built for himself a boat house on Yellow brook and there 
16 



122 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



kept the craft in which he fished along the stream and pond. He was a 
shoemaker and occupied in 1827 the south part of the last house on the 
east side of Salina street. Zophar Adams was making brick in 1824 on the 
west side of Salina street near Yellow brook. 

That portion of the city through which extends Onondaga street was in 

1824 a cedar swamp with its many old logs, stumps and trunks of fallen 
trees slowly going to decay and filling the air with no.xious vapors. Wher- 
ever the land was sufficiently firm and dry to afford a suitable soil, a very 
luxuriant growth of blackberry bushes had sprung up. This swamp was 
also a great resort for game and has been the scene of many hunting and 
blackberrying adventures. 

The block bounded by Salina, Washington, Warren and Fayette streets 
was in 1824 wholly vacant, with the exception of a few large trees. In 

1825 the First Presbyterian Society built a church where the McCarthy 
retail store now stands. A frame house had been erected on the corner by 
the Syracuse Company in 1824. 

Coming up to the Syracuse House corner (block 101) we learn that in 
1824-27 a part of that building stood about as it does to-day. The south 
wing was built at a later date. On the southwest corner of that block 
Archy Kasson built a plain two-story dwelling in 1824, which was at a later 
date displaced by the Exchange Hotel, and soon after 1827 a row of one- 
story wooden ofifices with roofs sloping eastward were built between that 
house and the Syracuse House. Ambrose Kasson, who was the village 
Justice, had his ofifice in one of them. In the east wing of the Syracuse 
House, Col. Elijah Phillips, for years the agent for the line of stages that 
ran between Albany and Buffalo, had an office. To this ofifice Jason C. 
Woodruff was wont to drive his well-kept stage horses with a grand flour- 
ish. This stage-driver became one of the leading citizens and Mayor of the 
city in after years. Adjoining the stage ofifice in 1827 was the law ofifice of 
Harvey Baldwin, a prominent early citizen, and Schuyler Strong, and next 
east of that the drug store and ofifice of Dr. Mather Williams. Adjoining 
this stood the same building now there. In 1824, a Mr. Waterbury owned 
a small wooden house adjoining the gateway to the Syracuse House stables, 
where he kept a little grocery and lived in the chambers, to which led out- 
side stairs. In that year Joel Owen bought Waterbury's place and for sev- 
eral years kept a bowling alley there. He came from Massachusetts and 
afterwards built the brick block now occupied by his son of the same name. 
Next east of the Waterbury building was a two-story wooden structure in 
which Jabez Hawley had his cabinet shop. Mr. Hawleydied in 1885. Be- 
tween this building and the corner of Warren and Genesee streets the lots 
were vacant in 1827. On the corner was the red blacksmith shop of Henry 
Van Heusen, brother of S. V. R. Van Ileusen, who is still living in the city. 



South Sauna Street in Early Days. 123 

In the very early days of the village Henry W. Durnford owned the two 
lots adjoining the southeast corner of this block, and on the corner was a 
small house surrounded by a flower garden and picket fence. These lots 
were purchased by Capt. Samuel Lamed and he erected a plain brick build- 
ing, which he occupied for a time as a hotel, with stores in a part of the 
lower story. It was called the " Alhambra," and afterwards, while kept by 
Mr. Durnford, the " Tremont," and still later the " Sherman House." This 
building was burned and the present Larned Building erected. 

Block 1 1 1, bounded by Salina, East Fayette, Warren, and Jefferson 
streets, was almost vacant in 1824. A small unpainted house stood on the 
Washington block site, occupied by Mrs. Stewart, motherin-law of John 
Hurst. Besides this, there were only the buildings of Jacob Hausenfradt. 
On the corner north of his dwelling was the barn of the tavern built by 
Joel Kinney and conducted by him as the " American Hotel," a temperance 
house. The lots on this corner were sold originally by the Syracuse Com- 
pany, lot No. I to Archibald Perkins, and it passed through the hands of 
Archibald and Henry Perkins, Lewis Averell, and Lewis Kinney. Lot No. 
3 was sold to Amos P. Granger and by him to Lewis Kinney. On the 1st 
of April, 1848, the First Presbyterian Society bought the property for 
$10,000. 

Just south of the tavern barn, on South Salina street, stood in 1S27 two 
small one-story dwellings, and next to them on the south had been built a 
two-story house with a door in the center of the front. In this house Mrs. 
Dickinson taught a young ladies' school with success. On the north side 
of this block, on the site of Francis Hendricks's present building, Harvey 
Baldwin built, before 1827,3 good two-story brick building. There were 
also in that vicinity several wooden dwellings built by the Syracuse Com- 
pany about 1828. The corner of Fayette and Warren streets was vacant 
later than 1827, but just south of that on Warren street, 1. DeBlois Sher- 
man in that year built the brick dwelling long occupied by Dr. Lyman Clary 
and which is still standing. There were no buildiugs on the west side of 
Warren street below this point. On the site of the Granger block stood the 
old Episcopal church, now standing on the corner of Madison and Mont- 
gomery streets, and for many years known as St. Mary's (Catholic) church. 
This church was finished in 1825. 

Block 109 bounded by Washington, Montgomery, Fayette, and Warren 
streets, was considerably built up by 1S27. Col. Elijah Phillips, the stage 
manager, lived near the corner of Washington and Warren in a twostory 
wooden house fronting on Washington street. Mr. Cheney says this was 
built by Jonas Mann in 1824-5. It became the historic "Cook's Coffee 
House," and was removed to make way for the Vanderbilt House. About 
the middle of the block stood the house of John H. Johnson, a two-story 



124 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



wooden structure. On the corner of Montgomery street was a story and a 
half house built just before 1827 by Andrew N. VanPatten. On the Warren 
street side of the block Jason C. WoodrufT lived and carried on the livery 
business in the rear. There were no other buildings on this block as late as 
1827. 

The next block south of this (112) had received very little improvement 
in 1827. There were three small houses on the east side of Warren street, 
just south of Fayette, built by the Syracuse Company, and on the south- 
east corner of Jefferson street was another small dwelling ; there were no 
other buildings south of Fayette street. 

Blocks 55 and 122, the one occupied now by the Myers Block and ad- 
joining buildings and the other by the Joy Building and other structures, 
were vacant in 1827, with the exception of Samuel Phelps's blacksmith shop 
on the site of the Myers Block. Of this shop in 1824 Mr. Cheney notes as 
follows: "Samuel Phelps kept a blacksmith shop on the lot now (1857) occu- 
pied by the Home Association. The shop was in a two-story building, 
with the front towards Genesee street. The second story Mr. Phelps occu- 
pied as a dwelling. The family reached their rooms by means of stairs on 
the outside. The ground on which the shop stood was so low and marshy 
that the fall rains made a large pond all around the building. In the winter 
this pond formed a famous skating ground for the boys of the village." 

Block 97, as constituted to day, was in 1827 and earlier, divided, the part 
now covered by the Onondaga Savings Bank Building being numbered 93 ; 
it was separated from Block 94 by an alley, extending to the canal, and 
came to a point at its western end. This point was widened when the bank 
was built. Where the bank stands were three wooden stores, in the west- 
ern one of which was Pliny Dickinson's jewelry store. John Van Epps sold 
dry goods in the middle store, and in the upper part of the building in 
April, 1823, was printed the first number of the first newspaper of the vil- 
lage. To this building was also removed the post office, soon after 1820. 
East of this building and extending to Warren street, the block was origi- 
nally built up with stores for the forwarding and commission business with a 
covered passage way next to the canal, the buildings above it being support- 
ed on posts. They were partly of brick and partly of wood, three-stories 
high, and were all swept off by fire in 1834. Adjoining the alley Jonas Mann 
and Humphrey Mellen had a general store, and ne.xt to them was Madame 
Raoul's fancy goods store. Henry Newton's grocery was near the middle 
of the block, and Joseph Slocum occupied the two eastern stores. 

Block 95 borders the canal just east of Warren street. It was built up 
largely between 1824 and 1827 — a period of great activity. The western 
end was of brick, three stories high and occupied by John Rogers for stor- 
age. This building was burned on the night of November 18, 1827. East 




7rz^i^i^t4^^^c^o^<. 



I\ HIE Vkimtv (IK TiiK CiTV Hall. 



of this were a number of cheap wooden buildings, until the east end of the 
block was reached, whore stood the same building now on the site ; it was 
erected by William Malcolm. 

On the north and east sides of Block 103 (bounded by Genesee, Water, 
and IMulberry streets) there were no buildings until after 1827. On the site 
of the Bastable block in 1824 was a small frame house occupied by a Mr. 
Walker. In 1827, Daniel Elliott owned this site and a few years later built 
on it a wooden structure two stories high for stores and offices. Next east 
of this was another wooden building erected in 1827, which was kept as a 
tavern at that time. Then came the brick dwelling of John Rogers, built 
in 1825 ; this was one of the first brick houses in the place and is still stand- 
ing in the heart of the city, substantially as originally built. 

Directly east of the Malcolm storehouse was the canal basin, extending 
south to about the front line of the old City Hall and covering a large part 
of Montgomery and Market streets in that square. South of the basin 
were lots reaching down to Washington street. (See map of 1S34.) 

On the block east of the present market street was located the small 
pottery of Mr. Russell, and east of this was a small wooden house occupied 
by Nathan \'an Benschoten. He afterwards built the dwelling on the 
northeast corner of the block, still standing, and died there. In 1828 he 
was in the marble business with Alfred Palmer. 

Blocks 48 and 52 on either side of the canal and east of Mulberry street 
were almost unoccupied until considerably later than 1827. The late H. 
W. Van Buren lived in a wooden house built by his father, Peter Van 
Buren, on the east side of Mulberry street, until he afterwards built his 
brick residence on the south side of Water street. His tannery and shoe 
shop were in a building near his early residence. Mr. Van Buren became 
one of the solid men of the place and always carried on the leather trade. 

Block 56, fronting Fayette Park, was vacant until after 1824. Much of 
the block was covered with a grove of large trees, which were cut down and 
hewed or sawed into shape for building. Henry Gifford cut the timber 
here for his first dwelling on West Genesee street. John Daniels bought 
the lot now occupied by the Grouse residence before 1825 and built there a 
public house. He sold it to a Mr. Luce, who also used it as a tavern. It 
was kept in 1827 by Jared Phelps and was afterwards owned and occupied 
by Judge Sylvanus Tousley, and was finally torn down to make a place for 
the residence of the late John Grouse. Fayette Park was still a dream of 
the future, most of its territory being occupied b\- the Turnpike running 
diagonally across it. .Mulberry street extended south only to Genesee 
street, and there was no other house east of Mulberry street in 1827, and no 
streets on which to build them, excepting Genesee. 

In that section of the village lying south of the canal and west of Sa- 



126 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



lina street the improvements were very limited in character at the time 
under consideration. There was in 1824 a foot bridge across the canal a 
few yards east of the present Clinton street bridge, and near the northerly 

end of it Deacon Chamberlain had a meat market in a small frame 

building. On the north side of Water street, west of Clinton, (Block 92) 
Hiram Hyde had two adjoining store houses. Mr. Hyde was son-in-law of 
Joshua Forman and died of consumption in 1825. This building was re- 
moved about 1830 by Willet and Henry Raynor and the brick block erect- 
ed which still stands as the Jerry Rescue Block, though much changed. 
There were no other buildings on that side of Water street to the creek. 
LeGrand and William Crofoot were making brick where Greenway's Malt 
house was erected. 

Block 100. — Kasson & Heermans were carr\-ing on the hardware business 
on the corner of Salina and Water streets in 1824 and in that year replaced 
their small wooden building with a three-story brick block seventy feet deep. 
This structure closed up the windows on the Salina street side of William 
Malcolm's hardware store, which he had in 1824 located thirty feet west of 
the corner. This corner lot was purchased by Archie Kasson and the erec- 
tion of the building was in part in retaliation against Mr. Malcolm, who had 
offended him. Elam Lynds and his son soon afterwards bought the Kasson 
building and carried on the same business. They were succeeded by Horace 
and Charles A. Wheaton. William Malcolm was a leading business man in 
Syracuse for many years and attained an honorable position. He was for a 
period a partner of A. A. Hudson. 

West of Malcolm's store the Syracuse Company had built a row of 
small wooden buildings for stores and shops. These remained until after 
1827. Henry S. Green, a tailor, occupied the one next west of Malcolm's 
store and John Durnford taught a school on the second floor. Ross and 
Joseph Leslie were in the ne.xt one, and Hiram Judson, the early jeweler, 
in one still farther west. Moses D. Burnet, agent of the Syracuse Com- 
pany, built a small office just west of this row of buildings, and a little later 
erected another for John G. Forbes, who came down from Salina to prac- 
tice law. West of these offices was a wooden house of two stories which 
remained there until after 1827. Next south of Kasson's store on Salina 
street was a narrow alley running back behind three of the West Water 
street lots. The shoe store of James Pease stood next to the alley, and 
adjoining that the store and cabinet shop of Theodore Ashley, with whom 
Charles F. Williston learned his trade and was in partnership for a number 
of years. On the corner of Washington and Salina streets stood for many 
years the residence of William Malcolm ; it was quite the pride of the vil- 
lage. On the northwest corner of the block Gen. James Mann had a sub- 
stantial wooden house fronting on Clinton street. 



The Heart of thic Village in 1827. 127 

Block 99, bounded by Clinton, Water, Washington, and Franklin streets, 
was occupied on the northeast corner by the house of Judge Forman ; it 
originally stood in the line of the street, but was moved back when the 
street was opened. After Judge Forman left the village the house was oc- 
cupied by Calvin Riley, whose soap and candle factory was the only build- 
ing then on block 91. The Forman house remained until Jacob Crouse 
purchased the corner for his brick block. The next building on the west 
was erected before 1827 substantially as it now appears. The stone house 
at that point was built at a very early day and was occupied in 1827 by 
Judge James Webb. West of this was the two-story brick dwelling built, 
owned and occupied by John Wall in 1827, and after his removal to Phienix, 
and for many later years by the late Columbus C. Bradley. The only 
other building on this block then was on the west side of Clinton street, 
south of the site of the Crouse building. It was a brick dwelling built 
and for a time occupied by Dr. Mather Williams. It was taken down 
in 1882-3 to make room for the block now standing there. Daniel Elliott, 
the builder, had a shop and lumber yard on Washington street west of 
the line of Clinton street. 

Blocks 97 and 98 contained no improvements until after 1827, except 
that 98 was used as a burying ground from 1824 to 1841. 

Block 107, bounded by Washington, Salina, Fayette, and Clinton streets 
and now in the business heart of the city, was very little improved until 
after 1830. In 1S27 the little one- story law office of John Wilkinson stood 
on the Globe Hotel corner and his story and a half dwelling, where he lived 
for many years, was a little south of it on the same lot, which was 4x8 
rods. On the lot next south stood the dwelling of Thomas B. Heermans, 
and next to that the house of James Manning, which was of the same gen- 
eral character as the others. The corner of Fayette street was occupied by 
John Garrison's two-story tavern. This lot was purchased by him in 1824 
and the house erected fronting on Salina street, with a piazza along the 
front. For this building he cut some pine trees west of Clinton street, and 
had them sawed at the mill near Water street. He had purchased a wagon 
of William B. Kirk, the Lafayette wheelwright, and at Mr. Garrison's death 
in 1826, Mr. Kirk bought the tavern, being to some extent forced into the 
deal in order to collect the price of his wagon. Thus his future business 
career was changed from wagon making to tavern-keeping. He made his 
hotel very popular, particularly with country people. Investing quite 
heavily in Central railroad stock in early days, and later in real estate, and 
being a prudent and far-seeing man, he became wealthy. In 1859 he erected 
the first Kirk block on his corner, which was kept as a hotel a number of 
years.* The stately Kirk Building, the finest business block in Syracuse, 
recently erected by his son, now covers the site. 



' From a Forest to a City," p. 74. 



128 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



On the northwest corner of the block was the two-story brick house of 
Dr. Jonathan Day, who in 1832 fell a victim to his unselfish labor in the 
Cholera epidemic. He was the leading physician of the village, a promi- 
nent man in public affairs, carried on one of the earliest drug stores hereon 
Genesee street, and was much lamented by the community. These five 
were all the buildings in 1827 on this now important block. 

Block 1 10, south of the one just described, had only three buildings in 
1827. On the corner of Fayette and Salina streets was a house similar to 
the Garrison tavern, which was also kept as a hotel by Clark Ilebard. This 
was soon afterwards bought by Thomas J. Keeler, who in later years im- 
proved his property. Next on the south was a large unpainted building 
which was used for tenements and just south of this and near the Yellow 
brook was a small brick building used for a tobacco factory. In a further 
general description of all that portion of the western section of the city, 
which had scarcely felt the hand of improvement in 1827, General Leaven- 
worth wrote as follows : 

" The woods on that part of the fourth division lying west of the creek were of course the sec- 
ond growth, principally oak and hickory, interspersed with some hemlock. Near the junction of the 
Cinder road and Kurnace street and north of the Cinder road, there were many acres of land with 
very little wood growing on it. This ground was cleared in 1827-8 and a race-course made there. 
The bridge across the creek on the Cinder road was known as the High Bridge, as it was quite high 
above the water, and also in contradistinction to the bridge on Water street, which was very low. 
At the west end of the High Bridge, on the north side of the road lived Zophar .\dams. He had a 
brick yard between his house and the creek. He did much of the early village jobbing, and made 
Warren street from Jefferson street to Billings Park. His was the only house west of the creek." 

Properly speaking the first house built on the Cinder Road was by 
George T. M. Davis in the year 1829, and was on two acres of ground about 
where Carroll E. Smith's house now stands. This old house now forms part 
of a dwelling in South avenue. He came to Syracuse in 1824, and stood 
by the side of Judge Forman on the north side of the canal, just west of 
the swing bridge, when he made his address to Governor Clinton as he 
passed through here on his route from Buffalo to New York at the opening 
of the canal in 1825. In 1828 he married Susan Webb, the Judge's oldest 
daughter, and in 1829, built his house on the Cinder road. About half way 
from the Cinder road to the canal there was a very small, very poor and un- 
painted shanty then occupied by the father of the late Albert Congdon. 
Perhaps these were the only dwellings in this division of the city west of 
the creek. There was, however, another structure on the west side of the 
creek. This was Major Burnet's stone flouring mill, which was afterwards 
destroyed by fire. It stood on the same ground now occupied by the Amos 
flouring mill. 

In 1827 West Water street extended across the creek to .Major Burnet's 
stone mill, just mentioned. Washington and Fayette streets terminated on 
Clinton street, the latter reaching from Clinton Square to the Yellow brook. 



Tni: Viu.AGE I'KOM 1828 TO 1S40. 129 



It was very little used at that date. Salina street extended southward only 
to what is now Cortland avenue, the latter being then a part of the highway 
to the valley. The Cinder road terminated at Salina street and it was not 
until several years later that what is now East Onondaga street was opened. 
The old map of 1S34, herein, shows many of these early features, with the 
course of the creek before it was improved, in 1838-9. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE VILLAGE OK SVRACUSE DOWN TO 1S40. 

From 1S2S to 1S40 — Improvement of Streets — The Census of 1829 — Captain Hiram Putnam — 
The Hiisiness Houses of the Village and where they were Located — Samuel Earned and his Floating 
Store— The Approach of the Cholera— Measures Adopted to Thwart the Disease — Deaths of Prom- 
inent I'ersons — The Canal Quarantine and its Effects — Census of Business Houses in 1S34 — The 
Great Fire of that Year — The Coming of the Railroad — E, \V. Leavenworth and His Early Influ- 
ence — Changes in the Ordinances. 

CONTINUING the history of the village of Syracuse, the condition of 
which from 1824 to 1828 has been so minutely described in preceding 
pages, we find that its growth was almost, if not quite, as rapid during the suc- 
ceeding ten years, as it had been before, while the village officers continued 
their activity in most directions to render the place healthful and prosperous. 
Streets were opened, extended and repaired, nuisances of various kinds 
abated, bridges built and sidewalks multiplied, and the foundations laid for 
the great changes that were to follow. 

1827. — Several hundred dollars were appropriated for filling up the 
mouth of Yellow brook and otherwise improving it in the summer 
of 1827, and Washington street was extended eastward. Clinton street 
must have been greatly improved, as we learn that Calvin Mitchell was 
paid " $49.46 for making S3 rods and 7 links of road in Clinton street." 
The original condition of the public squares in the center of the city may 
be inferred from the fact that a tax of $200 was imposed in 1827 for " im- 
provement on the south side of the square south of the canal, from the stone 
bridge to the Engine house." The sum of $26.CX) was appropriated for 
"widening the bridge on Salina street," and $10 more for an embankment 
for the bridge. 



130 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

The " Public Square" (Clinton) was improved this year on both sides of 
the canal at a cost of S52.35, which was paid to Cadwell & Thorber, and 
J. N. Lathrop was paid S3 1.22 for similar services. The dry dock and canal 
at James street were bridged about this time at a cost of §225. 

1828. — At a meeting of the Trustees held December 10, 1828, a resolu- 
tion was passed that the Foot street hills be " reduced," and persons in need 
of earth were allowed to take it away. Notices were posted in the village to 
the following effect ; " For the purpose of improving the road on Foot 
street and for the purpose of doing it with the best economy, any person 
needing earth for filling up lots or other purposes, may take it from Foot 
street hill, provided it be done in such a manner as to leave the road bed 
level, and in all cases to be taken between the stakes on each side of the 
road." West street was extended in this year from near the stone mill 
northward and was known as Apple street. 

1S29-30. — A census of the village was taken in 1829 and the population 
found to be 2,565. For doing the work Levi Chapman was paid $4.00. The 
village ordinances were amended also in this year, especially with a view of 
securing better sidewalks. The following ordinance was published in Au- 
gust, 1830 : " The Trustees of the village deem it necessary to order side- 
walks on the several streets hereinafter specified, viz : On Salina street from 
the Yellow brook (between Fayette and Jefferson streets) to the canal. 
From the north side of Salina street to the side cut (Oswego canal) ; from 
that point on the east side of the street to the Court House. Also, from 
the bridge at the red mill, on Genesee street to Montgomery street and 
from that point along the south side of Genesee street to Center Square, 
(Fayette Park) and on all sides of the public squares. All of the above 
ordered walks must be laid in such a manner as to leave six feet for cellar- 
ways." 

In those times brick, either eight inches square, or four by eight inches, 
were extensively used for sidewalks. In the year under consideration Lock 
street was ordered extended. Division street between Salina and Lodi was 
opened and also "a public street between the Cinder Road and the Erie 
canal." 

This year (1829) saw the end of the bitter struggle for the location of 
the county buildings, and although Salina ostensibly won the victory by 
their erection midway between the two villages, still Syracuse was not 
wholly disappointed; she had succeeded in having the buildings removed 
from the Mill and could afford to bide her time for seeing them in her 
midst. 

Captain Hiram Putnam arrived in Syracuse in 1829 and was a prominent 
and estimable citizen. He was born January 30, 1786, in Danvers, Mass., 



Business Houses of the Village in 1830. 



i^i 



and began life for himself at sixteen years of age as a sailor. In 1827 he 
retired from the sea and two years later settled in Syracuse. He was trustee 
of the village in 1S32 and 1841 ; assessor in 1834 and 1836, and treasurer 
from 1S43 until the city was incorporated. In 1835 he associated himself 
with Thomas B. Fitch in the drug business, which partnership continued 
until 1846, when he retired from active business. He was one of the incor- 
porators of the Onondaga County Bank, and a trustee of the Syracuse Sav- 
ings Bank to the time of his death. Captain Putnam died on the 8th of 
November, 1874, aged eighty-four years. His daughter became the wife of 
Dudley P. Phelps. 

During the four or five years preceding 1830, the business of the village 
had rapidly increased and building operations had also been expensive. 
The newspaper of the village is usually the mirror that reflects the condi- 
tion of business affairs in an enterprising community and from those of Syr- 
acuse in 1829-30 we gather some notes of interest, as follows: 

A. Abbott and S. F. Myers had in a " new supply of medicines, paints, 
and dye stuffs." They were located in the east wing of the Syracuse House. 
Samuel Goodwin's stock of goods in the store " in the brick block east of 
C. Walbridge &Co., on the south side of the canal," comprised " dry goods, 
hardware, cutlery, and nails, groceries. Cognac brandy, Holland gin, St. Croix 
rum, canister powder, shot," etc. At this time Chester and Heman Wal- 
bridge had a factory for the manufacture of chairs and other household fur- 
niture near the canal locks not far from the present crossing of Mulberry 
street. This was burned a few years later and was not rebuilt. Bradley 
and Josiah Wright were in the " west store in the brick building erected by 
W. and H. Raynor, on the bank of the canal, near the wooden bridge in the 
west part of the village of Syracuse," where they offered Spanish hides, 
sole, upper and harness leather; also an assortment of choicest groceries, 
storage, and forwarding. Johnson & Huntley were merchant tailors in the 
"east wing of Amos P. Granger's building" (on the canal) where "garments 
were made with precision, and ready-made clothing sold," probably the 
first goods of this kind in the village. It is noticeable that this firm consid- 
ered it worth while to advertise their place of business as " on the canal." 
Marvin Devoe & Co. had taken the store recently occupied by C. Wal- 
bridge & Co., where they had a general store. Volney Cook advertised 
carpeting, paper hangings, and looking glasses. His store was just west of 
the iMansion House. Kellogg & Fitch announced that they had just re- 
turned from New York " with a good assortment of dry goods." 

Dr. Jonathan Day says he " keeps his ofiRce in his drug store, sign of the 
mortar and pestle, where all calls in the way of his profession will be thank- 
fully received and punctually attended to." His store was then in the 
Syracuse House Block. E. Brewster wanted 30,000 sheep and lamb skins 



132 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



delivered at " Chauncey Woodruff's market in the west part of Syracuse." 
Woodruff was located on West Water street. Henry Judson had "just re- 
ceived from New York, military goods, watches, Brittania ware, musical in- 
struments," etc. ; his store was on Water street near Clinton. 

D. & M. Dana would " pay cash for wheat " and sold flour, "dye woods. 
Shaker brooms, Novia Scotia grindstones," etc., in the "Yellow Buildings." 
They also had on hand a "few barrels of superior whiskey." John Rogers, 
that excellent citizen, had just " removed to the brick building formerly 
occupied by David Griffith & Co.," where he carried on storage and forward- 
ing, and also had a stock of shoes to sell at wholesale. This building was 
on the corner of Warren and East Water streets. Newton & Humphreys 
had received on consignment 200 fancy chairs. They soon removed "to 
the store lately occupied by Ambrose Kasson, opposite Clinton Row." 
G. T. M. Davis would pay cash for rags and offered 500 Minor's pails, from the 
Waterloo Pail Factory, and paper of all kinds. His store was in the Yellow 
Building. Henry VanHeusen & Peter Moshell had entered into partnership 
as blacksmiths on the corner of Warren and Genesee streets where the for- 
mer had long had his shop. James Pease, "one door south of A. Kasson's 
hardware store," Salina street, advertised boots and shoes. Mr. Pease came 
from Lysander, where he cut timber on his father's farm, drew it to Bald- 
winsville, had it sawed and framed and soon after 1820 floated it on a scow 
via. the new water-way, and the Seneca River to the lake and thence to 
Syracuse, and built his store. It stood on the site afterwards occupied by 
the Mechanic's Bank building and now by part of the Wieting Block. A. 
S. Tilden had just opened a saddlery and harness shop " one door west of 
Williston's Mansion House." Pliny Dickinson had his jewelry store "oppo- 
site the Syracuse House," on the north side of Genesee street, and about 
this time Elam Lynds and son purchased the hardware business of A. Kas- 
son. Dr. R. Belden, one of the earliest dentists in the village, had his 
rooms at " O. B. Teall's Onondaga House," or he would " be happy to wait 
on them (his patrons) at their homes." He would prepare " artificial teeth 
which will in most of cases be as firm and useful for mastication as natural 
teeth." 

Perhaps the quaintest advertisement of those days was that of Samuel 
Larned and one that announced the business which laid the foundation of a 
liberal fortune. He said : "The Boat Vender, or Floating Store, owned 
by Mr. John Converse, of the city of Troy, is now lying at the village of 
Syracuse, opposite Brockway's Mansion House." Then followed a long 
list of groceries offered for sale, and the important statement that "all 
liquors are warranted of the purest quality." Mr. Larned commanded this 
floating store with great success and became a strong rival of the local 
grocers. 



An Ancient Fourth ok Julv. 133 



Jason C. Woodruff carried on his livery at the old stand on Warren street, 
and announced that he would continue to run a daily line of stages to 
Homer. E. W. Leavenworth was rapidly winning the fame that increased 
in after years, by arduous law work in his office in the east wing of the Syr- 
acuse House. H. Winchester announced that he had removed "from the 
select school room lately occupied by Mr. Walker, to Masonic Hall, east of 
the Mansion House." The " Syracuse School " was announced to open on 
December 10, 1829, under the general superintendence of Rev. G. S. Olds. 
Jonathan Day and Henry Newton were the trustees. II. Bennet had a 
lottery ofifice in the village and S. C. Brewster announced that on January 
7, 1829, he would open a second one " in the first brick building west of the 
Mansion House." This lottery office carried the largest advertisement in 
the local newspapers. A new daily line of mail post coaches had recently 
been established between Syracuse and Watertown ; one of the various 
managers was O. H. Williston, of Syracuse. Reuben West & Son carried 
on a general store, and Ambrose Dunbarwasthe village barber, "two doors 
west of Williston's IMansion House." 

In those days the general feeling of prosperity inspired the people with 
patriotism and almost every year the Fourth of July was celebrated " in the 
good old way." That of 1828 was the source of much local congratulation. 
The usual day-break gun was fired, with a salute at sunrise, flags were dis- 
played, and at 10 o'clock the military "paraded on the Public Square in 
front of the Mansion House." The Declaration of Independence was read 
by E. W. Leavenworth, an oration was delivered by Harvey Baldwin, and 
an address by Rev. W. Thacher. John Rogers was Marshal. The pro- 
gramme ended with a dinner at the Syracuse House. 

The volume of business transacted in Syracuse and Salina at this time 
was larger than would be indicated by the same number of merchants in 
other places, owing to the large operations in salt manufacture and sale. 
This industry formed the sound and active substratum of business, which 
kept alive the confidence of the community and gave them a source of in- 
come that was most encouraging. Consequent upon the increasing business 
of the village, the inhabitants began to feel the need of banking facilities, 
and to meet this requirement the Onondaga County Bank was incorporated 
by the Legislature, under date of April 26, 1830, and the institution was 
organized on the 13th of June. 

1831. — The few years subsequent to 1S30 were uneventful in Syracuse 
if we except the visitation of the cholera, but the general progress of the 
place continued. On the 21st of March, consent was given to the "Canal 
Commissioners to take down the stone bridge across the Erie canal in Sa- 
lina street and rebuild the same." The Clinton street bridge was repaired 



134 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



at a cost of $111.27, by Daniel Elliott, and Warren street between Foot and 
Church streets was opened. 

1832. — At a meeting held September 22, 1832, a contract was let to 
Ebenezer Hopkins for S300, for making and improving a road "through the 
swamp south of the village leading to Onondaga Hollow, on the east side 
of Onondaga Creek." 

It was during the summer of this year that forebodings reached Syra- 
cuse regarding an anticipated visitor that was for a period to paralyze busi- 
ness in the village and bring mourning to many families. The Asiatic 
cholera ravaged portions of Europe in 1831, and in June, 1832, the first 
cases reached Quebec and Montreal. It was seen that the scourge would, in 
all probability, strike Syracuse, and that it could be successfully fought only 
by efficient sanitary action and conditions. A public meeting was held 
June 30, 1832, to consider what were the best measures to adopt to ward 
off the plague. It was resolved that two men should be stationed at the 
Lodi locks under instructions to inspect every boat arriving from the east, 
and if any passenger who was ill was found, the boat should be stopped 
until the case could be examined by a village physician. The physicians of 
the village were constituted a Board of Health and they issued an address 
to the public. It was designed chiefly to instruct the people in simple san- 
itary matters, urge their adojjtion and encourage the timid. The Trustees 
were authorized to raise a sum of money, not exceeding $1,000, to be used 
in promoting the health of the village. A meeting of the Trustees was 
held June 23d, at which the village was divided into four wards, the canal 
and Salina streets being the division lines. The northwest division was 
called Ward No. i ; the southwest, Ward No. 2 ; the southeast. Ward No. 
3 ; the northeast, Ward No. 4. A resolution was adopted, " that E. B. 
Wicks and Silas Ames, for the First ward ; Henry Raynor and Theodore 
Ashley forthe Second ward; W. H. Alexander and Daniel Comstock for 
the Third ward, and Taschal Thurber and Benjamin C. Lathrop for the 
Fourth ward," be appointed a "Comrnittee of Inspection to carry into 
effect the village ordinances." One of the duties of this committee was to 
cause a quantity of lime to be kept in each ward and to see that it was lib- 
erally used. These measures were adopted almost wholly with a view of 
fortifying the village, as far as possible, against the oncoming malady. 

On the 1st of July the cholera broke out in New York city and during that 
month and August more than three thou.sand deaths were recorded from 
the terrible disease. The knowledge of these events, accounts of which 
were widely published in the newspapers, excited grave apprehensions. 

Another Trustees' meeting was held on the 25th of June at which it 
was resolved that no canal boat having cases of cholera on board should 
approach within one mile of the village, until it had been quarantined fif- 



Visitation oi- the Cholera. 135 



teen days, or until a village physician certified that there was no cholera on 
board. 

Dr. Jonathan Day was then the leading physician of the village, and 
under commission of the Governor of the State, secured by request of the 
inhabitants of Syracuse, he was sent to Montreal to study the disease and 
ascertain the best methods of treatment. As would now be expected, noth- 
ing worthy of mention was gained by this measure. The first case of 
cholera occurred in Syracuse on the 17th of July. The day had been ex- 
cessively hot and the man, who was a laborer, drank freely of cold water. 
It was hoped that this was the prime cause of his death, but the second case 
on the following day proving fatal in twelve hours, was conclusive evidence 
the disease was at hand. The Rev. Nelson I. Gilbert, who had been pas- 
tor of the First Baptist Church since 1824, preached the funeral sermon of 
the first victim, and on the following evening was stricken down with the 
disease and died in a few hours. Very few funerals were held after this 
during the epidemic, the contagiousness of the disease rendering such a 
course dangerous. Mrs. Gilbert was attacked within a few hours of her hus- 
band's death, and Dr. Jonathan Day attended both cases. Mrs. Gilbert 
was taken very neardeath's door by the disease, but finally recovered. Two 
domestics in the family left the house when the scourge appeared, but both 
were taken down and died within a few days. Cases now increased daily 
and a general feeling of dismay ensued. The physicians of the village 
labored heroically, and the appalling tasks of the undertakers were per- 
formed with a readiness that was most commendable. 

The officials who had been stationed at the Locks had detained two 
boats well filled with passengers, whose complaints were added to those of 
the boat captains at such interference, and the authorities of the village 
found themselves face to face with an emergency from which they saw no 
escape. At the same time a boat called the " Western Barque" left Albany 
after the cholera had appeared there, having on board about sixty emigrants 
as passengers. When the boat reached Utica the disease broke out, the 
captain being the first victim. The boat came on westward and by the 
time it reached Syracuse there were a number of dead bodies aboard and 
several other cases. Another boat with about fifty passengers came on in 
which cholera had broken out when it reached Utica, and six were dead 
when it stopped at Syracuse. It was apparent that if this quarantining of 
boats bearing the infection and dead bodies was to continue, the conse- 
quences were likely to prove far more disastrous than if they were hurried 
on their way through the village. This course was, therefore, adopted. 

In the midst of the scourge, when fear filled the hearts of many, faith- 
ful Dr. Day was stricken down and died with the disease. This, of course, 
added to the general dismay, and while there were many who rose above 



136 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



personal fear and passed through the ordeal on a high level of resignation, 
others were terror-stricken and possibly thus invited the disease. The mal- 
ady raged in all parts of the village and in Salina with equal virulence. In 
some instances almost entire families were prostrated within a few hours 
and in many cases two, three, or four, out of a family fell before the plague. 
" When persons died they were rolled up in their clothing, laid in their cof- 
fins, and thus found their resting-place. Every countenance wore the ex- 
pression of seriousness. The voices of mirth and merriment were every- 
where hushed, and sadness and gloom seemed to hang like a pall over the 
town."* Among the more prominent victims of the disease were Dr. Wil- 
liam Kirkpatrick, one of the best educated and most influential citizens of 
the place, Anson Richmond, an uncle of Dean Richmond, I. Dunscombe, 

Halcombe, Dr. Jonathan Day, Rev. N. I. Gilbert. 

The prominent physicians of the place at that time were Drs. Day, J. W. 
Hanchett, George Hooker, Lyman Clary, James Foran, R. R. Davis, Hiram 
Hoyt. There were about one hundred deaths in Syracuse and Salina dur- 
ing the epidemic, which extended over to the summer of 1834, while in 
1833 the village was in a more than usually healthy condition. On the last 
Sunday in July, 1834, Theodore Ashley, the cabinet maker and undertaker, 
had ten funerals of cholera victims to care for. Charles F. Williston, who 
was then learning his trade of Mr. Ashley, and is still living, took charge of 
seven of those funerals. 

1833. — In the year 1833 extensive improvements were made on the canal 
bridges of the village. The new bridge on Salina street had been finished 
and at a public meeting held May 20th, it was resolved to "raise by tax 
$1000, to be applied in constructing two bridges across the Erie Canal," one 
at Lock street and one on Franklin street. A. N. Van Patten was given 
the privilege of building " a packet boat office at the southeast corner of 
the new Bridge on the Public Square," for which he agreed to pay $20 an- 
nually, beginning with April, 1834. This A.N. Van Patten was quite a 
conspicuous figure in Syracuse, in his way, in early years. He bought the 
lot fronting on South Salina and West Onondaga streets where the stately 
Florence flats now stand, and built for a tavern the house recently re- 
moved, in which Samuel Larned lived a number of years. These premises 
he wagered on the election of 1829 and lost; moreover, he paid his bet. 
He then built on the west side of Salina street, near Onondaga, what was 
for years known as the " Old Line House," a large brick building. He was 
interested in various other projects, among which was the building of the 
Old Circus House on Church street. He died January 29, 1847, and is 
buried at Rose Hill. 



" From a Forest to a City," by M. C. Hand. 




'lrlD^^4rf.tt;c 



A Census of Business Houses in xiit; \'ii,i.Ar:E. 137 

1834. — The usual street improvements were continued in 1834, particular- 
ly in the line of sidewalks, and the increase of business and population was 
most encouraging. The population had reached about 3,800. Moses D. 
Burnet, John Wilkinson, B. Davis Noxon, Stephen Smith, Miram Putnam, 
E. W. Leavenworth, L. H. Redfield, llarvey Baldwin, and Henry Davis, 
were appointed in February to supervise an extensive revision of the char- 
ter. In July the Trustees made public the following: "The following 
named streets are required to be paved according to the graduation thereof 
made by William Jerome in the year 1834, viz., Salina street from the bridge 
across the Erie Canal on the line of said street, to the south line of Church 
street ; also the south side of Clinton Square from Salina street to the west 
line of the intersection of Clinton street; also Water street from Salina 
street easterly to the east line of Warren street, then Warren street from 
Water street to the south line of Genesee street, and then Genesee street 
from Warren street to Salina street ; also Genesee street from the east line 
of the intersection of Warren street, to the west line of Center Square ; 
also, Genesee street, from the west line of Salina street to a line running 
from the northwest corner of Lot No. i, in Block No. 85, to the south- 
west corner of Lot No. g, in Block No. 76 in said street. The said pave- 
ment to embrace the north half of Clinton Square and Genesee street, be- 
tween the lines above mentioned. Also, the half of Salina street fronting 
the tavern and lot owned and occupied by William B. Kirk ; to be done in- 
side of three months." This work was not done at that time. 

There were now in the village the following number of business establish- 
ments : 22 grocery and provision stores, 16 variety stores, 2 hardware stores, 
4 clothing stores, 5 boot and shoe stores, 4 drug stores, 2 book stores, 3 print- 
ing offices, 3 silver smiths, 2 flouring mills, i lumber mill, i planing mill, 3 
tin shops, 3 furnace and machine shops, 2 carnage shops. 3 cabinet shops, 
2 leather manufactories, I morocco manufactory, 1 soap and candle manu- 
factory, I distillery, i brewery, 3 marble yards, 1 boat yard, 15 salt blocks, 
I Episcopal Church, i Methodist Church, i Baptist Church, 2 lyceums. 

Building operations were active. What were long known as the Frank- 
lin Buildings, on East Genesee street, were put up in that year and still re- 
main in part as then erected. New structures were erected about this time 
on the east side of Salina street south of the Syracuse House, an improve- 
ment that was doubtless hastened by the crushing down of some of the 
small wooden structures on that block by the falling walls of the brick 
building on the corner of Salina and Washington streets. This building 
was begun in 1831 and the end walls (north and south) were blown down 
while it was in process of construction. It was long known as the Exchange 
Hotel and was first kept by \^an Patten & Crane. Library Hall was in the 
upper portion of the hotel and was for a number of years the most impor- 
18 



138 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

tant public hall in the village. Here many lectures and entertainments were 
given. 

Hoyt & Billings built about this time a large carriage manufactory on 
the southwest corner of Fayette and Mulburry streets, which gave place 
about ten years later to the Sheldon Block, built by Harvey Sheldon, which 
is still standing. In 1839 ^^''- Billings built his large wagon factory, which 
was recently removed from the site of the Frazer flats. 

Austin Myers came to Syracuse in 1833 with no money, but a vast 
amount of energy. He found employment in the harness shop of Silas 
Ames and at the end of a year went to Jordan, where he remained until 
1840, when he returned to Syracuse and established a line of packet boats 
on the canal which he conducted with great success. He built the Myers 
Block and was quite a large owner of real estate. In his later years he 
engaged in many broad business undertakings in various places throughout 
the country. 

At the junction of Montgomery, Washington, and Genesee streets stood 
in 1833 a one-and-a-half story wooden building with outside stairs. L. H. 
Redfield bought this corner and lived on the southern part of the lot. He 
removed the wooden building and erected a small brick block of one story. 
Here Christian Cook had a little upholsterer's shop, from which small be- 
ginning he has become the possessor of a large fortune. The corner of 
Fayette and Warren streets had been built up in 1832 by a Mr. King, of 
Tully, with a two-story wooden dwelling. It was sold to a Mr. Partridge, 
who kept a hotel there a number of years, when Josiah Brintnall and his 
brother became the owners and began the long career of the Brintnall 
Hotel. They added to and greatly improved their house and it became a 
popular resort, particularly for country people. The village records show 
that on several occasions the proprietors were warned that they must not 
permit the street in front of their hotel to be so often blockaded by teams. 

In 1834, B. F. Rogers kept a store on East Water street, nearly oppo- 
site the Syracuse House. Early in the evening of March 16, fire broke out 
in this store and spread with such rapidity that in a short time and in spite 
of the efforts of the firemen and citizens, eleven of the buildings on the 
north side of, and then facing, the canal, and ten on the south side, 
were destroyed, sweeping Water street in that block clean. Of the ten 
buildings burned on the south side of the canal, five were of brick and 
either three or four stories high. The number of persons in business who 
suffered from this fire was over fifty, several of whom were heavy losers. 
The district burned over was in the heart of the village and the entire 
community felt the effects of the calamity severely ; but the devastated 
district was soon rebuilt upon with substantial, if not very handsome, 
brick structures. On the site of the old Granger store was erected in 1835 



Introduction of Pavements in the Village. 139 



what was long known as the Star Building, from its having been occupied 
by the office of the Syraiiisc Star. It was three stories high, the lower 
floor being considerably below Salina street and reached by entrances from 
James street and from the tow path. 

1835. — This year was chiefly notable for the introduction of paved 
streets in the village. A meeting was called on the i8th of June, to con- 
sider the advisability of paving Salina street " between the bridge over the 
Erie canal and the north line of Fayette street; also, the paving of Salina 
street from the Erie canal bridge to the south line of Church street, the 
south side of Clinton Square from Salina street to Clinton street, and Gen- 
esee street from Warren street to Center Square." The result of the vote 
of the citizens was to pave only that portion of Salina street between 
Fayette and Church streets. Hanover Square was paved at a little later 
date. The Salina street contract was let to Utica pavers, there being none 
in Syracuse at that time. 

At a public meeting in June it was voted to raise $1,600 for building a 
bridge over the canal on Clinton street, " the said bridge to be similar in 
construction and material to the bridge across the canal on the east side of 
Clinton Square." The sum of $300 was paid for filling in Mulberry street 
and a part of Lock street, and a large quantity of brick and gravel side- 
walk was constructed. 

The Syracuse Academy was incorporated by Act of Legislature dated 
April 28, 1835, the incorporators being Oliver Teall, Harvey Baldwin, Aaron 
Burt, William I. Dodge, Thomas Spencer, L. H. Redfield, Elihu L. Phillips, 
Thomas Rose, and S. W. Cadvvell. This became a useful and successful 
educational institution. 

1836. — The paving of streets was considerably extended this year. J. 
I. Bigelow was paid about $250 for " paving the square formed by the cross- 
ing of Salina and Foot streets." Salina street was ordered paved from 
Fayette street to Onondaga street, and Warren street from the south line 
of Genesee to the north line of Jefferson street. 

These were extensive improvements for those days and cost considera- 
ble money. In the month of July the sums of $437.54, $692.62, $644.10, 
$1,057.33, 'i"*^ S504.O0 were ordered raised for paving expenses. 

A public well was provided for Hanover Square at a cost of about $200, 
and $75 were appropriated for a railing around it. The amount paid over 
to the Street Commissioners from May 6, 1835, to April, 1836, for labor, 
materials, and tools, was $2,007.88. The Clinton street bridge cost $1,730, 
and the work and material on squares, angles of streets south of the canal, 
crosswalks, etc., $3,044.79, making a total of $6,782.67. 

Among the incorporated companies of this year which bear a local inter- 



I40 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



est, at least as curiosities, were, " The Syracuse and Onondaga Railroad 
Company," with a capital of $75,000, and Vivus VV. Smith, James Beards- 
lee, Elam Lynds, Daniel Elliott, and Henry Raynoras incorporators. This 
road ran from Syracuse to certain stone quarries, and was operated for 
some years. 

"The Syracuse Stone Railroad Company," whose road was to run to 
" Benedict's quarries." The incorporators were Moses D. Burnet, Elihu 
Walter, S. VV. Cadwell, H. VV. Van Buren, and Stephen Smith, all good 
Syracuse men. The capital was $75,000. 

" The Brewerton and Syracuse Railroad Company," with Dean Rich- 
mond, James Beardslee, John L. Stevens, J. H. Parker, and James Manning, 
as incorporators, and a capital of $80,000. The last two roads mentioned 
were not built. 

It will not be uninteresting to learn something of what was provided 
for the amusement of the fathers, which can be done by the following 
notice from a local paper : " Syracuse Museum. In the Yellow Building 
over L. O. Phinney's store west side of the square. The proprietors of 
this establishment have lately been at great expense in making additions to 
their extensive collection of curiosities and in fitting it up in elegant man- 
ner for the reception of visitors. It is now opened and the public are in- 
vited to extend to them the patronage which their exertions may have mer- 
ited. Some of the principal curiosities in this museum are a splendid 
Forest, containing upwards of three hundred Quadrupeds, Birds, Reptiles, 
etc., etc., from all parts of the world, Shells, Minerals, Fossils, Petrifaction, 
etc., between two and three thousand, among which are rare specimens, a 
large collection of Miscellaneous curiosities consisting of war implements of 
all nations, Turkish, East India, and Chinese workmanship of all kinds. 
American and Foreign antiquities, Domestic Utensils of the Indians, Skel- 
etons, with a great variety of other articles. An embalmed head of a New 
Zealand Chief, handsomely Tattooed, and in a fine State of preservation. 
An ancient Blunderbus from England. Wax figures. Grand performance 
every evening of the Italian Phantasmagoria or Optical Illusions ; the whole 
to conclude with the comic and ludicrous scene of the dance, or multiplica- 
tion of witches. Admittance twenty-five cents." 

Referring to a sale of land on Prospect Hill at $1,000 an acre, the editor 
of the Onondaga Chic/ volunteered the information that it would cost 
another $1,000 an acre to level the ground, " which was very uneven," and 
that the sale made to gentlemen from New York, makes it "worthy of 
observation that, notwithstanding the great scarcity of money, real estate 
has risen in this village during the last six months nearly one hundred per 
cent." He speaks confidently of Syracuse as the future capital of the 
State (quite as we sometimes do in recent days) and adds that " capitalists 



Early Village Indebtedness. 141 

are already learning that a village where seven railroads terminate affords 
them a fair opportunity for safe and profitable investments." Some of those 
railroads must have been the ones the incorporation of which (but not the 
building) we have just noticed. Again, on August 3d the same paper an- 
nounces the sale of forty acres of land near the Lodi locks by the Syracuse 
Company for §40,000. Also, "the farm of Mr. Forman, lying about one 
and a half miles east of the village, has been purchased by H. Baldwin, 
esq., for $40,000, being $200 the acre." 

1837. — The liberal expenditures of the past year or two, by which the 
village had incurred considerable indebtedness, seems to have impelled the 
authorities to restrict appropriations for public improvements, and very 
little was done this year in this direction. Warren and Montgomery streets 
were improved between Jefferson and Genesee streets, by turnpiking and 
by paving the gutters. At a public meeting it was voted to raise $500 "to 
pay indebtedness to individuals." In July $400 were raised " for paving 
squares and streets," and in December a tax levy was voted for $500 for 
highway purposes. Moreover, the financial crisis of this year was felt to a 
considerable extent, though with much less severity than at many other 
points in the State. Business was somewhat crippled for a time, but it is 
unquestioned that Syracuse had a foundation of financial prosperity, a rep- 
utation for stability, as well as a natural source of income and profit not 
vouchsafed to many places, and these co-operated to carry the business 
community through the period of stringency. 

1838. — In May of this year a loan of $3,500 was authorized " to pay 
the village debts for street improvements," thus laying substantial founda- 
tion for the present imposing obligations of the city. 

The most important action of this year, as far as the village was con- 
cerned, was the taking of preliminarj' steps toward? building a public mar- 
ket. The old canal basin, which the misguided policy of the authorities 
had permitted in the heart of the village, had long been an almost intolera- 
ble nuisance. A pu'olic meeting was called on December 6th, at which it 
was resolved to obtain by loan $15,000, with which to build " a market and 
town house." Although the project of a public market was not consum- 
mated until four years later, this was the first step towards it. This year 
was also a memorable one for Syracuse on account of the building of the 
first railroad through the village. The Auburn and Syracuse Railroad 
Company received its charter in 1835 and work was begun in December of 
that year. In January, 1838, the road was opened from Auburn to Geddes 
and it was soon afterwards continued into the village, the sale of the neces- 
sary lands for tracks and a station having been authorized by the Legisla- 
ture in April, 1837. This was not much of a railroad, but its importance 



142 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



was appreciated by the people of Syracuse ; they looked upon it as the sure 
forerunner of others. It was equipped with wooden rails and until June, 
1839, the cars were drawn by horses. It was the noted landlord, Philo N. 
Rust, who used to hook up his excellent team in Syracuse or Auburn, at 
the hour for departure of a train on this early road, and wager that he 
would travel the country road and reach the other end of the line ahead of 
the cars. It is said that he found no takers of his offers, and not infre- 
quently accomplished the feat. 

During this period, too, the Syracuse and Utica railroad was becoming 
a fact. Chartered in 1836, its construction was pushed along and it was 
opened July 4th, 1839. John Wilkinson, with other prominent residents 
of the village, was very influential in advancing this enterprise. 

The opening of these railroads and the relief that soon followed the 
financial stringency of that period, gave another impulse to the growth of 
Syracuse and brought to it men of means and energy whose labors still 
further advanced its prosperity. Horace White came from Homer to Syr- 
acuse in 1838, and his brother Hamilton in 1839. Perhaps no two men left 
a more enduring impress for good upon Syracuse than Horace and Hamil- 
ton White. Horace founded the Bank of Syracuse, which was subse- 
quently changed to a National Bank, and was interested in other banks. 
Hamilton White was cashier of the Onondaga County Bank until 1854, 
when he became a private banker. The two brothers were largelj' inter- 
ested in what are now the New York Central, Lake Shore and Michigan 
Southern railroads, and for many years held seats in their directorship. 
They acquired extensive business interests, not only in Syracuse but also 
elsewhere, and were leaders in all public enterprises. They were excep- 
tionally sagacious and industrious and their large fortunes were honorably 
earned. They were also influential in politics, were contemporaries of Wil- 
liam H. Seward, Thurlow Weed and other Whig politicians of their day. 
They gave liberally of their means to advance the interests of their party, 
upon the success of which, they believed, the progress and prosperity of the 
country largely depended. To these men the Syracuse of to-day is largely 
indebted for their business foresight and energy which gave it impulse when 
it was but a village, and evidences of their busy and successful lives and of 
their public spirit are visible everywhere to-day. Horace White died in 
1861, leaving a widow and two children — Andrew D. White and Horace K. 
White. Hamilton White died in 1865, leaving a widow and five children 
— Antoinette W., Clara W., Barrett R., Hamilton S., and Howard G. 

Dr. John M. Wieting came to Syracuse in 1837 as a civil engineer for 
the Syracuse and Utica railroad. He surveyed many of the streets of Syr- 
acuse, also Rose Hill Cemetery, and in later years became an enterprising 
builder and a large owner of real estate. He died in 1888. 



FuRTiiKK General Improvements. 143 

Peter Burns, who first came to Syracuse in 1836, began his long and 
successful career as a merchant and manufacturer soon after 1840 and is 
still living to look back upon a successful and well spent life. 

George and Peter Waggoner built up the northeast corner of James and 
Salina streets and were for many years successful business men. Many 
other names of men might be added, the work of whose lives in Syracuse, 
coupled with that of those earlier citizens whose energies were expended as 
well for the good of the community at large, as for their own, has contribu- 
ted towards building up this great city. 

The late Gen. E. W. Leavenworth had been appointed a village Trustee 
in 1837, to fill a vacancy caused by the election of Elihu L. I^hillipsas 
Sheriff. In 183S, 1839, and 1840 he was I'resident of the village, and during 
that period he was indefatigable in intelligent and advanced efforts for the 
proper upbuilding of the place. While the many reforms instituted by him 
were eminently practical, his work was always tempered with his natural 
appreciation of the artistic side. Broad streets, ample shade trees, numer- 
ous parks — all these beautifiers of any village or city — were constantly pres- 
ent in his contemplation of neetled improvements. It was, doubtless, this 
characteristic which impelled him in 1838 to write the resolutions that pre- 
served what is now Vanderbilt Square, by granting a portion of it to the 
Syracuse and L'tica railroad company as a site for their historical depot, 
and compelling the company to buy twenty-six feet on the south side and 
four feet on the north side, to be devoted to public use. Here the old de- 
pot was erected by Daniel Elliott, to stand until it had long outlived its 
usefulness. The railroad company was also compelled to set shade trees 
through Washington street and to build the first sewer that reached the 
Yellow Brook and drained the swamp between the village and the highlands 
eastward. 

In the winter of 1839, General Leavenworth drew the law under which 
the Trustees were enabled to contract with the Turnpike Company to so 
change the course of the road between Mulberry and Grape streets as to 
pass around what is now Fayette Park — that beautiful oasis in the heart of 
the bu.sy city. 

Third South street (Fayette) was opened this year from Beech to Cherry 
street; also, "the street running from Franklin to the Mill Race, between 
the canal and Genesee street " (now Mechanic street). Water street be- 
tween Warren and Montgomery streets was ordered paved. 

With all the advancement thus described ; with the canal meeting the 
expectations of the community ; with its enlargement then in progress ; with 
railroads coming into the village from the east and the west, and with an all- 
pervading feeling among the really far seeing men of the place that Judge 
Forman's early predictions would be fulfilled, as far as they related to a 



144 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



large community growing up here, it is not to be wondered at that the ques- 
tion of incorporating the village under a city charter was thus early broached. 
A resolution was brought before the Trustees in December, 1838, that 
application be made to the Legislature for a city charter. The matter was, 
however, destined to be postponed several years. 

1839. — But in many respects Syracuse was still a rural hamlet, when 
compared with the modern city. Cattle were restrained from roaming in 
the streets in 1839 only between the 15th of December and the 15th of 
March. They could find no friendly pasture during that portion of the year. 
This year was prolific in new sidewalks, brick and gravel being the chief 
materials used in their construction. In March it was resolved that the vil- 
lage would pay S50 towards covering Warren street with gravel, if the resi- 
dents of the street would pay $150. 

Gravel or brick sidewalks were made on portions of James, Grape, Fay- 
ette, Genesee, Salina, Washington, and possibly other streets. The high- 
way tax for the year was $3,500, and by an Act of Legislature (April 9, 1839,) 
the Trustees were empowered to pledge the credit of the village for funds 
not to exceed $10,000. Washington street was extended from Almond to 
Chestnut, and " Forman Square " was declared a " public square." Sweep- 
ing changes and additions were made in and to the ordinances this year, 
giving the Trustees extended powers, by which street signs might be 
ordered; buildings and fences that encroached on streets, moved back ; de- 
positing of garbage and running of animals in the streets, prohibited ; the 
meat markets closed on Sundays; stagnant pools abolished ; the storage of 
gunpowder restricted ; boats and rafts kept out of the canal basin, except 
for twenty-four hours or less, etc. 

The opening of the railroad to Auburn was celebrated with considerable 
enthusiasm on the lOth of September, when an e.xcursion embracing many 
prominent people went over the road. This was a year of political activity 
and several eminent politicians and statesmen visited the village, among 
them being Henry Clay and William H. Seward. Building operations con- 
tinued and several prominent structures were erected. About this time 
Horace and Hamilton White contracted with Daniel Elliott for the erection 
of the two-and a half story brick building on the corner of South Salina 
and Washington streets, in which were located the Onondaga County Bank 
and the Bank of Syracuse. The lower floor was used for many years by 
the American Express Company. The building was removed to clear the 
site for the splendid edifice which the children of Horace and Hamilton 
White erected to their memory — the White Memorial Building. 




^a^^ 



PuRCiiASK or RosK IIii.i. Cemetery. 145 

CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM 1840 TO INCORPOR.\TION AS A CITY. 

Kurihcr Progress of the Village — The Rose Ilill Cemetery Purchase — A Brief Era of Turbu- 
lence — Additions to the Business Houses of the Village — The Great Gunpowder Explosion — Lists 
of Killed and Injured — Public .\ction on the Casualties -Changes of Street Names — .V Disgraceful 
Riot — Whisperings of a City Charter — Abolition of the Old Canal Basin — Erection of a Public 
Market — Causes of its Failure — Incorporation as a City. 

FROM the date under which the last chapter closed until the village was 
incorporated as a city, many important events occurred and many 
radical changes were effected in various directions. E. W. Leavenworth 
was still President of the village and his firm and progressive hand was felt 
in the inauguration of many improvements. In May the Syracuse and 
Utica railroad company were made to properly drain the premises " around 
their car house on Washington street, as agreed." 

The subject of disposing of the old cemetery on Franklin street, just 
north of Washington, had been frequently discussed, and this year the 
whole matter was referred to John Wilkinson, Lyman Clary, and Samuel 
Earned. The result of this action was the purchase of the Rose Hill tract, 
at S300 per acre, in December. 

Early in this year (1840) a meeting was held to consider the application 
to the Legislature for a city charter, but it was decided as " not expedient " 
at that time. 

It would appear that at this time the village suffered somewhat from a 
turbulent spirit in the rougher element of the population, and the authori- 
ties deemed it necessary to take some action towards securing more strin- 
gent and arbitrary government. This resulted (Januar>-) in a resolution to 
the effect that the "Trustees and three other individuals be apppointed a 
committee to report amendments to the ordinances that will give the villaf^e 
a more vigorous police." The persons appointed, besides the Trustees, were 
Thomas T. Davis, John Wilkinson, and David S. Colvin. In May it was 
resolved that "there shall hereafter be a Police Justice in Syracuse, who 
shall be appointed in the same manner as the Judges of the County Courts." 

The sum of $4,000 was raised for highway purposes, and among the 
street improvements made was the turnpiking of Jefferson, Grape, Cedar, 
Madison, and Montgomery streets. 

The volume of business had by this time considerably increased and 
we find record of the following establishments then in existence, being 
mainly in addition to those already mentioned : 
19 



146 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Butler & Hobby, " No. i, next door to the Onondaga County Bank," 
announced the receipt of new goods "by railroad." They were in the dry 
goods trade on East Genesee street. The Onondaga Bookstore and Syra- 
cuse Bazaar was the rather pretentious title selected by Madame A. J. Raoul 
for her store, which was on Water street, opposite Hanover Square. J. F. 
& A. Wind advertised the arrival at their music store (on the west side of 
South Salina street, just north of Railroad street) of " two superior Iron Harp 
Chickering Pianos." S. Gardiner, jr., kept a music store in the Franklin 
Buildings. The " City Drug Store " was kept by E. Hough ; it was on the 
west side of Salina street, a little north of Railroad street. Lewis H. Red- 
field had a bookstore in connection with his printing business, on East Wa- 
ter street, and Barnet & Gurnsey, boots and shoes, had then recently taken 
the store " lately occupied as a dry goods store, second door west of the 
Mansion House." A. Root & Co. sold boots and shoes about where J. 
Dean Hawley's store is now located. Cook & Fitch (Volney Cook and 
George S. Fitch,) were selling dry goods on East Water street, near War- 
ren street, while at the same time, in connection with Ezra Town, who is 
still living, they sold groceries under the style of Cook, Fitch & Town. 

The " Syracuse Crockery Store" was kept by Ransom Curtis and S. P. 
Pierce at No. 2 Slocum Building. This was about where Covell & Morris's 
grocery now is. Sylvester P. Pierce came to Syracuse in 1839 and is now 
one of the oldest business men in the city. He began the crockery trade 
here with Mr. Curtis, as stated, and has ever since been connected with it, 
either at retail or wholesale. Charles Pope carried on a plating business, 
about the first in the place, " fifty rods east of the Syracuse House on 
Genesee street." He was in a part of the old Unitarian church building. 
Mr. Pope became a man of prominence in the community and was suitably 
honored by his fellow citizens for his sterling qualities. Charles Rust sold 
furniture in the " Prison Wareroom " adjoining W. & H. Raynor, one door 
west of Wright & Wheaton, who were in the dry goods line. These latter 
stores were on West Water street. Philo D. Mickles, stoves and hardware, 
" sign of the padlock." This store was on the Weiting block corner, where 
hardware had been sold many years. Philo Dorwin Mickles was the eldest 
son of Nicholas Mickles and was born on the 2d of August, 1798. Two 
years later the family moved to Onondaga Hill. In 1827, on the death of 
his father, he removed to Salina and a little later to Syracuse, where he es- 
tablished the first furnace in the village ; it was located on Canal street, and 
there he made plows and some of the first stoves in use. In 1837 he was 
involved in the general financial wreck, but he recovered and in 1838 opened 
a "temperance grocery store," where McCarthy & Redfield were afterwards 
located. He is said to have been the first man in Syracuse to do a business 
of $150,000 a year. In 1839 he engaged in the hardware trade, and in 1849 



Competition of the New Railroad. 14; 



went to California and for two years followed mining operations with varying 
success, returning then to Syracuse. He died on the 19th of April, 1874. 
Barnes & Stapley had a furnace and machine shop on the Oswego canal, 
"a little north of the weigh lock." Jason C. Woodruff, associated with 
J. Uutterficld & Co., of Utica, advertised their stage lines in opposition to 
the new railroad. The competition between this mode of travel, the packet 
boats, and the railroad became very active, and for a few years it was an 
open question which was the most desirable one— and even which was the 
quickest of the three. Runners from the packet docks haunted the railroad 
station and used all of their eloquence to persuade passengers to come on 
board their delightful and safe vessels, which they guaranteed would make 
as good time on the average as the cars, while the advocates of the stage 
lines were little less persuasive and imaginative as to the safety and expe- 
dition of their elegant coaches. But the boats and the coaches were soon 
relegated to a slower age. 

Hargin & Shaw were dealers in stoves and hardware on the corner of 
Water and Warren streets, and the " New York Cheap Bookstore," Louis 
D. Pomeroy, proprietor, was on West Water street. H. W. Durnford & 
Co. were grocers on the corner of East Water and Warren streets, opposite 
the Bastable block site. Hall, Rhoades & Sherman did a large hardware 
business on the site of the new Everson building. William H. Alexander 
& Co. offered stoves, etc., " at their furnace," which was on the corner of 
Water and Franklin streets. Malcolm & Hudson were in the hardware 
business at the second door west of the corner of Salina and West Water 
streets, and Zophar H. Adams was the leading brick-maker, his yard then 
being about on the site of the Novelty Manufacturing Company on Dick- 
inson street. Zaccheus T. Newcomb and Charles A. Baker had joined the 
already mentioned attorneys of the village. The latter was a son of Eras- 
tus Baker, a pioneer in the town of LaFayette. He married a daughter of 
Thaddeus M. Wood and lived for a time in Salina, removing to Syracuse 
when the village began to improve rapidly. He lived for a time in what 
was known as the Larned house, on the site of the Florence fiats. He pur- 
chased one hundred acres, which included "the swamp" in the Seventh and 
Eighth wards, and his wife became possessed of eighty acres from the lar^re 
estate of her father, which extended along both sides of Salina street tn 
the southern part of the city and including much of the most desirable part 
of Danforth. In later years Mr. Baker built the brick residence now occu- 
pied by H. R. Olmsted. Mr. Baker was an able and public spirited man 
and was honored with many evidences of the confidence of the community. 
He died in October, 1881. 

1841.— The crowning disaster of this year, and indeed of any year in 
the history of Syracuse, was an explosion of gunpowder, which occurred 



/ 



148 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



on the 2ist of August, by which twenty-six persons lost their lives and 
many more were seriously injured. Various accounts of this terrible occur- 
rence have been published, but we are assured that no more reliable record 
of it can be expected than the one which appeared in the Onondaga 
Standard. Having been written at the time and amid the harrowing de- 
tails of the distressing event, it bears the impress of accuracy and vivid 
particularity. It is as follows : 

FIRE AND GREAT LOSS OF LIFE »Y THE EXPLOSION OF GUNrOWDER. 

"One of the most deeply afflicting events that ever occurred in our town, took place last night. 
About half past nine o'clock, the alarm of fire was given, which brought most of our citizens to 
a wooden building situated on the tow path of the Oswego canal, nearly in rear of the County 
Clerk's office, and occupied as a joiner's shop by Charles Cloings. At the time we had reached the 
spot, the roof of the building was completely enveloped in flames. The engine companies were near 
the fire and appeared to be doing good e.xecution. Presently we heard the cry of 'Powder! Pow- 
der! There is powder in the building! ' When this cry was first given, nearly the whole crowd 
rushed back, but the move was but momentary. Most of those nearest the fire, maintained their 
position, and very few appeared to place any credit in the report. At this time we were standing 
within 50 or 60 feet of the flames; the building had been on fire perhaps fifteen minutes, when a 
tremendous explosion took place, completely checking the fire and demolishing the building. This 
explosion lasted we should think three or four seconds, filling the air with fragments of the building, 
and creating the greatest consternation imaginable. The noise of the explosion having ceased, all 
was still for a moment, and then the most heart-rending groans that ever reached our ears, were 
distinctly heard. 

"The first person whom we met after the shock was Mr. Myers, the lock-tender, a tall, athletic 
man, with part of his face blown off. and his head and shoulders completely covered with cinders 
and blood. He begged some one to go home with him, and two persons readily accompanied him. 
The next was a person brought out dead; one side of his head having been blown off, and his brains 
fallen out. Oh, Mercy, what a sight. From this followed other scenes which it is impossible to 
describe. All was confusion. .•\lthough the sight of the dead and dying was horrible, it was 
scarcely less than that of the living, inquiring for their relatives— parents for their children, and 
wives almost frantic with despair, for their husbands. 

"Fverything, we believe, was done that could have been done under the circumstances. An 
extra train of cars was run to .Auburn for physicians, and our hotel keepers threw open their doors 
for the reception of the wounded. We were on the ground an hour after the explosion occurred, 
and witnessed the greatest kindness on the part of all. Every effort was made to extricate the 
bodies, and to afford all the consolation that could be afforded. 

"As to the origin of the fire, it is unknown; but it is supposed that it was the work of an in- 
cendiary. The fire appeared to have commenced in the top of the building. The powder — some 
say ten, others fifteen kegs — was placed on the lower floor, under a work bench, and belonged to 
Malcolm & Hudson. 

"Such is a brief and imperfect sketch of this awful calamity — a calamity which, from the care- 
lessness, avarice or malignity of one, or two, or three, has sent or probably will send not less than 
thirty of their fellow beings from time into eternity, and most of them without a moment's warning. 
What a subject for reflection. Let those who escaped — and we were one among the number — feel 
grateful to that good Being, whose ways, though inscrutable, are always just. Mr. Hudson, firm 
of Malcom & Hudson, the owners of the powder, in his testimony before the jurj', stated that there 
were twenty-three kegs, containing twenty-five pounds each, and four kegs containing twelve and a 
half pounds each, making in all, six hundred and twenty-five pounds deposited in the upper story of 
the building in the northeast corner, if we recollect rightly, on or about the 12th instant. Had 



The Powder Explosion of 1841. 149 

the powder been in the lower story, as we at first stated, or deposited in the western part of the 
building, the destruction of lives must have been far greater, as the great majority of the people on 
the ground stood on the western side, and were unhurt. Most of those killed were on the eastern 
side of the building, which stood within lo or 15 feet of the canal. Here the several engine com- 
panies stood, the space between the building and the canal scarcely affording them room to work 
advantageously. 

"So great was the force of the explosion on the eastern side of the building that the west side 
of Dr. Parker's salt block, 100 feet distant, was badly shattered, and a small dwelling the same 
distance, torn from its foundation. It is evident that, by the location of the powder, the principal 
timbers of the building were thrown in an east and south-easterly direction. The smallest number 
of people stood in that direction, and so far as we can learn few there even heard the cry of powder, 
and those who did failed to put much confidence in the report. Mr. Hudson, Mr. Goings and 
others who knew that there was powder in the building, stated an oath yesterday, that they did all 
they could do to spread this information at the time of the fire, but it is evident, we think, that they 
scarcely knew what they were about, or that they neglected their duty, and are therefore greatly to 
blame. Such was the force of the concussion that nearly whole windows were broken out of the 
Mansion house, 100 rods distant. People from the country inform us that the shock was sensibly 
felt 20 miles distant. 

"The list we now publish of those killed may be relied upon as correct, it having been furnished 
us by the Coroner. .\s for the wounded, although we have but 65 names on our list, there must be 
many more whose names have not been handed in, perhaps not less than 80 or 90 in all, who are 
more or less hurt. 

"The fimerals of most of the deceased were followed to the grave by our citizens, firemen, five 
companies of firemen from Utica, and a large number of people from the country. Business was 
completely suspended. Hundreds of people from different parts of the country came to witness the 
effects of the fire, and altogether our place presented such a scene as we never before witnessed, and 
we earnestly hope we shall never witness again. 

''Xatnes of persons killed, furnished by tht Coroner. — Thomas Betts, tallow chandler, friends 
reside in Rochester, aged about 30; Elijah Jones, carpenter and joiner, man of family, aged 40 
years, resides at Skaneateles; Zebina Dwight, kept a livery stable, has a wife, age 30; \Vm. Conk- 
lin, butcher, single man, aged about 21, has a widowed mother; Benj. F Johnson, farmer, aged 17, 
resides in Florence, Oneida county; Elisha Ladd, salt boiler, from Richland, Oswego county, aged 
23; Geo. W. Burdick, canal boat captain, aged 24, has a wife and two children, reside in Clay; 
Isaac Stanton, stone cutter, has a marble yard, aged 35, has a wife and two children; Hugh T. 
Gibson, salt manufacturer, foreman of Engine No. 3, aged 40 years, has a wife and two children; 
\Vm. B. Close, cooper, aged 45. has a wife and three children; George Gorman, laborer, aged 35, 
has a wife and three children; Horace T. Goings, carpenter and joiner, aged 23; Charles .\. Morfit, 
clerk for Bradway & Co., aged 34, has a wife and two children; Horatio N. Cheney, weigh master, 
aged 36, has a wife and three children; Loren L. Cheney, weigh master's clerk, aged 24; John 
Durnford, jr., attorney at law, aged 23; Hanson Maynard, clerk for J. M. Richards, aged 18; 
Noah Hoyt, blacksmith, aged 28; John Kohlhamer, carriage maker, aged 34, has a wife and three 
children; Matthew Smelt, tailor, employed by Longstreet & Agnew, aged 23; Ezra If. Hough, 
druggist, aged 25, parents reside at Summer Hill, Cayuga county; James M. Barker, aged 21, clerk 
for his father; Charles Miller, carpenter and joiner, aged 20, resides at Pompey; Benj. T. Baker, 
aged 16, son of B. Baker; Charles Austin, aged 16, son of Ezekiel .\ustin. 

" Wounded dangerously. — David Meyers, Z. Robinson, \V. Durant, son of John Thorn, Elisha 
Austin, D. C. LeRoy, Luther Gifford, S. \V. Cadwell. 

" Wounded badly. — Hugh Rogers, Paul Shaw, J. Goodrich, P. Balin, Thomas R. Hall, E. 

Morehouse, John McDermot, Patrick Denfee, John Eliker, P. Thurber, John Jones, Iland- 

wright, L. J. Benton, Lucas, Jerry Stevens, Mrs. Appleson, Miss Elliston, Thomas Poe, 

Myron Jacobs, son of Peter Lelo, Orson Putnam, Elisha Jones, B. L. Higgins, E. Rosebrook, L. 
W. Hement, George B. Walter, George W. Benedick, Jonathan Baldwin, John McCaslin, Frederick 
Strongman, Lewis Corbin, Lake. 



1 50 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Woundtd slighlly. — William B. Durkee, Richard Culvert, Oliver Drew, Clozen Spencer, John 
li. I'helps, Pr. James Koran, David Wheeler. Robert Armstrong, Nelson Gilbert, Mr. Martin, 
John liurns, D. lirown, Lewis Smith, Luke Collins, Henry lloag, Thomas II. Ostrander, P. Lowe, 
John Conklin, S. Packwood, J. Crawe, 1. D. Lawson, S. Hurst, John Shoins, H. S. Sloan." 

Following is an account of a public meeting held after the casualty : 

".Monday Evening, August 23d, 1S41. 

"At a meeting of our citizens, held this afternoon at the Presbyterian Church, for the purpose 
of taking into consideration the proper mode of relieving the necessities of those whose situation 
may reeiuire aid, Hiram Putnam, president of the village, was called to the chair, and D. D. Ilillis, 
esq., appointed secretary. 

".■Vfter the names of the de.^d and wounded had been read, and inquiries made relative to the 
condition of such as stand in need, it was resolved that a committee of five be appointed to ascertain 
the situation of the sufferers and their families, and to afford them such relief as may be obtained by 
subscriptions from our citizens. The committee for this village is composed of Daniel Dana, M. 
D. Burnett, -V. P. Granger, Charles L. Lynds and Wing Russell. For Salina, .Vshbel Kellogg and 
Col. E. D. Hopping. 

"At the meeting above mentioned, about $iSoo were subscribed on the spot; of which Malcolm 
& Hudson subscribed !{!500, and \Vm. Malcolm I500. 

"In consequence of the great and unprecedent loss of life at the fire and e.xplosion of gun-pow- 
der in this village, on the night of the 20th of August, inst.. Parley Bassett, esq. the Coroner, sum- 
moned the following persons to form a jury of inquest, to make inquisition over the bodies of those 
killed : 

"[ohnson Hall, as foreman, Pliny Dickinson, Lewis H. Redfield, D. S. Colvin, William A. 
Cook, Thomas T. Davis, Samuel Earned, Rial Wright, Philo D. Micklcs, Harmon W. Van Buren, 
Daniel Elliott, Ashbel Kellogg, Thomas G. Alvord, Elijah W. Curtis, Jared H. Parker, Amos P. 
tiranger. 

"The Coroner's jury closed its business on Monday evening, August 23d. The report con- 
cludes as follows: 

" 'That Hugh T. Gibson, (here follows a repetition of the list of dead), came to their deaths on 
the night of Eriday, the 20th of August, 1841, by the explosion of 27 or 28 kegs of gun powder, in a 
carpenter's and joiner's shop, then on fire, in the village of Syracuse, and which the said deceased 
and others were attempting to extinguish; that the said powder was the property of Wm. Malcolm 
and Albert A. Hudson, of Syracuse, and was secretly stored in said shop by the said Albert A. 
Hudson and Charles Goings, the owners of said shop, with the knowledge and consent of said Wm. 
Malcolm, contrary to the published and known ordinances of the village of Syracuse, and without 
the cognizance or consent of the trustees thereof.' " 

This terrible calamity cast a pall of gloom over the entire community, 
which was not dispelled for many months, and public feeling against those 
who were responsible for it was very bitter. 

We have noticed on a previous page that the authorities had taken steps 
to secure better village government. To this end a committee was ap- 
pointed which reported in August that there were seventy-five places for 
the sale of intoxicating liquor, and called for " extraordinary measures for 
the protection of citizens and property." Gaming houses in the village 
were also alluded to as destructive of good government, and a series of 
horse races that had been announced to be held in September were especial- 
ly condemned as likely to bring to the village a retinue of disreputable 



The First Village Niciu Watch. 151 



or dancferous characters. A resolution passed August 28 recommended 
that officers attend the horse races, endeavor to disperse the crowd, and an- 
nounce the illegality of the proceedings and issue warrants for the partic- 
ipants. The Overseer of the Poor was instructed to arrest the owner of 
any animal used in the races. "We will unite our best efforts," said one 
resolution, " with those of the civil magistrates, not only in bringing to 
punishment and driving out from among us the numerous blacklegs, gam- 
blers, and incendiaries by whom we are said to be infested, but also in up- 
rooting the infamous dens and resorts in our town, in which they are made, 
sustained and concealed, whether existing as groceries, billiard rooms, bowl- 
ing alleys, or brothels." 

This is strong language and it seems difficult to believe that it was en- 
tirely justifiable. It is possible that, smarting under the awful sacrifice of 
human life which had just occurred, a picture of the situation was drawn 
in the resolution, not warranted by the facts. To effect a change in these 
conditions, the sum of $600 was raised with which to provide a Night 
Watch. Nathan W. Rose, Joseph Flick, Joseph Mesmer, James Burrell, 
Charles A. Huntoon, and Thomas Griffith, were appointed as the Watch, 
with the first named as Captain. Their pay was one dollar per night. 
There is no doubt that these measures were instituted mainly on account of 
the feeling engendered by the powder explosion, the fire by which that cas- 
ualty originated being charged to incendiaries. When this feeling had be- 
come somewhat modified, after a few months, the Night Watch was with- 
drawn. 

1842.— A meeting was held January 13 to consider the application of 
the coarse salt companies having fields of vats within or near the village 
boundaries for an extension of their charters, and the policy was discus.sed 
of petitioning the Legislature for a law authorizing the sale of the lands. 
Resolutions were passed strongly favoring the sale and protesting against a 
recharter of the companies. The salt fields in question are shown on the 
map of 1834 herein. The lands had become too valuable for such purposes. 

A resolution of February 6 authorized the Trustees to " cause a sewer 
to be built, commencing at Harrison and Mulberry streets, and runnino 
along Harrison and Onondaga streets to Onondaga creek, for the purpose 
of carrying off the surplus waters of Yellow Brook, the sewer to be 2^ 
feet in width by 3 feet in height in the clear, agreeably to the plan of J. M. 
Wieting and the specifications of John Townsend, esq." That tells the 
story. A tax of $1,600 was levied for this work, which was done by Mason 
Young. There was very little other public work done this year. 

On the 5th of April, at a meeting called to consider " measures in refer- 
ence to the discharge of the waters of the Yellow Brook," the matter was 
referred to Johnson Hall, J. C. Woodruff, Rial Wright, C. A. Wheaton,and 



,52 Memorial History of Syracuse, 



Daniel Pratt. In May it was resolved by the authorities to raise $800 " for 
a good, covered stone culvert in Sixth South (Harrison) street and Onon- 
daga street, from the Yellow Brook to Onondaga Creek." The railroad 
company co-operated in these improvements and were, therefore, relieved 
from obligation to continue " their stone sewer any farther east." 

The sum of $4,000 was raised this year for highways, and stone side- 
walks were ordered on Fayette street from Clinton to Mulberry street ; 
crravel sidewalks on portions of North Salina street and Fayette street, and 
Almond street from Third- North to Foot street was opened and improved. 

At a meeting held May 19 a resolution was passed to the effect that the 
Trustees be authorized to take possession of the Seneca Turnpike within 
the limits of the village, if the company would pay $2,000 and give the 
right to use the gravel bed " in the eastern part of the village." This meas- 
ure was carried out in the summer of 1S44. 

On June 14 the " Packet and Steamboat Company of Oswego and Syr- 
acuse" asked the privilege of erecting "a sign and bell on the dock in 
front of Marsh, Wheaton & Co.'s store." 

In the course of the year 1842 all of the buildings covering the site of 
the Townsend Block on West Water street were removed by the Syracuse 
Company, and the Townsend block built from Onondaga limestone, which 
greatly improved that locality. 

The year was further noticeable on account of the establishment of the 
first system of water supply for the village. Legislation with a view to 
this enterprise was begun as early as 1829, when the Trustees conveyed to 
Oliver Teall the rights of the trustees of the Syracuse Water Works com- 
pany as they were vested in the village corporation in 1821. In 1834 the 
term (twenty years) for which the assignment was made, having expired, 
the conveyance was renewed ; but nothing practical was really accomplished 
until the year under consideration. We find that in July, 1841, a movement 
for laying a "string of logs from the locks near Almond street, through 
Almond and Fayette street, to supply the village with water in case of fire," 
was inaugurated, and in the same year the Legislature was asked to grant 
to Oliver Teall the right to increase prices of water to his customers. The 
first wooden pipes for water were laid in 1842 43. 

Previous to this year the streets running east and west had been desig- 
nated by numbers, those south of the canal being called " First South," etc., 
and three of those north of the canal, " First North," etc. These names 
were changed this year to the present ones. 

1843 4. — The year 1843 was uneventful as far as public improvements 
were concerned. The sum of 8850 was appropriated in June for a bridge 
over Onondaga creek on Onondaga street, which was built by James Pierce. 
Systematic street cleaning appears to have been first introduced this year. 



A DiSGRACEFur, Riot. 153 



A Mechanics' Association was organized in the latter part of 1842, which 
continued for a time with considerable success. Joseph 15arber was its 
president in January, 1843; Henrj^ Agnew, vice-president; C. !•". Wiiliston, 
recording secretary ; E. T. Hayden, corresponding secretary ; Thomas Ben - 
net, treasurer. Its cliief object was to meet for the discussion of business, 
manufacturing, and mechanical topics. Daily stages still ran between Syra- 
cuse and Rochester, in opposition to the railroad and canal, the time being 
advertised as twelve hours and the fare $2. 50. 

The principal event of importance in the year was a disgraceful riot that 
occurred on the first of January, at the old Coffee House on the present site 
of the V'anderbilt House. This house was then kept by a German named 
Sigel, who was preparing a New Year supper for a social party. While 
these preparations were going forivard, " Cale " Davis and a number of 
rough men from Salina and Liverpool entered the house and proceeded to 
make a highway of the table. The landlord knew the roughs too well to 
oppose them, and one of the party named Blake became offensive in his 
conduct toward Mrs. Sigel, and the landlord ordered him away from the 
house, threatening to shoot him if he did not leave. Blake persisted iri his 
insulting conduct when Sigel shot him, wounding him in the ear and neck. 
The riot now assumed such proportions that assistance was demanded and 
the sheriff ordered the Syracuse Cadets out to quell the disturbance. Lieu- 
tenant Olmsted, who was in command, marched his company to the scene 
and arrested the rioters, who were taken to the jail. The next morning 
Sigel was discharged, as it was proven that he was acting on the defensive. 
Davis was tried and fined. Blake escaped punishment on account of a pe- 
riod of illness, but he "unfortunately recovered," as an old settler has ex- 
pressed himself. 

This affair was promptly taken notice of by the authorities at a meeting 
held January 8, when a committee previously appointed made the following 
report : " The committee to whom was referred the resolutions as offered 
by C. A. VVheaton at the last meeting, report : Whereas, the late disgrace- 
ful and riotous outrage which occurred in this village during the last week, 
involving not only considerable loss of property but severe personal injuries, 
together with other ruffianism of a minor character which has frequently 
taken place within the last two years, fully demonstrate as well the exist- 
ence of an apathetic and corrupt public sentiment by which such offences 
are indirectly encouraged by the neglect to bring the guilty parties to speedy 
and condign punishment, as also the necessity now and at once of adopting 
efficient measures for the repression of these repeated acts of violence in 
the future, therefore — 

Kesohed, That the citizens of the village desirous of and claiming for ourselves the protection 
of the law in behalf of our own persons and property, we are determined and hereby pledge ourselves 
20 



154 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

that we will hereafter by every means in our power prosecute and bring to justice every offence of 
this description committed against any person or class of citizens. 

Reioh'ed, That in our judgment a large portion of the excesses which have occurred may be 
attributed to the light punishment inflicted on the offenders presented for violations of law and by a 
general looseness in the administration of criminal justice. 

Resolved, That we call upon every ministerial and judicial officer within our corporate limits, as 
well as every good citizen, to lend their prompt and efficient aid in ever)' case of violation of public 
order or the criminal infringement of private right whenever perpetrated, speedily, uniformly and 
without regard to person or the fear of injurious consequences to themselves, and that we will act in 
concert upon these cases when they arrive and suffer nothing to remain undone by which this object 
can be effected. 

Resolved, That the acts of violence are the legitimate results of the sale and use of into.\icat- 
ing liquors as a beverage, and this meeting earnestly solicits all persons engaged in such sale and 
use. for the sake of suffering humanity and for the honor of our village, (which at this moment em- 
braces within its corporate limits about eighty liquor selling establishments) to abandon the business 
and thus contribute very largely to our future preservation from the recurrence of such disgraceful 
proceedings. 

Resolved, That the above resolutions be signed by the president and clerk and be published 
in the papers of the village." 

By the year 1844 the population of Syracuse had reached about 10,000 
and the question of applying for a city charter was again agitated. At a 
meeting held January 4, the measure was discussed and a committee to " in- 
vestigate the subject of a city charter " was appointed, consisting of the 
following persons : John Wilkinson, Hiram Putnam, Oliver Teall, Moses 
D. Burnet, John G. Forbes, George F. Comstock, James G. Tracy, Charles 
A. Baker, and Willett Raynor. The project was, however, destined to sleep 
a little longer. 

But the village was growing and seemed entering upon a period of 
especial prosperity. One of the local newspapers congratulated the people 
on the many evidences of thrift, and said that a person going away for a 
time and returning, could not avoid being astonished at the changes. The 
north and south parts of the corporation were being laid out in streets and 
built upon, and all that seemed to be needed was " a few more enterprising 
men with capital, to insure one of the largest inland cities in the State." 
Prophetic words. 

Street cleaning was ordered done annually and William Alexander was 
paid $200 for the work this year. The sum of $4,000 was raised for high- 
way purposes, and brick sidewalks were built on many streets. A bridge 
was built over the dry dock, James street, at a cost of $1,000 ; North War- 
ren street was opened or extended ; the fire limits were extended and many 
advances made in various directions. 

A meeting was called for October 2, to organize a company for building 
a plank road to Brewerton, a project that was warmly advocated by the 
local press. At about this time a sort of plank road mania broke out in 
all parts of the State, and within a few years charters were granted for 
numerous highways of this character. They were a great boon to the trav- 



Destruction of the Old Canal Basin. . 155 

eling public and particularly on the long roadways over which so much 
freighting had to be done with horses before there were many railroads. 
Some of these roads were a source of profit to their projectors and contin- 
ued in use many years, a few of them even to this day. The reader will 
learn more of those leading from Syracuse a little farther on. 

The last meeting of the Trustees this year, or what should have been 
the last, appears to have resulted in a flat failure. This is its record on 
December 23d : " A prodigious snow storm has probably kept every 
Trustee at home this evening, as none are here. R. Raynor, Clerk." 

Several prominent buildings were erected in 1844. Amos P. Granger 
purchased the triangular lot previously occupied by the Episcopal church 
and erected the first block bearing his name. The building of the Empire 
Block was begun, the old Mansion House and other buildings being removed 
to clear the site. The block was begun by John H. Tomlinson, Stephen 
W. Cadwell, and John Thomas. It was finished in 1847 3"^ M"". Tomlin- 
son became the sole owner. He was killed by a railroad accident at Little 
Falls in the summer of 1848, and in the fall the building was sold at auc- 
tion to John Taylor, of Newark, N. J. It was soon afterwards purchased 
by James L. Voorhees and John D. Norton, and in 1850 Colonel Voorhees 
became sole owner. In 1S56 the building was extensively enlarged and 
improved. It was long known as the " Voorhees House." It passed to 
the hands of Horace and Hamilton While about the year 1857. 

1845. — It was in this year that the final abolition of the old canal basin 
was accomplished and the erection of a public market building on its site 
carried out. It was a project which had been discussed three years. When 
we look back at this scheme it is difficult to conceive that any one could be 
found who would seriously advocate it. But the idea seemed feasible to a 
sufficient number of influential men to effect its consummation. The plan 
was to erect a building with market stalls on the lower floor, which were to 
be leased for the sale of provisions, etc., as had been and is the practice in 
New York and other cities, and a commodious hall was to be provided on 
the second floor. The location of the new market finally selected was be- 
tween Mulberry and Market .streets, where the canal basin had long existed 
as a nuisance, and the building was erected in a form that is familiar to all 
Syracusans, except that twenty feet were added to the original structure and 
a bell tower placed thereon. 

The discussions as to the best site for the market were numerous and 
warm, and several resolutions came into being on the subject. Early in 
March it was resolved to apply to the Legislature for authority to raise the 
necessary sum of money. At the next meeting a committee on site which 
had been appointed, reported that the lot north of the canal, corner of Foot 
and Warren streets, could be had for $4,500; the lot next east of this one, 



156 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



" with the boat shop," for $5,500, and the lot finally selected south of the 
canal for $5,000. The Commtttee expressed some doubt of the policy of 
building at this time, thus creating a large debt ; thought it might be ad- 
visable to join with the county in such an enterprise, and finally, if the pro- 
ject went forward, advised applying to the Legislature for authority to raise 
an aggregate sum of $20,000 from time to time as it might be needed. The 
Trustees were accordingly authorized to raise $20,000 to be paid in annual 
installments of $1,000. 

On March 20, it was resolved to buy the Washington street lot (though 
immediate action was postponed to May) and application was made to the 
Legislature for authority to raise funds. A public meeting was called to 
vote on the question of purchase for May 31st, the result of which was 628 
votes for the purchase and 304 against it. Another Trustees' meeting was 
held in July in relation to the erection of the building itself, which measure 
was favored. 

After the completion of the building and to overcome the seeming re- 
luctance on the part of some of the market-men to give up their former 
places of business for the market stalls, a paper was drawn up which the 
leading dealers signed, agreeing to try the new plan. The list was headed 
by Caleb Davis and James Meldram, two of the most prominent dealers in 
meat. This was in March, 1846. The stalls were accordingly taken and 
lavishly provided with meats and the square in front of the building was the 
daily resort of farmer's teams for the sale of various kinds of produce. It 
all looked well, quite metropolitan, but it did not pay. It was ahead of the 
time; it was a plan not adapted to a comparatively small village. Custo- 
mers did not like it and neither did the rival dealers, and the project was 
soon abandoned. But the public hall was a great convenience and in it was 
transacted for many years all the public business, and it was often occupied 
for other purposes. 

Clinton street was greatly improved this year by filling, for which the 
proposition of Amos Story to put in 14,000 cubic yards at eight cents per 
yard was accepted. The sum of $75 was expended for grading on the Cin- 
der Road. Genesee street was graded near its eastern and western extrem- 
ities, and Willow street was opened to Lodi. Prospect Hill summit was 
partially leveled and the Standard, \n commenting on this desirable piece of 
work, felt confident that that point would be " an excellent site for the State 
Capital!" 

1846. — The end of the history of Syracuse as a village approaches. 
The subject of a city charter was conspicuous in discussions in the Board 
of Trustees and among the people at frequent intervals during the year. 
There was not much opposition in the village of Syracuse as to the main 
features of the proposed change, but the details of it, and particularly the 



Erection of Prominent Buildings. 157 

extent of territory to be included, caused much argument and discussion. 
There was a considerable class of residents in both Syracuse and Salina, 
who could foresee no good results from a union under one charter ; they 
could not bury and forget the old rivalry. But the sagacious and progres- 
sive men of both villages appreciated the situation and saw the folly of two 
corporations so near together, with every prospect of their soon uniting in 
all material interests, if they were not in municipal. At length, however, 
as we shall see, the details were arranged and the object attained in 1847. 

Several important buildings were erected this year, among them being 
the Globe Hotel block, by John Wilkinson, the external appearance of 
which still remains much as it did at first. William Malcolm's wooden 
dwelling was removed in 1846 to the west side of Clinton street, where it 
was burned, and the erection of the Malcolm Block was begun and finished 
in 1847. -^ commodious hall was provided in the upper story, where for a 
number of years many of the lectures and entertainments occurred. 

James G. Tracy, who was the agent of the Syracuse Company, built the 
block of stores on the east side of South Salina street, just south of the 
present Dey Brothers & Co.'s stores. The plans for this block were made 
by John Lathrop, and provided for a height of three stories and a depth of 
sixty feet. This block and the Globe were then looked upon as absurdly 
extravagant for the needs of the village. 

Samuel Larned built the brick block which stood on the site of the pres- 
ent Larned Building, where a hotel was kept for many years. 

North Salina street was paved between Church street and the Erie 
canal, and William Barker offered to grade twenty-five chains of the south- 
erly part of Salina street fifty feet wide, for eleven cents per cubic yard. 
An idea of the imperfect condition of the streets in that vicinity may be 
gathered from a petition to the Trustees in July, "to fill the pond at the 
corner of Montgomery and Madison streets." In the month of July, W. 
B. Kirk and Roger Billings were made a committee " to dispose of the sur- 
plus earth at the southern end of Salina street, and to improve the road 
beyond the swamp on the same street." Sidewalk construction in this 
year was very extensive, and a sewer was ordered in Grape street from Jef- 
ferson to Fayette street. New ordinances of great length and detail were 
adopted for the government of the new market, one of which ordered that 
"a bell should be rung fifteen minutes before time to close." 

1847. — Early in the year active measures were instituted for city incor- 
poration, in both Salina and Syracuse. A public meeting was called at 
Market Mall on January 5, " to consider the expediency of applying to the 
Legislature for a city charter." E. W. Leavenworth was chairman of that 
meeting, and John F. Wyman, secretary. W. B. Kirk moved that the ap- 
plication be made and that it embrace Salina. Animated discussion fol- 



158 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



lowed as to the policy of inviting not only Salina, but Geddes also, and one 
individual with decidedly progressive ideas, added Liverpool. Mr. Kirk's 
motion was finally adopted. A good deal of opposition to the whole 
project was developed, but resolutions condemnatory of such opposition 
were adopted by the Trustees, and E. W. Leavenworth, Moses D. Burnet, 
and J. R. Lawrence were thanked for their efforts in this connection in a 
resolution offered by Oliver Teall. Indeed, the better sense of the commu- 
nity was greatly in favor of the proposed change. 

A meeting was held on the iith of January, at the house of James 
Scott, in Salina, at which the following resolutions were adopted : 

" Resolved, That we will unite with the inhabitants of Syracuse in an application for a city 
charier to embrace the territory now included in the corporate limits of the two villages, on the fol- 
lowing conditions, viz : that we compose a ward embracing all the territory in the village of Salina 
on the northwesterly side of Union Place and Elm street, to be set off and denominated the Salina 
ward. 

" That the location of the Bank of Salina is to remain in this ward. 

" That the post-office in Salina be not discontinued nor the canal and salt offices be removed 
from this ward. 

"Reso/veJ, That Thomas McCarthy, Noah Wood, and Ira H. Williams be appointed a com- 
mittee to present the proceedings of this meeting to the meeting of the inhabitants of Syracuse, to 
meet on Tuesday, the 12th inst." 

These conditions were substantially agreeable to the officers of the vil- 
lage of Syracuse. During the same month a committee was appointed to 
draft and report a charter. The members of the committee were John 
Wilkinson, Moses D. Burnet, Hiram Putnam, George F. Comstock, J. R. 
Lawrence, Amos P. Granger, Harvey Baldwin, C. B. Sedgwick, Hamilton 
White, Lyman Clary, Thomas McCarthy, Noah Wood, and Warren H. 
Porter. 

The Act of Incorporation was passed under date of December 14, 1847, 
(Chap. 475 session laws) and the limits of the new city defined as follows ; 

" The district of country constituting a part of the town of Salina, and 
including the villages of Syracuse and Salina, in the county of Onondaga, 
within the following bounds, that is to say: 

" Beginning on the northeasterly corner of Manlius L, running thence 
to the northeasterly corner of the village of Salina, thence along the north- 
erly line of said village of Salina, to the northwesterly corner of the same, 
thence southwesterly to the Onondaga Lake, thence along the southeasterly 
shore of said lake to the center of Onondaga Creek, thence southerly along 
the center of said creek to the line of the village of Syracuse, thence west- 
erly and southerly along such line to the south bounds of the town of Salina, 
thence east along the south bounds of the town of Salina to the east bounds 
thereof, thence northerly along the east bounds of said town to the place 
of beginning, shall hereafter be known as the ' City of Syracuse.' " 

Section second of the act divided the city into four wards, as follows : 
" All that part of the city lying east of Onondaga Creek and north of 



Conclusion of Sai.lna IIimorv. 159 



Division and Pond streets, was made the First Ward ; all the rest of the city 
lying north of the center of the Erie Canal, was made the Second Ward ; 
the Third Ward included that portion of the city lying south of the Erie 
Canal and west of Montgomery street as far south as Burt street, thence 
west of Salina street to the southern boundary of the city ; the remainder 
of the city constituted the Fourth V\^ard." 

And thus Syracuse swallowed its old rival. The election to vote on the 
acceptance of this charter was held on the first Monday (3d) of January, 
1848, at which 1,072 votes in Syracuse were cast in favor, and 771 against ; 
in Salina, 385 in favor, and 39 against. Syracuse was a city. 

The usual improvements in sidewalks and streets were continued. At a 
meeting in May a lot on James street and one between Irving and Chestnut 
streets were declared nuisances, on account of their being low and over- 
flowed with water. They were ordered properly filled. Salina street be- 
tween Castle and Burt streets was officially given a width of six rods. In 
July a public meeting was called to consider the building of a plank road 
between Salina and Syracuse, but it adjourned without action. 

In one of the local newspapers of this year we find a brief statement of 
the mortality in Syracuse for the ten years between 1838 and 1848, which is 
worthy of preservation, though possibly not absolutely correct. It is as fol- 
lows: 1838,93; 1839,104; 1840,124; 1841, 132; 1842, 131 ; 1843,163; 
1844, 181 ; 1845, 164; 1846, 175 ; 1847, 326. This is a total of 1593 deaths 
in the decade. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CONCLU.SION OF SAl l\A IIISTOKV, 



The First Officers of the Village— Early VillaKe Expenses— Opening of Exchange Street -The 
Old Cemetery and the New— The First Paving— Purchase of Fire Apparatus— Lists of Village Offi- 
eers— Various Public Improvements— Preparations for Union with Syracuse as a City. 

IT now becomes necessary to return to the history of the village of Salina 
and bring it down as well as may be to the time when it was incorporated 
with Syracuse as a city. This task is rendered doubly difficult and all 
efTorts for its accomplishment quite unsatisfactory by the absence of all re- 
cords of meetings of Trustees and the inhabitants, e.xcept as they may be 
mferred from bills for work done, receipts, and scattering reports of some 
of the ofificers. 



i6o Memorial History ok Syracuse. 



Thomas McCarthy, the leading merchant, was the first president of the 
village in 1826, and Gordon Williams, Treasurer. J. J. Briggs filled the 
office of clerk. The few business papers on file in the City Clerk's office indi- 
cate that very little was done from year to year during that early period for 
the improvement of the place. Thomas B. Welden was paid $12.31 for two 
fire hooks, and the "canal at the junction of Wolf street " was improved by 
Silas Barnard at a cost of $1460. The sum of $12.60 was paid for two long 
ladders, and a little money was spent for cross-walks. 

It appears that a public meeting had been held on the 7th of April, 
1826, and a resolution passed by the inhabitants a.sking the Trustees to 
report on the moneys expended in 1824-5 and for what purposes. Follow 
ing is the interesting report : 

ACCOU.NTS AIDITED BY THE FORMER TRISTEES. 

1S24. — .\. Whitman, for repairing engine - l45 00 

I.. II. Kedfield, printing ordinances, and book 8 75 

Samuel llerron, surveying streets _ 2 50 

James Shankland, cash paid J. P. Rossiter_ - I 5° 

.\shbel Kellogg, copying assessment rolls -- 3 00 

I,. Bacon, making and repairing hose 5 75 

\Vm. Dowd, for drag rope ' '7 

A. Smith, for two ladders - --- 'o 00 

A. Foot, iron work on engine and fire hooks 12 86 

Ephraim S. Durfee, cash paid on firemen's warrants - 75 

\V right & Nott, for new wheels to engine .- (> $<> 

Ephraim S. Durfee, building engine house - 45 *>• 

For two notices of incorporation of village 4 25 

Notice of amendment, 1825 -. - - 4 25 

Reuben St. John, notice of application of renewal, 1825 I 75 

.Same notice in State paper 3 00 

Wm. Clark, for 31 lbs. iron for engine and hooks I 44 

It appears from this report that the Collector had received a warrant 
from former Trustees to collect $250, while this report shows the receipt of 
only about $158. The Trustees did not pretend to be able to account for 
the shortage in the collections. 

The project of opening Exchange street had been discussed in the vil- 
lage a year or two and in 1828 the matter assumed definite shape. At a 
meeting held in April it was resolved to lay out the street and William H. 
Beach, Matthew VanVleck, and John G. Forbes were appointed appraisers. 
Following are the details of the appraisal : " In pursuance of said act we 
do hereby appraise the value of the land between Canal (now Salina) and 
Salt (now Park) streets which has been set apart as a new street, and which 
is fifty feet wide and twenty-four rods long, as follows, viz : The interest 
of William Clark in said street at $279 : the interest of Chauncey Woodruff 
at $1.^5; the interest of Williams & Co., at $210; the interest of Thaddeus 
M. Wood at $87 : the interest of Ichabod Brackett at $477. And we do 



\ 




G e^orac^zxmai^ 



Abandonment ok thk Old Ckmetery. i6i 



further appraise the value of the ground on Free street which the respective 
owners are authorized to occupy and enjoy according to the second section 
of said act, as follows : The value of the land in front of William Clark 
at $418.50; of the land opposite the front of Chauncey Woodruff at $202.50; 
of the land opposite the front of Williams & Co., at $315 ; of the land 
opposite the front of Thaddeus M. Wood at S'30.50; of the land opposite 
the front of Ichabod Brackett at $715.50." 

A village Pound was built this year by Ashbel Kellogg at a cost of 
$59.89. The license fee for grocers was fixed at $20 and about a dozen 
grocers paid it. We find no record of the village officers for the year. 

In the year 1829 the old cemetery was given up and block No. 43, where 
the cemetery is now located, was appropriated for the purpose. It was ap- 
praised on June 11, by Ashbel Kellogg, S. R. Matthews, and Roger Bates, 
•It $325. Block 59 (the old cemetery) was subdivided and sold at auction 
at prices ranging from $210 to $380. The condition of Block 43 at that 
time may be inferred from the fact that Richard Molony was paid about 
$150 for clearing and grubbing on the lot to fit it for interments. 

Under date of August 10, we find the following: "Mr. Tucker: — 
Please let Mr. Nathaniel Woodruff have his two hogs you have in the vil- 
lage Pound by his paying you your fees for impounding the same." This 
order is signed by Noah G. W'ood, Lyman Brown, and I. West, who were 
undoubtedly of the Board of Trustees. 

The first paving of which we find any account appears to have been 
done this year on Canal street at the Junction of Wolf ; and Syracuse street 
was opened, " beginning at Canal street and running south to connect at 
Union Place with the road leading from Syracuse to the Court House." 
Considerable street improvement was effected, and large additions made to 
the fire apparatus, probably hastened by the occurrence of a large fire on 
the 5th of February. An engine house was built on land belonging to 
Thaddeus M. Wood, which he leased to the village. The lot was on Salt 
street and the building was erected by Joel Crane at a cost of $38. This 
was probably the second engine in the village. A hearse house was also 
built by Mr. Crane which cost $44. 

The receipts from various sources in the year 1832 were $596.25, and in 
1833, $324.58. A report of the Trustees in 1834, explains that they had 
not sold certain of the old cemetery lots, "as real estate is lower than we 
hoped it would ever be again." Salina evidently was not enjoying a boom 
in 1834. 

The receipts by the Trustees in 1835 were $564.76, and in 1836 about 

three dollars in excess of that amount. In the latter year bridges were 

built over the north side-cut canal and on the Geddes road. In 1837, the 

village purchased a town clock of Jehiel Clark, of Cazenovia, at a cost of 

21 



i62 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

$300. Money was scarce, as it was a time of financial stringency, and the 
clock was paid for in installments. The receipts by the Trustees were 
about $440. 

In 1839 'he village appears to have felt an impulse of enterprise, as in- 
dicated by various public improvements which were begun. A subscrip- 
tion paper is on record bearing the names of most of the prominent citi- 
zens, with the amounts they gave towards the Public Square. An agree- 
ment was entered into between the village and Owen Mackin and Charles 
Harvey, to excavate and properly fill the " Public, or Center Square," at an 
expense of $230. Fifty thousand brick were contracted for, to be used for 
flagging. The land between Center and Wolf streets south of Mechanic 
street on the canal, had been held, or claimed, by Benjamin F. Green ; but 
the village authorities obtained from the Land Commissioners the revoca- 
tion of the original grant to Benajah Byington, thus giving its possession 
to the village. 

In 1840 the streets around and through the public park were improved 
at an expense of $79.58, and a railing constructed around the Square costing 
$69.38. The receipts for the year were about $500. This sum increased in 
1 841 to $750, nearly all of which was expended on streets and sidewalks. 

About $100 were expended on fire apparatus in 1842. In 1843 the 
streets named North with the prefix of numbers from one to six, were 
opened one hundred feet wide, and extensive highway improvements were 
carried out. 

The rate of taxation was greatly increased this year and about $4,000 
were collected, while public improvements were proportionately extended, 
more than $3,000 having been paid for paving and grading, culverts, side- 
walks, etc. In the report of the Trustees for this year appears this con- 
gratulatory expression : " We believe the improvements of the past two 
years have had a good effect." 

1846. — The village was by this time beginning to share in the interest 
awakened on the subject of securing a city charter and uniting with Syra- 
cuse under it. The old rivalry with Syracuse had not died out ; but among 
the more prominent citizens it was greatly modified, and in the minds of 
many was wholly eradicated, while the advantages to be derived from a 
union of the two villages were becoming more and more apparent to men 
of good judgment in both villages. 

These brief annals must close the record of Salina village down to its 
incorporation with Syracuse as a city, as detailed in the preceding chapter. 
But however desirable the consummation of that object was and is to all con- 
cerned, it is still undeniable that there has never been that perfect union of 
interest and personal feeling that should exist between all sections of a 
great city. The causes of this are not difficult to discern. It is only forty 



Sauna Village Officers. 163 

years since the village became a part of the city, and there was quite a 
strong opposition to the measure at that time ; the spirit which inspired 
that opposition is not yet entirely dispelled. And still more powerful in- 
influences operated to this end; for example, the business interests of Salina, 
outside of her salt industry, have always suffered at the hands of her more 
fortunately located rival ; moreover, the partial territorial isolation had the 
same effect. These and perhaps other causes served to erect something of 
an invisible barrier between the two sections. Real estate, for no other 
reason that one can detect, commands a lower price in Salina than in most 
other directions from the post office to the same distance. There are no 
finer building lots anywhere than may be found in the First Ward ; but 
they cannot be marketed at such prices as rule elsewhere in the city. Rents 
are lower, and in all directions is seen and felt the effects of the influences 
alluded to. 

Following are lists of the officers of the village as far as they could be 
collated from the fragmentary records in existence : 

1S27. — Trustees, Sylvester F. Feck, Ezra JF. Knapp, Thomas McCarthy, Ashbel Kellogg, George 

Gage. Treasurer, Hamilton D. Risley. Collector, Jacob Burgess. 
1829. — Trustees, William H. Beach, B. .Stocker, .Xnson Richmond, Voltaire Newton, Samuel P. 

Smith. Jr. Treasurer, Morris Homan. Inspector of Wood, Noah Tubbs. 
1831. — Trustees, Noah G. Wood, Erasmus Stone, S. S. Peck, James Beardslee, Hunter Crane. 

Treasurer, James Fifield. Collector, Joel Wright. 
1832.— Trustees, James Fifield, A. Richmond, Hunter Crane, Ashbel Kellogg, William Clark. 

Treasurer, James Lynch. Assessors, Thomas McCarthy, C. B. Williams, Norris Felt. 
1833.— Trustees, Lyman Clary, James J. Rice, Norris Felt, C. B. Williams. Treasurer, James 

Beardslee. Collector, S. Harroun. 
1S34. — Trustees, James Beardslee, Giles Williams, Lyman Bowen, Lyman Clary, James f. Rice. 

Treasurer, James Lynch. Collector, ;S. Blackmar. Assessors, Ebenezer Rice, Rhesa Griffin 

Elijah Clark. 
183s.— Trustees, B. F. Williams, Elijah Clark, Lyman Bowen, James Beardslee, Rhesa Griffin. 

Treasurer, Johnson Gordon. Assessor, William Clark, Collector, William B. Whitmore. 
1836.— Trustees, Elijah Clark, Rhesa Griffin, John Barron, D. E. Bibbins, James Beardslee. Col- 
lector, David G. Johnson. Treasurer, Lyman Bacon. 
1837.— Trustees, Ashbel Kellogg. William G. Clark, James Lynch, C. B. Williams, E, D. Hop- 
ping. Treasurer, Lyman Bacon. Collector, Hiram Harroun. Assessors, James J. Rice, 

Thomas G, .Mvord, Elijah Clark. 
1838,— Trustees, Johnson Gordon, Burr Burton, James Beardslee, C, B. Williams, E. D. Hopping. 

Treasurer, Lyman Bacon. Collector, Sylvester House, Clerk, Thomas G. Alvord. 
I S39,— Trustees, E. D, Hopping, L. Y. Avery, Burr Burton, C. B. Williams, Thomas McCarthy. 

Treasurer, Lyman Bacon. Collector, Nelson Phillips. Assessors, Thomas G. Alvord, Elijah 

Clark, William Clark. 
1840,— Trustees, James Lynch, Ira H, Williams, Dennis McCarthy, M. W. Bennett. Elizur Clark. 

Treasurer, Lyman Bacon. Assessors, Thomas G. Alvord, Elijah Clark, William Clark. 
1841.— Trustees, S. Swaney, Elizur Clark, Alonzo Crippen, Ashbel Kellogg, Patrick D. Lynch. 

Treasurer, Wm. Clark. Collector, Charles W. Ladd. 
1842.— Trustees, Latham Y. Avery. Elizur Clark, Ira IF, Williams, Patrick Cooney, Thomas Car- 

raher. Treasurer, William Clark. 



164 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

1843. — Trustees, Elizur Clark, Ira H. Williams, L. Y. Avery, Thomas Carraher. Treasurer, John 
Hutchinson. Collector. Dennis Devoy. Assessors, William Clark, Benjamin F. Green. 

1844. — Trustees, Ashbel Kellogg, John Harron, A. Crippen, J. H. Swaney, C. A. Nott. Treasurer. 
John Hutchinson. Collector, Oliver T. Couch. Assessors, Charles Scott, B. F. Green, Wil- 
liam Clark. 

1845. — Trustees, Thomas McCarthy, A. Crippen, N. B. Clark, Patrick Cooney, Benajah A. Avery. 
Treasurer, Patrick D. Lynch. Collector, Roswell Holmes. Assessors, B. F. Green, Charles 
B. Scott, Wm. Clark. Fire Wardens. David G. Johnson, Silas Titus, A. Crippen. 

I 846. — Trustees, Elizur Clark, Richard Sanger, Noadiah M. Childs, Voltaire Newton, Thomas 
Doyle. Assessors, William Clark, B. F. Green. Collector, A. A. Wheeler. 

1847. — Trustees, Elizur CUrk, Thomas Doyle, N. M. Childs. Treasurer, Thomas Earll. Assess- 
ors, I. R. Quereau, C. B. Scott, William Popple. Collector, Patrick Ga6Fney. 
During the greater portion of the period covering the history of Salina as a village, Thomas G. 

Alvord was the efficient Clerk. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

SYRACUSE AS A CITY. 



The Dawn of a New Era — Plank Roads and their Influence — A Savings Bank--E. B, Alvord's 
California House — The First Regular Theater— Salt Lands at Auction— Onondaga Creek Improve- 
ment—Organization of the Franklin Institute — New Method of Road Making — The Business Es- 
tablishments of the Young City — Growth of the Place — A Disastrous Fire — The Jerry Rescue — 
Jenny Lind's Concert — Abandonment of the Public Market — Sale of the Old Court House Property 
— The New Wards and their Boundaries — Increasing Public Debt — A Reign of Incendiarism— The 
Wieting Block Burned — Trouble in the Public Finances — A Great Political Meeting. 

SYRACUSE began her existence as a city under auspicious conditions 
and amid a general feeling that a new and still more prosperous era 
was dawning. Glimpses of congratulations, public and private, are caught 
on everj' hand. An issue of ihe /(>i/r>/(7/ in August, 1848, says: " Syracuse 
in 1820 consisted of one house in a swamp, and now it is a fine little city of 
upwards of 15,000 inhabitants. It owes its prosperity to its situation on 
the canal and its salt works." 

As a point of shipment it had already become one of importance, through 
her canal and railroad facilities. A statement of the freight shipped froin 
hereto Utica and intermediate points during the month of January, 1848, 
is as follows : Pork, 17,7974 lbs.; Poultry, 46,545 ; Butter, 61,492 ; Whiskey, 
23,800; Lard, 21,126; Cheese, 1,356; Cattle, 78,000; Wool, 16,442; Sheep 
Pelts, 12,920; Live Sheep, 51,073 ; Dried Fruit, 13,713; Bean.s, 2,433 ; Ashes, 
20,782; Flour, 5,564; Miscellaneous, 30,916. 



Salina Post-Office Discontinued. 165 



riank roads were reaching out from the young city in several directions, 
giving outlying farmers and manufacturers better facilities for getting their 
products to the canal and railroads, which they were not slow to profit by. 
The first plank road in the United States was laid between Syracuse and 
Central Square and began taking tolls in July, 1846, and by the date under 
consideration one was opened to Oswego, one southward to Cortland, and 
one east. The " Salina and Oak Orchard Flank road " was also begun this 
year. 

A traveler's directory of that time shows that packet boats left Syracuse 
westward at 8 o'clock a. m., and 7 o'clock p. m., and eastward at 6 a. m., and 
5 p. m., and to Oswego at 8 a. m., and 7 p. m., while railroad trains ran east 
at 4 and 8 o'clock a. m., and 8:30 p. m., and west at 2 a. m. (emigrant), and 
6:15 and 4:45 p.m. The direct railroad to Rochester was already under 
survey, to be finished within the next few years. An editorial in \.\\& Journal 
of May II says: "The Free Schools of the city opened on Monday with 
an unusually large number of pupils. Attendance, as well as educational 
appliances, will be greatly improved under the new system." Another news- 
paper expression is to the effect that the " Oswego Railroad is helping trade 
in Syracuse very much." These are all indications of a buoyant and san- 
guine feeling in the minds of Syracusans. 

Among minor occurrances of the year, it may be stated that, at a meet- 
ing of the Council, November 13, 1848, it was resolved to confer with the 
Canal Commissioners, as to the practicability of flooding the city sewers 
with surplus water of the canal. The Council also prohibited the " ringing 
of dinner bells in the street." The post-office at Salina was discontinued, 
contrary to the expectations of the inhabitants of that ward. The Journal 
says : " Whether the step was anticipated by our neighbors of the First ward 
or not we can not say, but the decision of the Department, we understand, 
is not very well received there." A meeting was held and a petition pre- 
pared and forwarded to the Post-Office Department, and theofificewas soon 
afterward restored. 

The 4th of July was enthusiastically celebrated "on temperance princi- 
ples." Any event of this kind was sure to bring Oliver Teall and his tem- 
perance associates to the front in advocacy of their principles, and they 
really accomplished much good at a time when the tendency of the place 
was towards a multiplication of saloons and the increase of dissipation. 

In March, the Bank of Syracuse gave notice that it would open a sav- 
ings department. The First Presbyterian Church Society bought the Amer- 
ican Hotel property on the site of which was built its present beautiful 
church. 

It was in this year that the late Earl B. Alvord built a small brick 
structure on the corner of Warren street and the present Vanderbilt Square 



i66 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

and opened it as the " California House." The wide doors in the dining- 
room were directly opposite an archway into the old depot. When the 
trains arrived he would open his door and tempt the passengers to his well- 
spread tables. For self-protection the other hotel keepers induced the rail- 
road superintendent to close up the opening to the depot, cutting off Mr. 
Alvord's source of revenue. He promptly broke down the obstruction, 
claiming it was a public highway. For this he was arrested, but immedi- 
ately gave bail. The next day the obstruction was replaced, and when the 
train approached, Mr. Alvord again broke it down. He made such an ar- 
rangement with the ofificers that he might be arrested, give bail, and get 
back in time to serve his guests. He continued this proceeding for several 
days and gained considerable sympathy for his persistence ; but it was an 
unequal battle and he finally surrendered. 

The first regular theater was opened this year in what had been the 
Baptist church — a church in which had preached the lamented Rev. Mr. 
Gilbert, and around which clustered the sacred associations of the first re- 
ligious edifice in the village. This was called the National Theater for 
many years, and in it were produced many of the standard plays, often by 
casts of characters wonderfully restricted in number. Here the Denin sis- 
ters, one of whom is still before the public, made their first and successful 
efforts upon the stage; and such other actors as C. W. Couldock, the vete- 
ran who is yet before the public, Anna Cora Mowatt, and many others no 
less famous, presented many of the almost forgotten dramas to the young 
city. 

In a local publication of February, 1848, were given the following sta- 
tistics of population: First ward (estimated), 2,500; Second ward, 4,464 ; 
Third and Fourth, 6,777; total, 13,741. 

1849. — E- W- Leavenworth was elected Mayor of the city in the spring 
of this year. Under an Act of the Legislature of January 25, the city 
authorities had already begun the work of grading and filling the old mill 
pond between the present Clinton street and the creek. That Act author- 
ized the Common Council to reclaim the State lands bordering on Onon- 
daga creek (formerly covered by salt vats) " which have been recently ex- 
posed by the destruction of the mill dam owned by John Townsend and 
Augustus James," at a cost not exceeding $4,000. The Syracuse Coarse 
Salt Company was authorized to take other State lands for those occupied 
by them at this point. When Gen. Leavenworth came into ofifice he had a 
map made of this tract, reserving a large part of it for a park and took it to 
Albany and laid it before the Commissioners of the Land Ofiice ; but he 
could obtain only its conditional approval ; that is, the sale of the lots should 
bring at least $9,000 ($4,000 for the lands, $4,000 for the amount paid by the 
State towards the improvement of the tract, and $1,000 for interest, ex- 



Pi'iu.ic Sale ok Citv Lots. 167 



penses, etc.) The lands were soon sold at public auction, the park being 
reserved, and brought over §1 5,000, an amount greatly in excess of what the 
entire tract would have brought, without the reservation of the park. It 
will be interesting to note the prices paid for these lots around what is now 
Armory I'ark, and the names of the purchasers, which were as follows: 

Block 105. 

ko. lot. appbaisil. bold. purchaser. 

8 I315 00 $410 00 S. L. McCulloch. 

q 400 00 610 00 A. A. Hudson. 

10 380 00 535 00 Arthur Patterson. 

11 300 00 405 00 J. R. Whitlock. 

12 160 00 300 00 S. Kexford. 

13 90 00 250 00 O. L. Maynard. 

14 60 00 155 00 J. G. Tracy. 

15 60 00 165 00 James Davis, 
16 

17 90 txj 225 00 John I-'. Wynian. 
IS 

If) 270 00 460 00 William li. Kirk. 



10 igi 00 210 00 John J. Hopper. 

11 225 00 300 00 A. Patterson. 

12 315 o<) 400 00 John K. Wyman. 

13 410 00 555 00 Harvey Baldwin. 

14 

15 400 cx) 5(X) 00 Geo. F. Comstock. 

16 400 00 425 00 A. H. Hovey. 

17 400 00 330 00 H. A. Dillaye. 
iS 7CX) 00 765 00 John V. Wyman. 

19 570 00 650 00 George Barnes, 

20 450 00 550 CX3 John F. Wyman. 
21 
22 

23 125 00 250 00 Harvey Baldwin. 

24 225 CO 265 00 A. H. Hovey. 



25 







Block 105. 


APPRAISAL. 


BOLD. 


I3I5 


00 


$410 00 


400 


00 


610 00 


380 


00 


535 00 


300 


00 


405 00 


160 


00 


300 00 


90 


00 


250 00 


60 


00 


155 00 


60 


00 


165 00 


60 


00 


180 00 


90 


txj 


225 00 


180 


00 


355 00 


270 


00 


460 00 


400 


00 


600 00 


500 


00 


1,000 <» 
Block nS. 


igi 


00 


210 00 


225 


00 


300 i» 


315 


0() 


400 00 


410 


00 


555 00 


225 


00 


400 00 


400 


c» 


5(X) 00 


400 


00 


425 00 


400 


00 


330 00 


7CX) 


00 


765 00 


570 


00 


650 00 


450 


00 


550 00 


270 


00 


400 00 


410 


00 


780 00 


125 


00 


250 CO 


225 


CO 


265 00 


225 


00 


290 00 


225 


(» 


305 00 


460 


00 


750 00 


270 


00 


360 CO 


225 


00 


315 00 


225 


00 


305 00 



L. M. Hollister. 



26 225 CO 305 00 John J. Hopper. 

27 

28 270 00 360 CO John F. Wyman. 

29 
30 

119,250 00 $'5.055 00 

Upon this important subject the /ourna/said on the i6th of June : " Few 

of our citizens are probably fully aware of the great improvement which is 

now being made by the change of the channel of the Onondaga creek and 

filling up of the low ground adjoining that stream. Nearly thirty acres in 



i68 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

the heart of the city is about to be converted into good building ground, 
and the time is not far distant when, with the exception of the streets, it 
will be covered with buildings. This is a great change from the swampy 
and useless condition in which this tract has been heretofore, and the im- 
provement cannot fail to enhance the value of property in its vicinity." 

A petition was presented to the Common Council this year for a plank 
road to extend from " the southern terminus of the Brewerton road, on 
Salina street, to the Oswego canal in the Second Ward." This road was 
built, but it soon proved that for a heavily traveled highway, such a substi- 
tute for pavement was wholly inadequate. 

The city was divided by the Board of Health into six districts, for the 
better enforcement of sanitary measures. The First ward constituted two 
districts, divided by Salina street ; the Second ward two districts, divided 
by Salina street ; and the Third and Fourth wards' one district each. For 
each of these districts one inspector was appointed, as follows: First ward, 
north side of canal, Dr. William H. Hoyt ; south side of canal. John Harts- 
horn ; Second ward, east side of Salina street, William R. Martin ; west 
side of Salina street, Milton Gilbert, or, if he should decline, John A. 
Leonard; Third ward, James Sisson ; Fourth ward, Solomon Judd. Under 
this system the city was kept in excellent condition through the summer. 

1850.- — Although Syracuse was now a city and affairs were generally 
running along on a successful tide, still many of the former customs pre- 
vailed. The streets were often promenaded by vagrant swine and cattle, 
giving the pound-master of the little municipality far more work than that 
officer can find in the city to-day, and early in the year it was determined 
by the authorities to put a stop to the whipping of carpets in Fayette Park ! 

Franklin Institute, an institution destined for a long and successful 
career, was put in operation this year, at first in the Malcolm Block, and 
donations of books for its library were solicited in the public press. The 
Institute was subsequently removed to the Wieting Block and by its courses 
of lectures, its annual fairs, and its increasing library, wielded a powerful 
influence for good. 

The First Presbyterian church, which had been erected during 1849 50, 
was dedicated on the 24th of October. Henry A. Dillaye purchased the 
old church property, where the McCarthy retail stores are now located, and 
erected a handsome five-story block, at that time by far the finest building 
on Salina street. It covered the entire lot and was then thought to be too 
far from the center of business to be profitable for leasing ; but the invest- 
ment proved to be a good one. The building was burned in 1855 and was 
rebuilt in the following year. 

On the 25th of April a fire broke out in the stable of the old Union 
House on the site of the Bastable Block, and six horses were burned. 



Chief Business Places in 1850. 1G9 



J. C. Young, who had a flour store, and a Mr. Dean, baker, were the prin- 
cipal other sufferers. The site soon afterward passed tu the posesssion of 
Mr. Bastable, who erected the first arcade. 

In July the Common Council adopted a new method of roadmakinjj by 
ordering that Warren street, from its junction with Salina street northward 
to the termination of the stone pavement, be laid " with doublL- tracks of 
hardwood planks three inches thick and eight feet long, and laid on double 
stringers of hemlock, with a space in the center between the tracks, to be 
fi.ved by the Alderman of the Third ward." In the same month the side- 
cut canal in the west part of the city (see map 1 834) was declared a nuisance 
by the Common Council, and steps were taken which led finally to its being 
filled. The sum of $100 was appropriated to the improvement of Washing- 
ton Park, and the Common Council and City Clerk occupied a room in "the 
soutiieast corner of Market Hall," from which all other persons were to be 
excluded. The charter was amended this year, the more important features 
of which were the authorization of the city officials to enter on lands and lay 
out streets and squares ; fixing the salary of Overseer of the Poor ; provid- 
ing for a monthly report of the Street Commissioners; and authorizing the 
appropriation of $2,000 annually, besides the amount already applied to that 
purpose, to build new school-houses. 

It will be useful at this point, the middle of the century, and when the 
community was fairly launched as a city, to glance very briefly at the lead- 
ing business establishments and the names of their proprietors, some of 
which were necessarily mentioned on an earlier page. The hotels were the 
Syracuse House, kept by Gillette & Knickerbocker ; the Globe, by William 
Winton ; Rust's Hotel ; Robinson's, corner of Church and North Salina 
streets; Exchange, corner South Salina and Washington ; Clark's Hotel, 
C. B. Clark ; Farmers' Exchange (Brintnall) ; Salina House, corner of Sa- 
lina and Wolf streets. L. W. Hall, book store, 1 1 South Salina street. 
Stoddard & Babcock, book store. South Salina street, first door north of the 
railroad. D. McCarthy & Co., "Mammoth Store," 13 and 14 Empire 
Block. D. Y. Foote, City Drug Store. Livingston & Mitchell, grocers 
and druggists, Malcom Block. Hall, Rhoades & Sherman, hardware, "sign 
of the anvil." (This firm soon became E. H. & J. A. Sherman, and a little 
later Israel Hall carried on the business alone.) Norton & Bradley, stoves 
and hardware, Norton Block, north side of the canal. S. P. Pierce, crock- 
ery, 10 South Salina street. Hodge & Stevens, hats and furs. South Salina 
street, near the Malcom Block. Ashley & Williston, cabinetmakers. South 
Salina street opposite Syracuse House. G. H. & P. Waggoner, corner of 
North Salina and James streets, grocers. Willard & Hawley, jewelers. East 
Genesee street. A. Root, boots and shoes, two doors north of Winton's Ex- 
change Hotel. J. & M. Murphy, stoves and hardware, Water street, one 
22 



I70 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

door east of Warren. Charles Pope & Co., carriage and harness trimmings, 

5 Townsend Block. B. R. Norton & Co., jewelry, (the company being D. 
Hotchkiss,) opposite the Syracuse House. Longstreet & Ballard advertised 
$50,000 worth of clothing "directly west of Syracuse House, opposite 
packet landing." George Tyler, dry goods, Star Building, first and second 
floors. R. Paine, fishing tackle and hair goods, one door east of Syracuse 
House. E. Town & Co., grocers, 6 Townsend Block. Alfred Cobb, 
grocer, Water street, east of Warren. Jackson & Phelps, No. 2 Arcade 
Building, Salina street, four doors below the depot. Globe Hat Store, one 
door south of Globe Hotel, Chauncey Tuttle, agent. Hovey & Dillaye, 
druggists, " Green Drug Store." G. & D. Putnam, blacksmiths, railings, 
grates, pumps, etc., 9 Raynor Block. George Saul, music, books, and 
homeopathic medicines, Noxon Block. J. M. Deveau, saddlery and trunks, 

6 Arcade Building. Woodruff & Baker, flour and feed, 5 Raynor Block. 
A. & B. Stern, new jewelry store, south wing Syracuse House. Ira F. Clark 
and Jj T. Cottle were harness and trunkmakers in Warren street, just north 
of the Brintnall Hotel. J. L. Hall, successor to M. W. Hanchett, drugs, 
17 South Salina street. (Mr. Hall established the first drug store in the vil- 
lage in 1825.) Timothy Hough, music store, Malcom Block. D. Becker 
& Co., jewelry, i Malcom Block. Murphy & McCarthy, hardware, 31 and 
33 East Water street. D. O. Salmon, " City Cigar Store," lyi P'ranklin 
Building. Geer & Benedict, daguerreotypes, over Longstreet & Ballard's 
clothing store, " Granite Hall," south side of Clinton Square. William and 
Allen Butler, leading furniture dealers. Daniel Groff, tailor. Stanton & 
Mcrritt, marble cutters, North Salina street. Davis & Williams, in the 
famous " Regulator," 7 Franklin Building. James Wickham, paper ware- 
house, east wing of Brintnall's Hotel. Arnold Woodward, dry goods, i and 
2 Globe Block. Horace and Charles A. Wheaton, corner of Salina and 
Water streets. Lampman, Talman & Co., drugs, 25 Water street. J. L. 
Bagg, P. Dickinson, Dudley P. Phelps, P. S. Stoddard, and R. F. Trow- 
bridge were in the insurance business. T. O. Wilson and Henry Agnew 
were fashionable tailors, and Drs. A. T. Smith, J. Chandler, and Amos 
Westcott were dentists. Timothy Hough had then recently organized the 
Syracuse Musical Institute, and in 1850 advertised the first concert in the 
City Hall on New Year's eve. 

Tiie foregoing list embraces most of the business establishments of the 
young city during a period of two or three years after its incorporation, and 
indicate a rapid growth since the date of the earlier list in this work. In 
future pages of this work it will, of course, be impossible to follow in detail 
the growth of mercantile business in the city except as its more promi- 
nent houses must be mentioned in connection with the names of their 
founders. Trade in all of its aspects in Syracuse has always kept in ad- 



The Great Fire of 1851. i^t 

vance of the needs of the community, and Syracuse merchants long ago 
gained the reputation of being far-seeing, sagacious men. 

1851. — This was a year of considerable depression in the salt business, 
and consequent forebodings by many citizens of Syracuse. It was doubt- 
less an ominous shadow of the memorable financial storm which swept over 
the country a few years later. Still general improvements in the city pro- 
gressed with almost the customary activity. 

In March a local paper said ; "At no time has the growth and prosper- 
ity of the city been more flattering. To all appearances we are going ahead 
as rapidly as at any former period, and it is believed by the best judges 
that the population and business of Syracuse are destined to improve many 
years before they reach a culminating point." Whether this somewhat en- 
thusiastic congratulation did not partake of the character of the whistling 
of the lad to keep his courage up, is an open question. 

On the 9th of July, at 1:30 in the morning, fire broke out in the shoe 
store of Horace Bronson, then located in one of the old wooden buildings 
standing between the brick block on the Wieting Block corner (occupied by 
Horace and Charles A. Wheaton,) and " Granite Hall," a narrow stone front 
building farther west on Water street. The flames defied the efforts of the 
firtmen (then consisting of three inadequate companies and apparatus) and 
spread westward to the "Granite Hall," east to Salina street, and south on 
that street to Israel Hall's hardware store, which was on the site of the 
present Everson Building. The loss was heavy, the principal sufferers 
being Everson & Putnam, §io,COO ; R. McClelland, $i,oco ; H. Bronson, 
$5,000; E. R. Prendergast, $2,000; J. G. Holden, $500; E. B. Wicks, 
$10,000. Other smaller losses were those of Israel Hall, S. P. Pierce, D. Y. 
Foote, and Calvin Dean. 

The Messrs. Wheaton bought the Malcolm lot on Water street for 
§8,000 and rebuilt the corner with a more modern structure and provided a 
public hall on the top floor. This building was purchased by Dr. John M. 
Wieting who improved it ; but it burned down on the 5th of January. 1856, 
when the the mercury was several degrees below zero, causing much suffer- 
ing to the firemen. With his accustomed energy Dr. Wieting erected a 
new building, much finer than its predecessor, and finished it in less than a 
year. This was burned in 1881, and on the site, with additional purchases 
of adjoining land. Dr. Wieting built his splendid block and opera house. 

Charles A. and Horace Wheaton were prominent and estimable citizens 
in early years. Horace was elected to the Assembly in 1834, and in 185 1 
was appointed Mayor of the city by the Common Council, Moses Burnet 
having declined to qualify. Charles A. was elected President of the Board 
of Education at the annual meeting of 1853, and both men were given fre- 
quent assurance of the esteem and confidence of the community. 



172 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

The year was made a memorable one by the occurrence of an event that 
has found a place in the history of the great anti-slavery movement and 
acquired national fame. It was what is now popularly called the "Jerry 
Rescue." In Syracuse were very many anti-slavery advocates — men who 
were not afraid to express their opinions, or to act up to their principles. 
To such men the passage of the fugitive slave law was a wrong and an in- 
sult which they could not brook and which they determined they would 
never uphold. They claimed that the law made slave- catchers of them and 
deo-raded them to the level of the southern blood-hounds. These men 
held a meeting in Market Hall, and in a series of resolutions gave the strong- 
est possible expression to their sentiments, declaring, among other things, 
that no fugitive slave should ever be returned from Syracuse — and there 
never was. Their determination was soon put to the test. 

In the winter of 1849-50 a more than ordinarily intelligent slave from the 
State of Mississippi, reached Syracuse on his way to the promised land be- 
yond the St. Lawrence. He felt such a degree of safety in Syracuse that 
he decided to remain and accordingly sought employment. He found it in 
the cabinet shop of the now venerable Charles F. Williston, where he exhib- 
ited good natural mechanical ability. After working there some months, 
Jerry (the name by which he was commonly known) opened a shop of his 
own. But the slave hunter was on his track, and on the 1st of October 
Jerry was captured by an officer from the south and lodged in the building 
now called the Jerry Rescue Block. Sylvester House was then Police Jus- 
tice and his ofifice was in that building. Henry W. Allen was United States 
Marshall and James R. Lawrence was Attorney for Northern New York. 
William H. Sabine was United States Commissioner, with his office in the 
Townsend Block. Before him Jerry was taken by his captor. The room 
was crowded, many of those present being good haters of slavery. Jerry 
watched his opportunity and made a break for freedom, starting eastward ; 
but the pursuer was on his heels and he was captured near the railroad tun- 
nel, brought back in a cart and again lodged in the police office. This cap- 
ture of the fugitive caused intense excitement and a plan was speedily laid 
for his rescue, many prominent citizens. Democrats as well as Whigs, join- 
ing in it. The Onondaga County Agricultural Society was holding its fair 
at the time, and there was also a sort of convention of anti-slavery men in 
session. The evening of October 1 was a beautiful one and the time and 
circumstances were ripe for action. The rescuing party with its retinue of 
the curious gathered around the building, upon the walls and doors and 
windows of which fell the blows of stones and timbers, until the amazed 
officials inside began to think more of their own safety than of that of their 
captive. One of them jumped from a window on the north side of the 
building and broke his arm with the fall. Finally, the official who had im- 



Jenny Lind in Syracuse. 173 

mediate charge of the fugitive fairly pushed him out and into the arms of 
his rescuers, exclaiming, it is said: "Get out of here, you nig- 
ger, if you are making all this muss I" 

The rescuers hurried their prize to a place of concealment so well-chosen 
that he remained safely in it for about ten days, although near the center of 
the city. At the end of that time he was placed, in the night, in a wagon 
supplied by Jason C. Woodruff, a Democrat soon to be elected Mayor 
of Syracuse, and was driven by Jason S. Hoyt over the first stage of the 
flying trip to Canada, where the hero of the event found a haven of safety. 

It was a bold act of defiance to a United States law, and the news of 
its success was heralded throughout the country. It was bread and meat 
to the then numerically insignificant body of abolitionists. The anniversary 
of the rescue was celebrated in Syracuse for several years. Of the rescuing 
party eighteen were indicted : but not one was ever convicted. Of the act- 
ive participants in the rescue there are very few living, of whom one is Ben- 
jamin L. Higgins, now of Syracuse. 

On the evening of July i6th, Jenny Lind sang for the only time in the 
city in the old First Baptist Church. The event was, of course, a remark- 
able one. It was in nearly all respects a repetition of the ovations she re- 
ceived throughout the country, with which the public is quite familiar. A 
local paper said: " The sale of tickets at Rust's Hotel was one of the most 
painfully amusing affairs we have ever witnessed. Never did poor fellows 
labor harder." The jam in the struggle to secure tickets was tremendous 
and several persons were seriously injured. Twice, and in some instances 
thrice, the regular price of tickets was paid to those lucky enough to have 
obtained them. Eleven hundred seats were sold. The songstress stopped 
at the Syracuse House and remained in the city the following day to in- 
spect the salt works, and then departed for Auburn. It was not many days 
later that we had " Jenny Lind salt " in the market. Madame Anna Bishop 
sang on the evening following the fair Swede, in pursuance of the hopeless 
effort to carry on a successful rivalry with Barnum's famous protege. 

A very large and enthusiastic mass meeting was held April 30, favoring 
the proposed enlargement of the canals. The call was signed by nearly 
1,200 of the most prominent men of the city. John Wilkinson presided 
and made a strong speech, which was printed. 

Public improvement was unusually limited, the most important being, 
perhaps, the sewer, "one foot in the clear, " from the junction of Washing- 
ton and Genesee steeets on Genesee to Mulberry street, and thence north 
to Fayette. A public meeting was held in April to discuss a proposal to 
apply to the Legislature for amendments to the charter, having in view 
greater economy in the city government. 

1852. — Nothing of great importance in the history of the city occurred 



174 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



this year. On the 29th of July, a local paper contained the following: 
" The many and varied improvements going on in our city is a matter of 
surprise to strangers who visit us, and of gratulation and encouragement 
to our own citizens. In a few years Syracuse has grown and increased to a 
wonderful extent. Four years ago this (the Empire) was the building. 
But now, what a difference. The Bastable, the Norton, Dillaye, and Shel- 
don blocks have been built and mostly occupied, and recently the Wheaton 
block, which bids fair to outstrip and surpass all the rest." 

The above extract is characteristic of the public spirit which has always 
been evinced in Syracuse, and has given the city a reputation for activity 
and enterprise that extends across the continent. 

Measures were inaugurated at this time which soon resulted in the build- 
inCT of the City Poor and Work House, on the Split Rock Road. It was 
resolved by the Common Council January 9th, that a committee be ap- 
pointed to have charge of the Poor and Work House, furnish supplies, etc. 
In April the Council was authorized to borrow $16,000 for this purpose. 

In March a resolution was passed to inquire into the expediency of 
abandoning the Market and converting it into city offices, a measure that 
was adopted a little later in the year. In the same month the committee 
on bridges were authorized to contract for a stone bridge over the creek on 
Genesee street, 99 feet long and 25 feet span, and an iron bridge on Fayette 
street. The latter was constructed by S. Whipple and the former by Jud- 
son & Carrier. 

It had become apparent that a greater extension of water mains was 
necessary and a contract was made with the Water Company for one thous- 
and rods of pipe. A Committee selected the locations for hydrants, which 
were obtained of G. W. Fitch & Co., and Thomas Earl & Co., of Oneida. 
Street improvements were quite extensive this year. " Lysander, " (now 
West Fayette) Marcellus, Otisco, Tully and Fabius streets were surveyed 
in April, and improvements begun ; Jefferson street was extended from 
Clinton to West street ; $300 were appropriated for the improvement of 
Union Place, provided the citizens of that localitj^ would raise a like amount ; 
Onondaga street from Salina to Warren was graveled and the gutters paved ; 
sewers were ordered in August, one in Clinton street extending from four 
rods south of Washington street to Fayette street, and one 18 inches in di- 
ameter on Onondaga street from the Harrison street sewer " to such a point 
as may be determined by the Committee on Streets ; " Salina street was 
macadamized between Division street and the Oswego canal ; Croton street 
from Salina to Mulberry was laid out ; and in the Council in December it 
was resolved " That Lemon street e.xtend no farther south than Harrison ; 
that Munroe, Jackson, Taylor, and Burt streets extend no farther than 
the " Old Road, " so-called (meaning what is now Renwick Avenue,) and 



Visits of Louis Kossuth and Gen. Winfield Scott. 175 



that Chestnut and Irving streets continue to the south line of farm lot 201." 

On the 31st of May the Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth, visited the 
city and was given a grand reception. Artillery was fired at Geddes when 
he reached that point on his eastward trip, and he was escorted to the City 
Hall, where he delivered an eloquent address. After this a procession of 
military, societies, officials, and others marched through the principal streets, 
and to the Globe Hotel, where the distinguished guest held a reception. 

General Winfield Scott, then candidate for the Presidency of the United 
States, visited Syracuse and held a reception in the parlors of the Syracuse 
House, where he was introduced to the public by Jason C. Woodruff, the 
Mayor. General Scott reviewed the local military in front of the City Ilall, 
and complimented them on their soldierly bearing. 

It was in this year also that the spire of the Unitarian church fell in a 
wind, striking on the roof of the building and forcing the walls outward, 
and nearly demolishing the whole structure. The east end wall fell upon 
and crushed a dwelling in which were two ladies asleep. They were found 
next morning under the ruins, but almost miraculously escaped injury. 

1853. — Early in this year the project of dividing the wards of the city 
was agitated, and in February it was proposed in the Common Council to 
apply to the Legislature for an act authorizing such division. Also, for 
authority to appoint a "City Marshal and Chief of Police." 

At the charter election, held March 1st, Dennis McCarthy was elected 
Mayor by the Democrats, and at once exhibited evidence of executive abil- 
ity, practical judgment, modest statesmanship, and a confidence in himself 
which in after years gave him an eminent position in the State and nation. 
The total floating debt of the city, it was shown, was $36,756.17, but 
Mayor McCarthy's administration was a vigorous one and numerous public 
improvements were projected and carried out. 

The sale of the old Court- House property had been ordered and oc- 
curred on the lOth of March. The lots into which it was divided were 
purchased by the following persons, and the prices paid are also given : i, 
Dennis Driscoll, jr., $850. 2, Dennis Driscoll, $675. 3, H. Sheldon, 
$600. 4, Jacob Amos & Co., $600. 5, Jacob Amos & Co., $655. 6, A.T. 
Smith, $855. 7, C. Hair, $635. 8, W^illiam Roberts, $570. 9, Philip 
Rheinheimer, $509. 10, J. F. Wyman, $420. 1 1, David E. Dodge, $426. 
12, Gabriel Bloomer, $532. 13, C. Hair, $427. Total, $7,754. 

In the Common Council in March trees were ordered set out on the 
north side of James street and in portions of several other streets. The 
Mayor was authorized to contract with the Water Company for the use of 
the water of Harbor Brook, and the Committee on Police was called on to 
report on the expediency of re-organizing the force. In April this com- 
mittee recommended the appointment of one of the eight members of the 



176 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



police force as Chief, and the payment of $500 annually to police consta- 
bles. In the same month Fayette and Water streets were opened " to the 
east line of the late village of Syracuse." 

Preparations had been made for the building of a new County Clerk's 
Office, and the lot adjoining the old one was tleeded to the Supervisors for 
$15,000, and in May the old building was torn down, with the old No. 4 
engine-house, and the new structure begun. It was finished towards the 
latter part of the year. 

On the 6th of June the Mayor and Clerk were requested to communi- 
cate with the representative in the Legislature, asking him to secure the pas- 
sage of a law authorizing the Council to raise $20,000 to apply on the city's 
floating debt. In the same month water mains were laid around Fayette 
Park, and a remonstrance was published against opening it to the public ex- 
ercises contemplated for July 4th. 

In September a bridge was ordered over the Oswego Canal in Willow 
street and was finished before the end of the year, and a special committee 
was appointed to revise the charter and ordinances. The four wards of the 
city were divided into eight, and were thus represented for the first time in 
the fall election of this year. The boundaries of the wards were established 
as follows: 

First ward, all that portion of the city bounded northe.ist, northwest, 
and west by the bounds of said city ; southeast by a line through the cen- 
ter of Court street and the Alvord road, so called. 

Second ward, all that part of the city bounded westerly by the Oswego 
Canal ; north by the center of Court street and the Alvord road ; south by 
the center of Butternut street ; and easterly by the bounds of the city. 

Third ward, all that part of said city bounded on the south by the cen- 
ter of the Erie Canal ; west by the west line of the city ; north by the line 
of the city and the center of Court street; east by the center of the Oswego 
Canal from Court street to the center of the Erie Canal. 

Fourth ward, all the residue of that part of said city lying on the north 
side of the Erie Canal not included in the First, Second, or Third wards. 

Fifth ward, all that part of the city lying south of the center of the Eric 
Canal and west of the center of the Onondaga Creek. 

Sixth ward, all that part of said city bounded on the north by the cen- 
ter of the Erie Canal ; on the west by the center of the Onondaga Creek ; 
east by a line drawn from the center of the Erie Canal southerly through 
the center of Montgomery street to the center of Burt street, thence west- 
erly through the center of Burt street to the center of Salina street, thence 
southerly through the center of Salina street to the south bounds of said 
. city; south by the south bounds of the city. 

Seventh ward, all that part of said city bounded on the north by the 



Close of the Year 1853. 177 



center of the Erie Canal; west by the east line of the sixth ward; south 
by the south line of said city: east by a line drawn southerly from the cen- 
ter of the Erie canal, through the center of Almond street to the center of 
Rurt street, thence through the center of Burt street, to the center of Ren- 
wick avenue, thence south through the center of Renwick avenue to the 
south line of said city. 

Eighth ward, all the residue of said city lying south of the Erie canal 
and east of the Seventh ward. 

In December, James R. Lawrence and others asked for the erection of 
an engine house near the Court House, and the request was granted and a 
committee of three was appointed to select the exact site. It was located 
in January following, a little east of Salina street on Division street. 

Before the end of the year the new Clerk's Office was about finished, 
the Corinthian Hall block was well under way, and as a local paper put it, 
eleven fine stores were in process of erection on North Salina street, one of 
them being 165 feet deep. 

Hiram Judson died on the 27th day of June in this year. He was one 
of the pioneer business men of the place and was accorded the confidence 
and esteem of the community. He was Justice for many years and a prom- 
inent Mason. 

Hiram Brintnall died in August. He was the owner of the Brintnall 
Hotel, a brother of Josiah Brintnall, and a progressive and enterprising 
citizen. 

1854. — The first event of especial prominence this year was a great mass 
meeting held on the 7th of February, in advocacy of the canal enlargement, 
which was to be accomplished or defeated by popular vote on the 15th of 
the same month. The meeting was a very enthusiastic one and indicated 
clearly where the city would stand in the election. 

The advisability of amending the city charter, giving power to raise 
funds for schools and the funding of the city debt was discussed early in 
the year and the measures were generally approved. The charter election 
resulted in the success of Allen Munroe, the Whig candidate for Mayor. 
The Treasurer, one Overseer of the Poor, si.\ out of eight Supervisors, and 
eleven of the Board of Aldermen were of the same political faith. In the 
address of the outgoing Mayor he announced the permanent debt of the 
city as about $40,000, and the floating debt as about $50,000, and the taxa- 
tion as being somewhat burdensome. The assessed valuation for the year 
ending February 25, 1854, was in the First ward, $907,975 ; in the Second 
ward, $2,366,498; in the Third ward, $3,114,966; in the Fourth ward, 
$1,379,425. The tax list was $96,031.72. Of this the Board of Education 
took $15,295.03. Street improvements cost $13,114.69. The city school 
property was valued at that time at $49,743-75. The Chief Engineer of 



178 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

the Fire Department reported eight fire companies, the same number of 
hose companies, with about 560 active firemen. 

Charter amendments were made in the spring by which the Common 
Council was to fix the salaries of the police force and divide the city into 
police districts ; defining the duties of the Police Justice, and giving that 
department greater efficiency. A law passed the Legislature under date 
of April 3, empowering the corporation to borrow $70,000 on the bonds of 
the city, with which to fund the public debt. The passage of this act was 
secured by a committee appointed in March. On the loth of April the 
Comptroller was authorized to advertise for proposals for the loan, and 
$60,000 of the amount was supplied by Rufus H. King. The loan was to 
be paid in annual installments of $10,000. 

There were many bitter complaints at this time of the condition of the 
streets and the Council resolved in May to expend $10,750 on them during 
the year, (a sum that was afterwards increased) and named North and South 
Salina and Fayette streets as ones that needed most attention. Among 
the street improvements really accomplished were the paving of Fayette 
street between Salina and West streets ; the macadamizing of Salina street 
in the Second ward ; grading of Onondaga street from Salina street to the 
southwest line of the city; "Academy Hill" (East Fayette street) was 
graded down and the dirt taken to fill in at the new Chestnut street bridge 
over the canal ; Warren street was paved from the railroad a few blocks 
southward ; Franklin street between Water and Washington streets was 
raised with 800 yards of dirt, and 150 yards of gravel were put on Clinton 
street, and Burnet and Hawley streets were filled in considerably. 

A law was passed by the Legislature under date of ]VIarch 28, appointing 
Charles Tallman, Stephen D. Dillaye, and Harvey Sheldon, commissioners 
to straighten Onondaga Creek " from the point where the south line of the 
city strikes the creek to the intersection of the bend of the creek with the 
westerly point of block 160." (See map of 1846.) This was, when finish- 
ed, a great improvement for the southern part of the city. 

A law of April 4 authorized the Commissioners of the Land Ofiice to 
sell the lands set apart to the Syracuse Coarse Salt Company in the Fifth 
ward, bounded east by West street and west by Wyoming street, compris- 
ing about ten and three-fourths acres. Before the sale was made the Com- 
missioners were directed to buy, with money from the salt funds, fifteen 
acres in the Third ward, being part of Marsh lots 37 and 38, contiguous to 
lands then owned by the Salt Company, at not exceeding $600 an acre. 
The removal of the salt vats from the Fifth to the Third ward was directed 
to be made between the 1st of October, 1854, and the 1st of March, 1855. 

In alluding to other salt lands in the city General Leavenworth wrote 
as follows : " The State owned that part of the city lying west of Plum 



Removal of Coarse Salt Works. 179 



street, north of the Erie canal, east of VanRennsselaer street, and south of 
the salt water reservoir, and a portion of the Onondaga creek, which lands 
were used for the manufacture of coarse salt. The removal of the coarse 
salt works having been ordered by the Commissioners of the Land Office, 
from those portions of said tract lying on each side of West Genesee street 
sixteen rods in depth, the Commissioners resolved at my suggession to sur- 
vey and map the whole tract and appointed me to supervise and direct in 
regard to it. I caused it to be laid out substantially as it now appears upon 
the maps, straightening Genesee street, laying out the lots on each side 100 
feet front and 16 rods deep, making the second class streets eighty feet in 
width, instead of sixty-six, as they are in other parts of the city ; laying 
out a park near the center of the tract, as large as the Commissioners would 
sanction, surrounded by ample lots, and with a broad avenue one hundred 
and twenty feet wide, leading from this park to the vacant State lands near 
the Pump House." The Common Council honored General Leavenworth 
by giving his name to that park and the avenue. 

On the 22d of iMay, a commission of citizens were asked to go before 
the Canal Board and urge the building of an iron bridge over the canal on 
Salina street, a project that was soon afterward consummated. The Com- 
mon Council also resolved to appropriate $500, if the State would add 
$1000, for a bridge over the Oswego canal on James street. 

The cholera was again anticipated in the summer of this year, and there 
were a few fatalities from the dreaded disease ; but the authorities adopted 
prompt sanitary regulations and an epidemic was averted. 

The new block of stores opposite the Syracuse House on Salina street 
was finished in the fall and occupied by William R. Strong, hardware ; 
Pierce & Marsh, crockery ; D. Y. Foote, drugs; Barney & Valentine, jew- 
elry ; and Hodge & Stevens, hats and furs. 

The local press pronounced business good, one of them venturing the 
statement, "that no city in the Union has increased in wealth and popula- 
tion to a greater extent within the last fifteen years than Syracuse." 

Stephen Smith, one of the pioneers of the solar salt industry, died on 
the 23d of April, and John Townsend died in September. A meeting was 
held and resolutions eulogistic of Mr. Townsend were adopted. He was a 
member of the original Syracuse Company and exhibited enterprise and 
liberality for the advancement of the early village. 

1855. — Lyman Stevens, the Whig candidate for Mayor, was elected this 
year and took his seat in March. In his inaugural address he called atten- 
tion to the amended charter, under which the office of Chief of Police was 
abolished and its duties transferred to the Police Justice, while the Mayor 
himself became largely responsible for the character and efficiency of the 
force, the nominations for which were placed in his hands, to be confirmed 



i8o Memorial History of Syracuse. 

by the Council. He reported the funded debt as $70,000, the floating debt 
as $4,000 and other items to swell the entire indebtedness to $81,500. The 
contingent expenses for the year had been $35,575, and $26,947.21 was ex- 
pended on the streets. The Street Superintendent's salary was fixed at 
$800, the Treasurer's at $500, and the Clerk's at $600. 

In April the Council declared its intention to build a sewer in Catharine 
street from where Canal street intersects it, to the canal. Other prominent 
street improvements of the year were the opening of Clinton street from 
Noxon to Genesee ; paving of South Salina street between Onondaga and 
Fayette streets; completion of a bridge over the creek on Water street ; 
the extension of the East Genesee street sewer ; a brick sewer in Townsend 
street to the north line of Willow street ; a sewer in Fayette street from 
West street to the creek ; a sewer in a part of South Salina street ; a brick 
sewer from the creek through Gifford street to West street, thence south to 
Seymour street, and thence west to the west side of Niagara street ; sewer 
in Walton street between the creek and Clinton street ; and a bridge built 
over the creek on Gifford street. The completion of some of these improve- 
ments was carried over into the following year. In the spring of this year 
another revision of the charter was made, defining more clearly the duties 
of various city officers. 

In April a commission consisting of Z. L. Beebe, Jefferson Phillips, and 
John F. Kidder was appointed to straighten the bed of Onondaga creek 
from the northwest corner of farm lot 304 to a certain point on the lake 
shore ; and in January, 1856, the Council concurred in " An Act for Straight- 
ening Onondaga Creek." This improvement is noticed a little further on. 

On the 25th of June the Common Council felt called upon to pass a 
resolution to the effect that " this Common Council fully indorse the senti- 
ments of the proclamation recently issued by the Mayor on the subject of 
the law passed by the last Legislature of the State, ' for the prevention of 
intemperance, pauperism and crime' ; that the Mayor be authorized to 
offer a reward of $100 each for the arrest of individuals who committed the 
outrage on a female in this city about the 30th of May, 1855." 

The reader should not presume from the foregoing resolution that the 
condition of the population of this city was worse than in other similar 
localities. True, there was much lawlessness, and especially incendiarism, 
during the period between 1855 and i860 ; but it is believed to have been 
more the result of very imperfect police regulations, than of any special 
innate depravity of any portion of the inhabitants. The police force was 
small and not composed of suitable material, and the system was often un- 
dergoing changes which greatly weakened its efficiency and left the way 
open to lawlessness, rowdyism and crime. As to the numerous fires of 
that period, many of them were credited, justly or unjustly, to the fire- 



Prices Receivep for Salt Lands. i8i 

men themselves. The volunteer system was then in vogue and fierce 
rivalry existed between the various companies, which found opportunity 
for display only at fires; and these, it is thought, were consequently started 
not for direct criminal objects so much as to open the way for a renewal of 
the unceasing contest for supremacy among the companies. 

In June occurred the sale of the State salt lands in the Fifth ward be- 
fore alluded to. On block 241 eleven lots were sold for $13,895 ; block 
242, eighteen lots for $11,385 ; block 243, si.xteen lots for §9,220; block 184, 
eight lots for $3,890. This will indicate the value of real estate in that 
locality at that date. One of those lots was purchased by the Comptroller 
for an engine house, pound, etc., which were built thereon. 

A noticeable addition to the buildings of the city was made this year 
in the erection of the Pike block. The Council on the 30th of April 
granted the petition of Henry Pike and Thomas J. Keeler to erect a build- 
ingas described, on block 1 10 (corner of Fayette and South Salina streets,) 
the result being the substantial and handsome structure still standing there. 
In this year or the year before was also built by John R. Robertson the old 
Medical College building, on Lock street, (now the Fry Flats.) Among the 
prominent business men who located here in 1855 was Edwin F. Rice, who 
came with a few hard earned dollars, which he invested with Col. Charles 
Richardson; but two years later he began the dry goods trade in a small 
way in the old F"ranklin buildings, and gradually amassed the fortune on 
which he retired from business a few years ago. 

1856. — On the morning of Sunday, January 20th the old Journal 
Building, (as it was then called) occupied by the "Conical Mills" of Fors- 
bee. Hicks & Smith, and in which occurred the famous Jerry Rescue, was 
totally destroyed by fire. The adjoining building was stored with the 
hardware stock of Marvin, May & Heermans, which was somewhat damaged. 
After this fire there was a universal demand for the organization and equip- 
ment of a hook and ladder company. Several long ladders were soon after- 
ward provided. 

At the beginning of the year the ten banks of the city reported an ag- 
gregate capital of §1,535,000. 

On the 2d of February the Dillaye Block, corner of South Salina and 
Fayette streets, was burned and three days later the old Court House fell in 
flames. Although the latter was an event that caused no real regret, as it 
was determined that a new Court House should be built at a point farther 
south, still it was known that the fire was the work of incendiaries and, 
coupled with other disastrous fires, it raised a storm of popular indignation. 
This found definite expression in a paper which was circulated, calling a 
public meeting at the City Hall to consider proposed changes in the char- 
ter, "having for their object the better and more economical management 



t82 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



of the affairs of the city." Meanwhile a committee had been appointed by 
the Council to prepare a bill having for its especial purpose the improve- 
ment of the police system This action was taken in response to the pop- 
ular feeling that something must be done for the suppression of incendia- 
rism and other acts of lawlessness. A meeting was held on the 7th of Feb- 
ruary to consider the proposed changes in the police system, at which Jason 
C. WoodrufT presided. This resulted in a determination to retain the 
police force substantially as it then existed and to create a Chief with 
broad and well-defined powers. A vote was also taken on the question of 
establishing a Recorder's Court, and carried. The meeting following the 
call first mentioned was held on the iith of February and a large committee 
was appointed to present proposed amendments to the charter. These 
amendments were, substantially, in favor of retaining the police court and 
against a recorder's court. Second, abolishing the office of Comptroller. 
Third, abolishing the office of City Attorney. These propositions were 
adopted, excepting that relating to the Comptroller. (The legal business 
of the city was for some years thereafter awarded to a designated attorney 
from year to year.) James L. Bagg, Horace Wheaton, Rowland H. Gard- 
ner, John J. Peck, Lewis T. Hawley, James R. Lawrence, and Patrick 
Cooney were made a committee to embody the amendments in a bill and 
forward it to Albany. At about the same time a committee on amend- 
ments to the Public Schools Act reported an amendment giving the con- 
trol of the school funds to the Board of Education. 

Another public meeting was held on the 14th of I'ebruary to consider 
how to protect the city from incendiaries, burglars and robbers. A com- 
mittee of five was appointed, consisting of L. T. Hawley, Heman W. Still- 
well, Daniel S. Geer, P. S. Stoddard, and Dr. Van Slyke, who circulated a 
petition addressed to the Common Council asking the appointment of a 
paid night watch. 

At the charter election the city government passed under Democratic 
control by the election of Charles F. Williston as Mayor, and six Demo 
cratic and five Know-Nothing Aldermen out of sixteen. In his address 
Mayor Williston announced the entire permanent debt as $77,987.50. Of 
this sum $44,063 was incurred for highways, and $20,000 for educational 
purposes. Local assessments amounted to $20,000. The Mayor asked and 
insisted that local taxes be kept for local improvements, instead of drawing 
on other funds as had been done, and leaving local taxes uncollected. John 
A. Clark was made Comptroller; Charles Pope, Chief Engineer; Andrew 
Y. Thompson, Police Justice, (to fill vacancy,) Joshua Cuddeback having 
been asked to resign. The salary of the Comptroller was raised to $i,oco; 
that of the Surveyor and Engineer to the same amount, he to pay his own 
clerk ; that of the City Clerk to $650, and that of the Treasurer to $500. 



Efforts for the Suppression of "Rowdyism." 183 



Another public meeting to consult upon the suppression of "rowdyism 
and incendiarism " was held on the 17th of March and a Committee was 
appointed to confer with the Council and demand a night watch for the 
city. The sum of §3,000 was offered for "the conviction of the incendia- 
ries infesting the city." Still another meeting was held on the 27th of the 
same month at which charter amendments relative to the police system 
were approved, in effect re-establishing the office of Chief of Police with a 
salary of ^Soo ; increasing the salary of the Justice to $1,200, and police- 
men's pay to $600. Daniel P. Wood was designated to go to Albany to 
secure the prompt action of the Legislature in the matter. Under these 
new arrangements a night watch was appointed, which continued on duty a 
few years and with the other improvements in the police system, the city 
entered upon a period of greater peacefulness and safety. 

In the Common Council January 21st, the State authorities were re- 
quested to fill up "so much of Free and Carbon streets as they have aban- 
doned in making the new canal through the First Ward of the city." 

On the 5th of January the Wieting Block was burned to the ground, 
but over the ruins soon arose the second one, a loftier and handsomer edi- 
fice than the first. The new Dillaye Block was also begun early in the 
year and rapidly pushed to completion. 

It had developed early in the year that the city was owing (as supposed) 
nearly $40,000, the debt having accumulated chiefly through the non-col- 
lection of local assessments before alluded to. A resolution was passed by 
the Council in May to draw warrants for the various debts, payable in the 
following February. When this action became known, however, a public 
meeting was called, (but very thinly attended) at which a committee of five 
comprising Lyman Clary, Charles Pope, W. B. Kirk. J. M. Wieting, and 
Nathan Cobb was appointed to investigate fully and report upon the city's 
finances. The report of this committee showed, on paper at least, that 
there was a debt of only about $10,000 that the city might not confidently 
hope to pay off ^before the following February from the ordinary resources, 
and objecting to any temporary loan. The resolution was finally adopted 
to borrow $20,000, to be used first for payment of the floating debt, and 
second, for current expenses, and recommending that public expenditures 
be curtailed so that this $20,000 could be repaid from the regular tax levy 
of the year. It is apparent that a large share of the financial difficulties of 
those days grew out of the loose way of collecting taxes, particularly those 
of a local character: and it is quite probable that such collections were ren- 
dered difficult in many instances by the prevailing hard times. 

During the year there was a very general survey and establishment of 
sidewalk and street grades, but not so much actual street improvement as in 
the preceding year. In April the Comptroller was authorized to advertise 



1 84 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

for proposals to lay a roadway in Fayette street from West to Geddes 
street, of hemlock plank sixteen feet long and four inches thick; also for 
grading the same street from the creek to West street. This improvement 
involved the removal of 1,900 yards of earth from Fayette street, 400 of 
which was put on Franklin street and 500 on West street. North Salina 
street was paved with cobble stone between the Oswego canal and Church 
street, and 100 rods of West Onondaga street was paved. Many of the 
streets in the " swamp " were filled and "made passable," as the resolution 
read. In September the Common Council appointed a committee of five 
to revise the charter and submit their work to the Council before the meet- 
ing of the next Legislature. We find no record of the results of this action. 

On the 8th of November a very disastrous fire involving a loss of nearly 
$200,000 occurred in the First ward, sweeping the block north of Salina 
street and between Exchange and Wolf streets, with the exception of the 
State building and a grocery on the corner of Wolf and Salina streets. 
The fire broke out in the barn of the old Eagle Tavern. Relief meetings 
were held in Salina and Syracuse and liberal contributions made of money 
and supplies. The Citizens' Corps gave a ball for the benefit of the suffer- 
ers, which netted about $800. In one sense this fire, like many others, was 
a blessing in destroying old, unsightly, and dangerous buildings and thus 
leading to the erection of better ones. 

It was by this time discovered that keeping a " Poor and Work House" 
by the city was a costly experience and the proposition was made and dis- 
cussed that the city poor be sent to the county institution and their care 
paid for. This feeling crystallized in December in a resolution that " after 
January i, 1857, the keeping of the paupers be dispensed with" — an ar- 
rangement that was subsequently carried out and the Poor House sold to 
the Catholics. Its site is now occupied by the House of Providence. 

The general business outlook at the close of the year seems to have been 
good. In a review of trade made at intervals during the year, a newspaper 
found that there were sold by one grocery house $800,000 annually, and by 
another $400,000; by the boot and shoe factories and stores about $1,000,000; 
by two clothing houses between $100,000 and $150,000; by one dry goods 
house, $?oo,00O ; by one millinery firm $100,000; in hardware $150,000 ; 
in saddlery hardware $150,000; in leather $230,000; in books $150,000; 
in hats, caps, and furs $200,000 ; in jewelry $300,000, while the tobacco 
trade reached nearly $4,000,000. "Ten years ago," said a local print, in a 
burst of enthusiasm, " Salina street south of Fayette presented a dreary, 
cold, and gloomy aspect, and not a lady would promenade farther south 
than the corner of Fayette, or if in the evening would not think of ventur- 
ing farther south than the Central depot. How is it now? South Salina 
street is crowded with promenading ladies and gentlemen and is the most 
healthful and business-like part of the city." 




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A Financial Awakeninc. 185 



1857. — The year 1857 was an important one to Syracuse ; not from the 
fact that public improvements were greatly advanced, for such was not the 
case, but because of the awakening of the authorities and the public gener- 
ally to the realization that the management of the city's finances during the 
few preceding years had been loose and extravagant. It was an experience 
through which most young municipalities pass. While little blame could 
be attached to individuals for such a state of things, the general financial 
system was imperfect and the men who were at the head of it had not be- 
come fully conversant with those strict business principles which must al- 
ways govern the expenditure as well as the income of a city, in order to 
avoid the shoals of bankruptcy. Moreover, a period of terrible financial 
distress throughout the whole land had, doubtless, prompted men to look 
carefully about them, at public affairs as well as their own, to see how the 
threatened calamity might be avoided. The financial crisis of 1857 has 
passed into history as one of the most disastrous ever known, and Syracuse 
felt it in no small degree. Still, as has before been stated, the city passed 
through the period of stringency with much less actual suffering than others 
of its class. 

In February the Council passed a resolution authorizing the Mayor to 
negotiate a loan of $30,000, as already provided for by Act of Legislature, 
to meet the debts which had accumulated prior to March 10, 1856. William 
B. Kirk, the Syracuse Savings Bank, and H. H. Martin, of Albany, took each 
$10,000 of these bonds. 

On the 13th of the same month, pursuant to a call, a public meeting was 
held for the main purpose of so amending the charter as to secure a more 
economical and simple administration of the city government. John A. 
Green, Jr., presided at the meeting, and Hon. Thomas G. Alvord reported 
the amendments as follows : To provide for one Overseer of the Poor, in- 
stead of two; for four Assessors, instead of three; creating the ofifice of 
City Treasurer and Ta.x Receiver ; abolishing the office of Ward Collector ■ 
providing for the election of eight Aldermen, instead of sixteen, and eiwht 
Commissioners of Common Schools. All of these amendments were 
adopted. Subsequent proposed amendments made the date of charter 
election the 2d Tuesday of March, instead of the ist ; provided that no local 
improvement should be made without it was requested by a majority of the 
property along the line of the improvement ; that all public work should 
be done by contract, excepting temporary repairs ; that no debt should be 
contracted except by authority of the Council ; that all resolutions of the 
Council authorizing the expenditure of money, should specify the amount • 
that each new Council should immediately examine the accounts of their 
predecessors and " commence and prosecute suits for recovery of any excess 
of expenditure above that authorized by the charter against said Aldermen ;" 
24 



1 86 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Commissioners of Schools to be elected by a ballot separate from the general 
ticket ; giving the Board of Education full power to contract for lots, 
buildings, etc., and requiring the City Clerk to report monthly to the Coun- 
cil all moneys authorized to be expended. 

These were sweeping and very desirable changes and at once effected a 
radical change for the better. Their indirect influence was also towards 
economy in expenditures, creating an apparent feeling on the part of the 
Council that they were more directly responsible for the financial well-being 
of the city. This was reflected upon public improvements, which were re- 
stricted during the year to the necessary minor matters of sidewalks, a lim- 
ited extension of the sewer system, and street paving, which need not be 
traced in detail. 

Proposals were advertised for in February for the erection of a twenty- 
feet front and bell tower on the City Hall, which was built in the summer, 
by Joseph Clark. 

At the charter election Mayor Charles F. Williston was re-elected by 
about 350 majority, through a coalition with the Know-Nothing element. 
A new schedule of salaries gave to the Mayor $1,200; Treasurer, $1,200; 
Clerk, S800; Surveyor, $1,000; Superintendent of Streets, S900 ; Chief of 
Police, $800 ; Policemen, $600. The street cleaning for the year was let in 
March, by wards, for the gross sum of about $1,250. 

Early in the year Chief of Police Thomas Davis reported that there 
were about five hundred places where liquor was sold on Sundays, and pro- 
claimed that he should enforce the law against such traffic. A local paper 
soon afterward congratulated the community on the excellent condition of 
the city under the existing police force and Justice A. Y. Thompson's ad- 
ministration, and said the city was never more quiet and peaceful. 

A large pubUc meeting was held on the 14th of October to give expres- 
sion to the views of the leading business men upon the depressed financial 
situation. It was addressed by Harvey Baldwin, Dennis McCarthy, John 
A. Green, jr., and others, and resulted in the adoption of a series of resolu- 
tions pledging the support of the business community to the crippled banks 
and approving of the suspension of specie payment. 

A heavy flood occurred in November, during which the high water of 
the lake caused damage to salt blocks and other property in Salina and 
Liverpool amounting to over $1 5,000. A public meeting was called to con- 
sider the subject and various plans were discussed to obviate the recurrence 
of such an event. 

In December, a committee which had been previously appointed, re- 
ported upon measures for the relief of the poor and unemployed of the 
city. It was recommended that the Legislature be requested to pass a law 
authorizing the city to borrow $10,000 to be expended in improving the 



Condition of the City Debt. 187 



streets, the interest on which for a term of years should be paid from the 
annual tax levy, and employment thus given to those who needed it most. 
The only other public matters calling for mention were the extension of 
the fire limits to include blocks ^J, 38, and 166: a proposition made to sell 
to the State the Poor House for an inebriate asylum ; permission to the 
State to finish the culvert for the water flowing from the weigh lock ; build- 
ing of a three-foot sewer from the west side of Tioga street, through Otisco 
and West streets and diagonally across Jefferson street to the creek ; paving 
TOO rods of West Onondaga street with cobble stone, "extending westward 
from West street." 

Carroll E. Smith resigned the City Clerkship in the summer, after sev- 
eral years in the office, and was highly complimented by the Council for his 
faithful and conscientious work. 

,858. — This year was a prosperous one for Syracuse, when it is remem- 
bered that the community was just recovering from a severe financial strug- 
gle. For the preceding year the city had received from all sources, 
§85,530.58. In the report of the Finance Committee, from which these 
figures are taken, a recapitulation of the annual taxation for general pur- 
poses is given as follows: 1848; $8,349 ; 1849, S15.CCO: 1850, $i3,cco; 
1851, $i6,cxx); 1852, $20,000: 1853, $46,133.22; 1854, $53.coo; 1855, 
$52,000: 1856, $53,000; 1857,840,847.41. To these sums the local taxes 
were added. 

The above statement reveals not only a rapid increase of taxation, but 
also gives a vivid indication of an equivalent growth of the city at large. 
The same committee added to their report this expression : "For the sec- 
ond time, and the second time only, since Syracuse became a city, the 
financial year closes without leaving a burden of promiscuous floating debt 
to transmit and annoy our successors. * * No city in the State of New 
York is to-day in as healthy financial condition as Syracuse." The entire 
debt was reported at that time as $84,500. The Committee on Finance 
comprised Francis A. Marsh, H. Church, and Coddington B. Williams. 

A public meeting was held on the 26th of February to consider further 
proposed amendments to the city charter. Robert M. Richardson presided. 
George L. Maynard, of a committee previously appointed, reported 
amendments enlarging the powers of the police force; constituting two 
Councilmen (to be appointed) as a Committee of Public Health, and a 
Board of Health composed of such committee, the Mayor, the next pre- 
ceding ex-Mayor, and the City Clerk ; giving the Council power to raise by 
tax $55,000 for each of the years 1858 and 1859, and thereafter only $42,000, 
with $5,000 additional to pay the city's share of new pavements. The 
question of the Mayor's salary then came up and caused much heated dis- 
cussion, in the midst of which the meeting adjourned. A second meeting 



i88 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



was held a few days later to settle the vexed question. The people were 
divided upon the issue of taking from the Mayor the duties of Auditor and 
reducing his salary, thus, as one speaker said, "taking the power of levying 
taxes away from the city officials." The advocates of this policy finally 
prevailed and the Mayor's salary was placed at $500. 

At the charter election William Winton, Democrat, was elected Mayor, 
over James S. Leach, Republican, by 191 majority, and the Council was 
equally divided politically. An era of rigid economy (as city economy is 
generally understood) was inaugurated by the new administration, Mayor 
Winton frequently during the year exercising the right of veto to keep ex- 
penditures within the charter limits. Local improvements were, therefore, 
limited to actual necessities. 

The Council on June 12, sent a communication to the Water Company 
demanding to know what they were going to do about laying certain pipes 
which had been requested. This was the very beginning of a contest be- 
tween the city and the company which did not cease excepting at intervals, 
until a very recent date. It was a warfare on one side to get additional 
compensation from the city (though claimed constantly on the part of the 
company to be just) and a constant effort by the authorities to get water on 
more economical terms. 

The fourth of July was appropriately celebrated, and also the successful 
laying of the Atlantic telegraph cable in August. The latter event was 
made the occasion of an illumination and general jubilee such as the city 
had not before witnessed. 

There were not many acts of the administration calling for mention here, 
among the more prominent being the opening of Oswego street early in the 
year ; the setting off from the city of a portion of the Fourth ward (as- 
sessed valuation $166,320,) and a portion of the Eighth ward (assessed val- 
uation $74,800,) to the town of DeWitt, a measure which was violently op- 
posed and finally rescinded ; ordering trees set in Washington and Forman 
parks ; paving South Salina street with cobble stone from Onondaga street 
to the Tully plank road ; putting 400 loads of earth on Cortland avenue ; 
and the extension of Burnet street eastward. The hackstand was this year 
located in the middle of South Salina street between Fayette and Jefferson. 
The hacks were to stand with the horses headed north. 

1859. — At the charter election this year the city underwent a political sum- 
mersault. E. W. Leavenworth was elected Mayor by 600 majority and the 
whole Republican city ticket was elected. The local newspapers of that 
faith claimed it was "a revolution of principle ; that the city had been mis- 
governed and the masses would stand it no longer." 

The financial report of the old Council showed receipts of $85,631.33, 
with $8,966.17 uncollected taxes and other claims. 



Further Charter Amendments. 189 



The year was almost wholly uneventful. City affairs under the new ad- 
ministration were efficiently and prudently managed. The difficulty be- 
tween the city and the Water Company, begun in the preceding year, con- 
tinued with increasing strength until finally in midsummer the Company 
threatened to cut off the public supply. 

In earlier pages we have alluded to the old building known about the 
period under consideration as the " Saleratus Factory," a brick structure 
which stood on the site of the present Clinton block. It was built in 1824, 
by Booth & Elliott. This building with others, including the new First 
Baptist church, were burned on the 23d of August this year. 

On the Tnh of July the Council appointed a committee of three to em- 
ploy counsel to file an injunction to restrain the Water Company from stop- 
ping the supply of water. The matter was adjusted after much discussion 
in and out of the newspapers, but not upon a basis that remained per- 
manent. 

A public meeting was held at the City Hall on the 23d of December to 
consider certain charter amendments, at which John Wilkinson presided. 
A committee of eight (one from each ward) was appointed to meet with 
the Mayor and Council on the following day, when they agreed on the fol- 
lowing amendments: Giving the Council the right to order streets ma- 
cadamized and repaired out of the $5,000 before authorized for paving, sew- 
ers, and bridges; giving Aldermen a salary of $100 a year; giving the 
Council the right to appropriate $75 per week for each ward for temporary 
repairs, instead of $25 as theretofore appropriated ; making it a duty of 
the Police Justice to report annually to the Auditors all fines collected and 
expenditures in his office. 

A great political meeting was held on the 29th of December, called in 
the interest of the Republican party, " to oppose treason." It was almost 
the first actual local demonstration of the oncoming political conflict of 
the next year, which threw the Democratic party out of power and led to 
the outbreak of a civil war that astounded the whole world. 

All of the public improvements that need recording here were the widen- 
ing of Franklin street from Noxon to Church street; abolishing the night 
watch established in 1856, excepting in the F"irst ward; grading Catharine 
street from Hickory to Butternut street ; grading James street from Lodi 
to the residence of George Barnes; an attempt to sell the City Poor and 
Work House, a project that was afterwards accomplished ; and the re-survey 
of the Prospect Hill property, at the suggestion of Mayor Leavenworth, 
so as to provide for the public square at that point. 

Towards the close of the year the community was congratulated on the 
excellent business outlook, the building of the First Baptist church, a new 
block on the site of the old Yellow Buildings, and a new building on the 



I90 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



site of the old "Conical Mills, " by ex-Mayor Stevens, all of which sites 
had been recently burned over; a new brewery by Jacob Pinkerton on Fay- 
ette street ; the engine hook and ladder house rear the City Hall. Prepar- 
ations were made for the erection of the Kirk block, which was soon finished, 
and for other structures. 



CHAPTER XVn. 

THE AVAR DF.CADE. 



How History was Rapidly Made— Charter Election of i86c — The Presidential Campaign — The 
Beginning of the War— Intense Patriotic Excitement — The First Military Organization for the War 

The Great Freshet of 1862 — Raising of the I22d Regiment — Bounties to Volunteers — Stagnation 

in all Public Improvements— Prospects of a Draft — The Delegation to Washington — Further Gen- 
erous Bounties— Special Election — The Last Regiment Raised — A Snow Blockade— Sttani Fire En- 
gines Purchased— City Improvements Following the War. 

DURING the decade beginning with the year i860, general history was 
made as it had never been made before, andofsuch momentous events as 
to amaze the entire civilized world. The " irrepressible conflict " which 
William H. Seward foresaw, long-waged and now approaching its culmina- 
tion, was soon to be decided for all time and the question of freedom or 
slavery in the United States settled irrevocably. But no more than the 
dark shadows of the approaching bloody conflict had yet fallen across the 
doorways of Syracuse, and the avocations of peace and thrift and confi- 
dence were still moving onward as before. 

The vote of the charter election of i860 placed Dr. Amos Westcott in 
the Mayor's chair, E. W. Leavenworth retiring, the administration thus re- 
maining Republican. Fairfax Wellington was the Democratic nominee for 
Mayor. The funded. debt of the city was reported as $42,750.38, with no 
floating debt. The School Commissioners asked for$2i,272.23, with $5,000 
for new buildings, which sums were allowed. Only $12,750 of the funded 
debt was to fall due during the year, a sum not one-half so large as had 
been paid in some preceding years. 

On the 16th of April, the Surveyor and Engineer reported to the 
Council that it would co.st $350 to properly improve the old burying ground 
on the corner of West Water and Franklin streets, in accordance with the 
application made to the Council by citizens. A resolution was passed that 
the city would appropriate $200 if an equal amout was subscribed by in- 



Stref.t Rah. WAV Charters. 191 



dividuals, which was done. In all about $450 were expended in improving 
this spot, in removing remains, laying flat stones on the graves and bury- 
ing them in the earth, grading, etc. At a later meeting the enclosure was 
christened Franklin Park. 

The Legislature had granted a charter for a street railway between the 
canal and the First ward, the route being designated as through Lodi, Lock, 
and Wolf streets; this route was subsequently changed to Salina street, and 
steps were taken to build the road which was opened in August with a pub- 
lic demonstration. This was the first street railway in the city. 

A Charter was also granted in April to Harvey Stewart, William A. 
Judson, James Xoxon, Elijah N. F"ord, John M. Jayco.x, Charles A. Baker, 
Thomas T. Davis and Thomas G. Alvord, to build a road from Geddes, 
down Genesee and Salina streets, to Onondaga street, and thence to near 
the Syracuse and Binghamton railroad station (then located at the junction 
of Onondaga and Clinton streets). 

Among the principal acts of the Common Council were the grading of 
James street from Oak street to the city line ; the determination to extend 
and widen North Clinton street to Noxon street, a measure that was vetoed 
by the Mayor, leading to a mandamus being issued against the Council to 
force it to act in the matter; the opening of Baker street through the lands 
of the Syracuse and Binghamton railroad company; the macadamizing of 
West Genesee street from the creek to the city line, at a cost of over 
$7,000 ; the lease of school house No. 8, First ward, for an engine house. 

Early in November a mob committed a raid on several disreputable 
houses, during which one young man was shot and killed. The event cre- 
ated great excitement. A public meeting was called over which Timothy 
C.Cheney presided, to consider the question of "suppressing the social 
evil," and twenty special policemen were appointed to act with the regular 
force. At the meeting, after much discussion, a committee was appointed 
of twenty-four representative men to devise a plan of action and report to 
the Council. After several sittings the committee reported that they could 
do nothing but recommend the enforcement of existing laws. A resolution 
was thereupon passed by the Council to retain a lawyer whose duty it 
should be to prosecute the keepers of all such houses. Two of the rioters 
were fined and imprisoned. 

The conflict between the Water Company and the city, which had pre- 
viously resulted in a law suit begun by the former to enforce the collection 
of about $3,500 alleged to have been due in July, 1859, was compromised 
this year by the city paying a part of the claim. 

The sale of the lots on the old Court House site occurred in May, the 
six on Salina street bringing $3,600 ; six on Townsend street, $2,500 ; and 
one on Division street, $263. 



192 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



The presidential campaign was, of course, a heated one, resulting in the 
election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin, which was the signal 
for the attempt of the pro-slavery States to overthrow the government. 
The details of the campaign need not be traced here, but ratification meet- 
ings, the organization of active clubs of " Wide Awakes," with numerous 
parades and illuminations, were current events of the year. 

1861 At the Charter election this year Charles Andrews, (Republican) 

was elected Mayor of the city. The assessed taxation of the preceding 
year was $83,872.25. Of this amount $52,000.00 was expended for general 
purposes, gas, water, fire department, highways, salaries, etc., and $5,oco, 
for paving, sewers, and bridges. The Clerk's .statement .showed a funded 
debt of $32,750.38, with no floating debt. The street cleaning for the year 
was let in March, by wards for $1,758. 

Events of general interest and importance were few in number, if we 
except the opening of the great civil war in April, and its influence in the 
city. President Lincoln passed through the city on the 9th of February, 
on his memorable journey to Washington, and was welcomed by citizens 
and the military, while the city was profusely decorated with bunting. 

In the same month a commission previously appointed to settle the dif- 
ferences between the Water Company and the city reported that for three 
years beginning July, 1861, the city should pay the company $6,510.77 per 
year; for the two years ending July i, 1861, $13,021.54. The matter was 
argued for the city by James Noxon and Daniel Pratt, and for the company 
by John Wilkinson and Thomas T. Davis. 

An abolition and woman's rights convention was called for the 29th day 
of January, conspicuous figures in which were Samuel J. May and Su.san B. 
Anthony. But the meeting was broken up by a mob and the philanthropic 
pastor and his distinguished colleague were burned in efifigy. It is difificult 
to realize now that there could have been found in Syracuse thirty years 
a^o an element which was ready to offer insult and violence to that good 
man, Samuel J. May. 

On the 22d of January the Onondaga Historical Society was organized 
with the following officers: President, J. V. H. Clark; vice-president, N. 
B. Smith ; treasurer, James S. Leach ; recording secretary. Charles R. 
Wright; corresponding secretary, James Noxon ; directors, James S. Leach, 
N. B. Smith, S. N. Holmes, Wm. Biumgrass, L. W. Conkey, Prof. C. O. 
Roundy, Dr. H. D. Didama, James Noxon, John A. Green, Prof. T. K. 
Wright, J. V. H. Clark, H. D. L. Sweet, Dr. J. Kneeland, Wm. Tefft. 
This society promised a career of activity and usefulness, and great effort 
was put forth by its directors and a few others to secure for it that recog- 
nition and financial support which such an institution deserves in every 
city. But the effort failed to a great extent and the valuable materials col- 



TiiK Fkeshkt of 1S62. 193 

lected are at present stored in unsafe places awaiting the tinne when they 
may be placed in a building or rooms suitable for the purpose. 

Very little public improvement was made during the year, and nothing 
worthy of particular mention, excepting, perhaps, preparations to build a 
new stone bridge over the creek on Onondaga street, which is noticed in 
the record of next year. 

The reason for this apathy was the intense excitement created by the 
breaking out of the war, and the firing upon Sumter the 14th of April, to 
which public attention was at once turned. This city, in common with the 
entire North, was deeply stirred and almost all public business was neglected 
for the consideration of the one great event. No sooner was a gun fired by 
the Southerners than measures were adopted to send troops to the aid of 
the threatened Capitol. The Union banner leaped into the breeze from 
hundreds of prominent points. Stirring peals of martial music filled the 
air ; enthusiastic meetings were held and burning eloquence exhorted all to 
be true to the Union ; more than $iO,OCX) was promptly subscribed to aid 
the families of volunteers, while almost the only topic of conversation was 
what should be done in the great crisis. John G. Butler's company of Zou- 
aves, catching their inspiration from the recent visit in Syracuse of the 
famous Ellsworth Zouaves, and E. S. Jenney's battery of artilery, left the 
city for the Albany barracks in April, and the gallant 1 2th regiment departed 
for Elmira on the 2d of May. The war spirit was abroad. Efforts were 
made in the fall of 185 1 to recruit the 12th regiment to one thousand 
strong and a meeting was held at the City Hall on the 22d of November to 
aid in the work, which was also aided by the action of the Board of Super- 
visors outside of the city who appealed to their constituents to contribute 
to the desired result. 

1862. — Charles Andrews was re-elected Mayor by the Republicans this 
year by nearly three hundred majority, and six out of the eight Aldermen 
were also Republicans. The street cleaning contract amounted to $2,085, ^ 
sum which would doubtless have been considered small enough if the work 
had been properly performed ; but such was not the case, nor had it been'in 
the preceding year, when two or three of the contractors were cited before 
the Council and fined for non-fulfillment of their contracts. Of very few 
years since that time can it be said that the city streets have been properly 
cleaned. 

The principal occurrence of the year was a great freshet in March ; du- 
ring all day on the 14th a heavy rain fell upon a large body of snow and 
Onondaga creek reached a high stage. The water touched the top of the 
arch of the bridge on O.iondaga street. In the railroad tunnel in the 
Eighth ward the flood extinguished the fires in the locomotives passing 
through it. South Salina street was flooded across the low grounds south 
25 



194 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

of Burt street, and portions of West Fayette street and Walton street were 
under water. The same may be said of Tallman, Baker, and Adams streets 
and Cortland Avenue. Considerable damage resulted by the flooding of 
dwellings. 

The building of the stone bridge with a single arch over the creek on 
Onondaga street was about finished in November, i86i,but when the sup- 
ports of the arch were removed a large portion of the bridge fell in ruins. 
It was ordered rebuilt with two arches and the new bridge stood the severe 
test of the flood just described. Considerable paving was done, especially 
on Warren, North Salina street in the First Ward, East Water, Fayette, 
East Genesee and West Water streets. 

War excitement ran high during the year and the I22d regiment, raised 
in one month, was mustered in on the 28th of August and left for New 
York on Sunday the 31st. On the 23d of September the 149th left the 
city for Washington. For the history of these and other Military organiza- 
tions the reader is referred to a later Chapter. 

In July, 1862, the Senatorial District Committee requested the Board of 
Supervisors to offer a bounty of $50 to each volunteer who enlisted under 
the President's call for 300,000 men. The Board promptly passed a 
resolution empowering the treasurer of the county to borrow not exceeding 
$75,000, payable in annual instalments of $10,000 after March i, 1863. 

On the 22d of August, at a special session of the Board of Supervisors, 
in response to a request of the Senatorial Military Committee the Board 
empowered the County Treasurer to borrow $68,000, payable in seven in- 
stallments from March i, 1862, the first six installments to be of $10,000 
each. This fund was appropriated to the payment of "$50 to each volun- 
teer for this county who shall enlist for three years or the war, in the fourth 
Onondaga regiment ; then to pay the same to each volunteer whose enlist- 
ment shall be credited to the county upon its quota of the 600,000 men." 
It was also resolved that $3,000 of the sum be used to defray expenses 
of raising the " Fourth Onondaga Regiment." 

1863. — At the municipal election the Democrats came into power in the 
city, electing Daniel Bookstaver for Mayor over Charles P. Clark, by about 
200 majority, and six out of eight Aldermen. Robert M. Beecher was 
given the city clerkship and there was a general turning out of office-hold- 
ers. The causes of the political change were stated by the Republican 
papers (and were tacitly admitted by the Democratic organ) to have been 
the general feeling that had grown up against the government and its vigor- 
ous war policy, the local prospect of a draft, etc. 

The retiring Mayor reported the city finances as sound. The new May- 
or in his address gave the amount of the funded debt as $32,750.83, and no 
floating debt. He counseled rigid economy. The school budget for 1863 



Providing for a New Reservoir. 195 

was $33,510, which was allowed in full. The Common Council on the 19th 
of January, reported favorably on a petition from citizens for the appro- 
priation of $20,coo for the relief of families of volunteer soldiers. This 
action was sanctioned by the Legislature in an Act passed March 31st. 
The sum of $5,000 (a part of the $20,000) was borrowed at once of the 
Onondaga County Savings Hank, and thus began the series of local liberal 
appropriations and contributions in aid of the armies of the Union, in the 
way of bounties, relief pa)ments, etc., v>\\h which the city stands credited, 
and which continued to the end of the war. At the town elections in Feb- 
ruary, twelve supervisors elected were Republicans, against seven Demo- 
crats, and in March a Republican Union City Club was formed at a meet- 
ing the call for which was signed by about one hundred and fifty prominent 
citizens. 

Public improvements continued almost at a standstill during the year, 
being apparently driven out of consideration by the momentous events con- 
nected with the war. The Council met with almost accustomed regularity, 
but beyond the granting of fire privileges; the erection of a watch house in 
the rear of the ergine house No. 2 in the First ward ; the building of sew- 
ers in Warren and Montgomery streets between Harrison and Adams, and 
macadamizing East Fayette street from Grape to Almond, very little 
except routine business was done. 

On the 9th of March, a special Committee reported to the Council in- 
favor of paying the Water Company $8co a year for five years, provided a 
new reservoir was built at a minimum cost of $20,000, giving better service to 
the city. This plan was carried out. 

On the 2ist of the same month the old I2th regiment returned from 
the war, their number reduced to about 275 men, and were given a royal 
welcome in Regimental (Armory) Park, by the Mayor, the military, firemen, 
and citizens. They also received a special welcome in the First ward. 

A great deal of excitement was caused during a part of the summer by 
the prospects of a draft to fill the quota of the city, under the then recent 
call for 300,000 volunteers, the enrollment for which was completed in July. 
On the 20th of that month the Council resolved to appropriate money 
sufficient to pay the commutation of all men who might be drafted from the 
city, but by great energy in recruiting and the ofTer of a special bounty of 
$150 for all recruits who should enlist previous to August 15, the fund for 
which was largely made up of private contributions, the draft was averted. 
But through some misunderstanding, or the disappearance of enlistment 
rolls which had been sent on to Washington, it was claimed that the quota 
was not filled and a draft of 366 men was ordered to take place on Septem- 
ber 29. A local paper said : "The fact is, the quota is filled, and we have 
confidence in the authorities at Washington that they will allow the claim." 



196 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Let it suffice that through the influence of a Committee who visited Wash- 
ington, the matter was amicably adjusted and the draft was not made. 

Many very enthusiastic mass meetings were held in the summer and fail, 
particularly by the Union element in the community, and at the fall elec- 
tion the county went 2,500 majority Republican and the city about 200. 
With the autumn months came another call for volunteers and although 
action toward filling the quota was somewhat delayed, the authorities finally 
came forward and took the necessary steps to provide a fund of $300,000 
for the payment of a bounty of S300 to each recruit, and the quota was 
filled. This was accomplished through a conference of a Committee from 
the Onondaga Board of Supervisors and the Cortland County Board, at 
which four plans were discussed, viz. i. A bounty of $300 to each volunteer. 
2. Procuring substitutes or commutation for drafted men. 3. Applicatoin to 
the Legislature requesting the payment of $300 to each volunteer. 4. No 
appropriation by the Supervisors, leaving the whole matter to the Legisla- 
ture. A special election was held in December, resulting in an overwhelm- 
ing majority in favor of paying the bounty. The enrollment was complet- 
ed on the i6th of December. The sum of $360,000 was the maximum 
authorized to be raised in the city, on bonds payable in three equal annual 
instalments, subject to confirmation by the Legislature. $5,000 of this 
sum was appropriated to the work of enlisting men. The bounty was paid 
and the quota filled. 

During all these months the city was filled with the " spirit of war." 
Hanover Square was filled with recruiting offices and and everywhere the 
sound of fife and drum was almost constantly heard. The public mind 
dwelt continuously on the great conflict. Soldiers were upon the streets 
or in the rendezvous near the stone bridge over Onondaga creek on Cortland ^ 
avenue, waiting for their departure to the front. Public speakers and ward 
committees were active, and the women were engaged in preparing and 
sending supplies of various kinds to the " Onondaga boys" in the field and 
hospitals. Excitement reigned and at times business was half suspended 
that matters relating to the war might have proper consideration. 

A law was passed on the 4th of May authorizing Alfred Hovey, Edward 
B. Wicks, William D. Stewart, Harvey Stewart, John W. Barker, D. P. 
Wood, A. C. Powell, D. Bookstaver, and G. P. Kenyon, to lay tracks for a 
.street railway in Furnace and Bridge streets to Hemlock, thence to Fay- 
ette, and thence to Salina street. In the same month, Hamilton White, L. 
H. Redfield, Charles A. Baker, Johnson Hall, James Noxon, Henry D. 
Hatch, Josiah Brintnall, and Fairfax Wellington were authorized by the 
Legislature to lay a street railway beginning at Church street and extend- 
'w to Oakwood Cemetery and Brighton. Both of these lines were subse- 
quently built. 



Raising a Fund for Volunteers. 197 



William H. Alexander died on the 20th of August. He was born in 
Massachusetts in 1786 and settled in Syracuse in 1828. He was one of 
the pioneers in the foundry business, was a Trustee of the village, and a 
member of the first Board of Aldermen. 

Dwight Salmon, brother of U. (). Salmon, and a member of the tobacco 
firm of D. & D. O. Salmon, died on the 5th of February. 

1S64. — The charter election of this year indicated a slight change in 
political sentiment, or else great popularity on the part of the Republican 
nominee for Mayor and several of the Aldermen. Archibald C. Powell was 
elected over Hamilton Burdick, but his majority was so small that victory 
was at first claimed by the Democrats. Five of the elected Aldermen were 
Republican. 

The finance report covering the preceding year showed receipts from all 
sources of $189,138.02, and the total funded debt was $60,000. There were 
no public improvements made during the year worthy of mention, if we 
except the repaving and macadamizing portions of some of the streets. 
The several calls for troops and the necessity of providing for their enlist- 
ment, with the stirring events of the war, almost monopolized public atten- 
tion. As the war progressed with untold slaughter on a hundred battlefields, 
rapidly lessening the number of patriots at home, the difficulties of recruit- 
ing for the armies increased. Larger bounties had to be provided for and the 
greatest energy and activity on the part of city and town authorities was 
indispensable to fill the various quotas and avoid the dreaded draft. On 
March lOth, the Common Council, through authority of the Legislature, 
resolved to borrow another $20,000 with which to aid in the support of the 
families of volunteers ; but this action had no especial connection with that 
of the Board of Supervisors in raising the enormous sums necessary to pay 
the heavy bounties required. A special session of the Board was held early 
in February, at which it was resolved that the County Treasurer be empow- 
ered to borrow $270,000 on the bonds of the county, for the continued 
payment of $300 bounties, $5,000 of which sum was to be devoted to the 
expenses of procuring enlistments. The entire sum was to be paid in 
three equal annual installments. At the same date a resolution was 
passed to the effect that if the State Legislature should pass an Act to raise 
money for an additional $300 bounty, the Representatives from Onondaga 
county be requested to have such county exempted from the operation of 
the law. 

On the i8th of July the President called for 500,000 men, and under 
it recruiting in Syracuse and its vicinity was pushed with vigor. The 185th 
regiment, under the inducement of bounties offered by the Supervisors 
and from other sources amounting to about $1,000, was filled and left the 
city on the 23d of September. It was composed of excellent material and 



igS Memorial History of Syracuse. 

during its term of service, as detailed in another chapter, won great credit 
for valor on the battle field. 

At a special session of the Board of Supervisors held on the 26th of 
July the following action was taken : Mr. Hiscock, from the committee to 
devise means for filling the quota of the county for volunteers, submitted 
the following resolutions as the report of such committee : 

Resoheil, Tliat Sampson Jaqueth and Warren S. White, of this Board, be added to the present 
Militarj- Committee ; and that E. H. Judson, L. W. Hall, I). Bookstaver, .\. C. Powell, F. M. King, 
T. B. Fitch, George N. Kennedy, Joshua K. Rogers, James Johnson, J. Dean Hawley, Allen Mun- 
roe, and H. L. Duguid, be requested to act with the said committee, and that they are hereby ap- 
pointed advisory members of the same, to act without compensation. 

Resolved, That the said Committee are hereby authorized to employ agents to enlist or procure 
the volunteering of men, under the call of the President of the United States, of July i8, 1864, (for 
500,000 men) at a compensation in the discretion of said committee ; said agents to procure said 
enlistments or volunteering either in this State or in any State of the United States now in rebellion, 
and at any of the rendezvous designated in general orders No. 227, dated July 9, 1864. and hereto 
annexed, issued by the War Department. Such agents as may be by said committee designated and 
appointed for that purpose are to act under said order and the Act of Congress to which the same 
refers, and His Excellency, Governor Seymour, is most respectfully requested to commission said 
agents so appointed by said committee, as contemplated by said order, to act in the premises. 

Resolved, That said committee may offer and pay a bounty to each volunteer and regularly enlist- 
ed man applying on the credit of this county under the said call, the amount of said bounty to be 
in the discretion of said committee. 

Resolved, That the Treasurer of the County of Onondaga and the Chairman of the Board 
of Supervisors, William H. Shankland, esq., are hereby authorized to make a loan on the 
credit of the county, of such sum or sums as shall by said committee and themselves be deemed nec- 
essan' for the payment of said bounty and the necessary expense incurred under the foregoing resolu- 
tions, not exceeding in the aggregate .^400,000, to be used by the committee to carry into effect the 
foregoing resolutions. Such loan sliall be made in proposals to be invited by said treasurer and 
chairman subject to the approval of said committee, on general publication of a notice to that effect, 
on the best terms at which offers for the same may be made, at the rale of 6 per cent, annual inter- 
est, to be paid semi-annually in the city of New York. 

Other resolutions provided for the issue of the bonds, and their pay- 
ment at the rate of $50,000 a year after the 1st of April, 1868, and that all 
moneys now in the hands of the Treasurer, theretofore raised for bounties, 
should be expended by the committee. 

Early in September another special session of the Board of Supervisors 
was held, and on the 7th of that month the Treasurer of the county was 
authorized to borrow §500,000, payable March i, 1865, and $600,000, paya- 
ble one-half on March i, 1866, and one-half on March i, 1867, for the fur. 
ther payment of bounties under the July call referred to. Of the first of 
these loans only $444,000 was borrowed, and on the 22d of November at a 
regular meeting of the Board the sum of $100,000 was added to the $600,- 
000 already authorized to be raised as above stated ; but this action as far 
as it applied to $56,000 of the $ico,000 was subsequently revoked. 

At the meeting of November 28, a committee of three was selected from 
the Volunteer Committee previously appointed, to "proceed immediately to 



Action to Provihk for Bounties. 199 

procure enlistments of volunteers into the military service of the United 
States to the number of 1,000, to apply to the credit of Onondaga county 
on any call hereafter to be made by the President." It was also resolved 
to not pay to exceed $300 to each volunteer enlisting for two years. To 
meet the further expenditure for bounties, the Treasurer was authorized to 
borrow $300,000, as the same might be needed by said committee, to be 
paid one-eighth in each of the eight years beginning with i86(S. 

On the 2 1st of December a resolution was adopted by the Hoard that a 
special election should be held on the 31st of the same month to vote " For 
Bounty," or "Against Bounty," and it was further resolved that if the vote 
was in favor of a bountj', then the Board would proceed to collect by taxa- 
tion sufficient money to pay a bounty not exceeding $500 to each volun- 
teer enlisting for two years and applying on the quota of the county, under 
the last call for troops. This call was issued on the 19th of December for 
300,000 men. The whole number of votes cast at the special election was 
5,725, of which 4.905 were in favor of bount\'. This tax was subsequently 
collected. 

Meanwhile opposition to the government and its unflagging war meas- 
ures developed throughout the North and found its promoters in Syracuse 
as elsewhere. In the summer of 1864 such opposition as far as it related to 
Syracuse, found voice in a Peace Meeting, which was loudly heralded, at 
which C. L. Vallandigham and Fernando Wood were the speakers. They, 
of course, lifted up their voices to prove the " war a failure " and the Union 
cause based upon injustice. The effects of the meeting cannot now be said 
to have been paralyzing. 

The final action of the county and city upon the question of bounties 
and the enlistment of recruits to fill quotas was taken early in January, 1865 
and may as well be mentioned here. At a meeting held on the i6th of Jan- 
uary, the following resolution was adopted and explains itself : 

Kesohrd, That the Teasurer of Onondaga county and Chairman of this Board execute the cou- 
pon bonds of this county, to an amount not exceeding !f!i 50,000, with interest at the rate of $7 for 
each |ioo for each year, payable semi-annually ; principal and interest payable in New \'ork- citv or 
at the treasurer's office in this county, at the discretion of said chairman and treasurer ; the principal 
of said bonds to be due March I, :866 ; and .at the discretion of said chairman and treasurer, a pro- 
vision to be inserted in said bonds, or any part thereof, that the said principal be paid at a sooner 
date, in their discretion. * * to enable them (the bounty committee) to pay the bounties of 

all men enlisting in the service of the United States, .applying to the credit and upon the credit of 
this county, and to pay the expenses of the enlisting of said men. 

The 185th regiment was the last one sent to the front from Onondaga 
county and the measures above described were substantially the last of the 
series carried out in Syracuse in aiding the government in suppressing the 
rebellion. 

On the 25th of July the Syracuse and Oakwood street railway was form- 
ally opened, an event that was the beginning of the period of development 
leading up to the present populous condition of the Eleventh ward. 



200 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



On the 23d of July the Granger Block was entirely destroyed by fire. 
In it were the offices of the Journal and the Standard. The loss was esti- 
mated at about $175,000. 

1865.— The winter of 1864 and 1865 was a memorable one on account of 
the unexampled snow blockade. The streets of the city were filled to a 
depth of about four feet, and when they had been shoveled out sufficiently 
for the passage of teams, they presented the appearance of deep ditches, 
the banks on each side nearly or quite hiding the stores and shops. When 
the great body of snow melted and the unprecedented rains of March fell, 
a freshet occurred (on the 17th of the month) which caused a great deal of 
damage. Many of the bridges over Onondaga creek were carried away, 
and also one over Harbor brook near Geddes. The Walton street bridge 
was carried down to the Central Railroad bridge where it broke in two pieces 
and several wooden buildings along the banks of the creek were moved from 
their foundation. The bridge at Gifford street was submerged, as were 
also portions of Mulberry street, and the Fayette Park district, and almost 
the whole of East Water street. In the railroad tunnel there was a rushing 
flood and no trains could pass it. 

The Charter election resulted in the choice of William D. Stewart, (Dem- 
ocrat) for Mayor, by a little over 100 majority and three of the eight Alder- 
men were of the same politics. 

The finance report of the preceding year showed total receipts of 
$158,003.20, with a funded debt of $90,000. The charter was amended this 
year, increasing the amount authorized to be raised by ta.x to $60,000. 

The principal acts of the Common Council towards public improvement 
were the change in Park street between Hickory and James streets, through 
the lands of C. B. Sedgwick, in May, so that the west line became the west 
line of the Sedgwick land between James and Hickory streets, and thence 
by a direct line through those lands until it intersected Park street, at the 
corner of land owned and occupied by George Greenway. James street 
was ordered paved with cobble stone from the Oswego canal bridge to Lodi 
street ; a one foot tile sewer was built in Mulberry street from Cedar to Jef- 
ferson street sewer; the Gifford street sewer was extended to Oswego street; 
the paving of West Water street with cobble stone from Franklin street to 
the creek was ordered ; the closing of Packet alley, which extended from 
Hanover Square to the canal between the Onondaga Savings Bank building 
and the block adjoining on the east was directed ; initiatory steps were taken 
in October which resulted in the purchase of two steam fire engines for the 
fire department. 

In September the Genesee and Water street Railway Company was or- 
ganized with a capital of $60,000, by George F. Comstock, VV. 11. H. 
Smith, C. T. Longstreet, O. T. Burt, and James P. Haskins. 



Proposed Chartkk Amendments. 201 



Alfred H. Hovey died on the 7th of August. He was Mayor of the 
City in 1850 and a prominent and respected citizen. 

James Manning died September 4th. He was one of the pioneer busi- 
ness men of the village and had a store on West Genesee street on the site 
of one part of the Empire House. 

Hamilton White died September 22d. An account of his lite will be 
found elsewhere in this work. 

1866. — The Democrats were again triumphant in the charter election, 
(held this year in February) William D. Stewart, the incumbent of the ofifice, 
being re-elected by a little over one hundred majority. In his inaugural ad- 
dress he expressed the opinion, that it depended largely on local legislation 
whether capital would seek investment in Syracuse. The public debt, he 
said, was about $87,500 (besides a small floating debt) much of which had 
been incurred by the expense connected with the war. The total tax of 
this year was $146,370.11. The streets, he acknowledged, were in a 
bad condition and thought few other similar cities were so unfortunate 
in that respect ; that they had been thus far constructed mainly for 
present convenience and not with a view to permanence. 

The subject of charter amendments was agitated again in this year. A 
Committee had previously been appointed, which was represented by L. 
W. Hall at a public meeting on the 3d of March. The amendments report- 
ed were briefly to the effect that two additional wards should be formed, 
one from the second and fourth wards, and one from the southern portion 
of the sixth and seventh ; to increase the police force to twenty-four men ; 
against the establishment of a Recorder's Court ; making the Aldermanic 
term two years and the City Clerk's term three years ; the .salary of the 
Police Justice $1,700 ; and providing for the expenditure of $75,000 annual- 
ly for three years on streets and sewers, under direction of a commission. 
There were only a few present at the first meeting ; but when the intent of 
the proposed amendments was made public through the press, indicating 
as they did a heavy increase in taxation, there was no lack of public interest 
at the two or three subsequent meetings. The discussions were very warm 
(to use a mild term) and the influence against the policy of incurring any 
further debt at that time was so strong that the whole matter was indefi- 
nitely shelved, with the exception of the provisions relating to the City 
Clerk's term, and the salary of the Police Justice. 

On the 1 3th of March the Council ordered the Clerk to advertise for pro- 
posals for the sale of the City Poor House — a subject that seemed to be 
perennial. Early in the year a meeting was held at the office of Dr. M. D. 
Benedict, to consider the subject of a possible outbreak of cholera. Dr. 
Didama was chairman. A committee was appointed and a report prepared 
giving sanitary counsel and warning. But the disease did not make its ap- 
26 



202 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



pearance. A public meeting was held October 13th at which a resolution 
was passed requesting the Common Council to purchase two steam fire 
engines at a cost not to exceed $15,000. The necessary action was taken 
by the Council to carry out this undertaking and an Act of the Legislature 
was obtained granting the requisite power. 

A citizens' meeting was held December 4th to take action on the need 
of the city for a High School Building. A petition to the Legislature was 
prepared, asking for an Act authorizing the issue of bonds not to exceed 
$75,000 for the purpose. This Act was passed and led to the erection of 
the fine building on West Genesee street. 

The Syracuse and Onondaga Railway Company was incorporated this 
year, by J. J. Hopper, T. B. Fitch, C. T. Longstreet, V. W. Smith, LeRoy 
Morgan, O. C. Potter, E. B. Alvord, A. C. Chase, J. M. Strong, Enoch 
Mann, and John Stolp, and also the Genesee and Water street Railway 
Company, and the latter road was constructed during the summer. 

The Kimber block, corner of James and Warren streets, was finished in 
March of this year, and the Yates Block at a later date. 

1867. — Mayor William D. Stewart (Democrat) was re-elected for Mayor 
this year, over Dr. H. D. Didama by 239 majority and the Democrats also 
carried five of the eight wards. Edgar S. Matthews was gived the clerk- 
ship in place of Edwin H. Brown, who had held it during a number of 
years. The salaries for the year were fixed at $1,200 for the Treasurer; 
$1,000 for the Clerk ; $900 for the Superintendent of Streets ; $600 for the 
Surveyor and Engineer ; $650 for the Chief of the Fire Department ; Chief 
of Police $1,000; Policemen $750. 

There were no important suggestions in the Mayor's address except 
that the police force should be increased to double the then present num- 
ber, or twenty-four. He approved the wisdom of purchasing the two steam 
fire engines, and thought a third one desirable. 

The tax levy of the year 1867 amounted to $163,24267, the amount 
being greatly increased during the few preceding years by the war debt, 
and additions to the city's school buildings. Of this sum $60,000 was to 
pay installments on the public debt and for other purposes ; $10,000 for pave- 
ments, sewers, and bridges ; $66,049.45 for the Board of Education ; $25,- 
000 for steam fire engines and the floating debt; $2,193.22 interest for High 
School bonds. 

The principal public improvement of this year was the building of a 
five-foot brick sewer through Fayette street from Irving street westward. 
This sewer was built at a co.st of $36,999 by Dennis Driscoll. $15,000 of this 
sum was to be paid by the Central Railroad Company; $15,000 was as- 
sessed on the property along the line of the sewer and about $7,000 was 
paid by the city. The adjustment and settlement of the cost of this im- 



A Street Railway Grant. 203 



provement was postponed about eight years. The Central Railroad Com- 
pany paid not only its own share for the work, but also that of the city, 
and was not reimbursed until 1875. 

An iron bridge was built over the Creek on Gifford street at a cost of 
$2,250, the contract going to Simon DeGraff. Onondaga street was paved 
betweed Warren and Salina street. These were the principal improve- 
ments of the year. Other events were the dedication of Billings Park 
(formerly called Warren Park) on Saturday, August, 24, in which the Mayor 
and Common Council took part. This park at this time became the prop- 
erty of the city through the generosity of Roger Billings. 

A new gas company applied for a franchise early in this year, and the 
Council was memorialized by it and also by the old company ,each in its own 
interest. At the last meeting of the old Council in the year the franchise 
was refused. 

In the Council February iith, a resolution was adopted granting the 
privilege of laying a street railway in James and Burnet streets from the 
Empire House to the east boundsof the city, to John M. Jaycox, Henry A. 
Dillaye, W. W. Teall, Mather Williams, Porter Tremain, E. P. Russell, 
David Hibbard, and L. Snell. About the same time the project of build- 
ing a street railroad connecting with this line and extending to Fayette- 
ville was discussed, but no definite action followed. 

A publ'C meeting was held on the 16th of March, to consider the feasibil- 
ity of straightening the remaining portion of Onondaga creek between the 
pump house and the Lake. Thomas G. Alvord, R. H. Gardner, and E. 
W. Leavenworth opposed the plan on that occasion, and A. G. S. Allis, 
Park Wheeler, Thomas Gale, and Dr. Didama favored it. It was decided 
to employ a competent engineer to estimate the cost of the work and a 
committee was appointed to lay the matter before the Governor. Dr. Did- 
ama, Garret Doyle, and John Graff were the Committee. This action was 
taken under authority of an Act of Legislature passed March 20. 

William Clark, the Salina pioneer, died December 28th. He came to 
Onondaga county in 181 5, and in 1817 located at Onondaga Hill. The 
next year he went to Salina and became a prominent citizen and business 
man, was a director in the Bank of Salina, Superintendent of the Poor, 
Village Trustee and President, and one of the first Board of Education 
under the City Government. 

Fire destroyed the property of Joseph Barton on East Genesee street 
November 15th, causing a loss of about $80,000. 

In March, the first steps were taken towards securing the removal of 
Genesee College to Syracuse, as a foundation for a University, and the 
bonding of the city for $100,000 in aid of the undertaking; a project that 
was destined to be carried out and to develop into the grand institution now 



204 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

adorning the eastern hills, a full history of which is given in another 
chapter of this work. 

John Durnford died on the i8th of May. He came to Syracuse in 1822 
and in the next year issued the first newspaper in the village. He engaged 
in the book trade; was Justice of the Peace, Overseer of the Poor, Collect- 
or, and Treasurer, at different periods, and at his death was president of the 
Orphan Asylum. He was 76 years old. 

In this year Thomas Davis succeeded Fred Schug as Chief of Police 
and continued in the office with the exception of a brief interval until his 
death. 

Under the provisions of an Act of the Legislature passed this year, the 
Onondaga Creek Commission was created, consisting of Carroll E. Smith, 
Frank Hiscock, J. W. Barker, H. D. Didama, and Charles Andrews. This 
Commission was given power to straighten the cretk through the city and 
thence to the lake, and in its operations expended about $15,000. The 
work done included the straightening of the creek from near the State pump 
house to the lake, and the opening of a channel about 1,000 feet into the 
lake, beyond the shallow water, so that the creek would discharge into deep 
water. This was a great improvement, reclaiming a large area of land and 
improving the flow of the creek. The course of the creek was mapped 
also, and consents and releases obtained from property-owners on the line un- 
der which the improvements might be completed. The Commission's plans 
were thwarted after the work mentioned was done, through the influence of 
a public meeting which voted against the contemplated expenditure; but 
the Commission is still in existence and its proposed work may yet be ac- 
complished. 

1868. — Again after several years of Democratic supremacy, the Repub- 
licans took the political helm in Syracuse, and Hon. Charles Andrews was 
elected Mayor over John A. Green by 127 majority, with five of the eight 
Aldermen Republicans. 

The report of the finances showed the funded debt to be $153,500, with 
a temporary loan of $25,000 authorized by the Legislature, April 22, 1867, 
for steam fire engines and current expenses. In his address Mayor Andrews 
paid particular attention to the condition of the city's finances. For the 
preceding year he showed that $30,000 more than was authorized by the 
charter had been used for city expenses and the public debt ; and, therefore, 
the city was then liable for temporary loans of $25,190.76 and H7,000 for the 
Fayette street sewer. " Take this," said he, " from the $60,000 authorized 
to be raised, and you have $28,060 with which to pay city expenses and the 
public debt, which last year required $91,000." He counseled the most 
rigid economy as the only course to follow under these depressing condi- 
tions. 



Removal of the Old Depot. 205 



At a meeting held in February, the Mayor appointed a committee con- 
sisting of H. L. Higgins, R. W. Jones, and Nicholas Grumbach to request 
the New York Central Railroad Company to remove their old depot, which 
had long been looked upon as a nuisance in the heart of the city, and erect 
a new one. The railroad company considered the matter in a favorable light 
and one Sunday in February, 1870, the old structure was pulled down by 
the employment of a locomotive and a cable. Word had been sent to 
numerous shops where many men were employed that they could have all 
of the wood they would carry away on that day, and the result was that on 
Monday morning, not a vestige of the old " car house," as it was once 
termed, was left. 

The principal public work of the year was the re-pavement of James 
street from Lodi over the brow of the hill, with the so-called Nicholson 
pavement and cobblestone. This work cost nearly $30,000 and as far as the 
wood portion of the pavement was concerned, it was among the earliest ex- 
amples of that costly, short lived and almost worthless roadway, a great 
deal of which was imposed upon the city during the next few years. 

Memorial day was observed this year for the first time, and Oakwood 
and other cemeteries were visited by a concourse in which were many vete- 
ran soldiers, and relatives and friends of those who had fallen in battle. 

Private building operations were active. Money was still plenty as a re- 
sult of the inflation of the currency during the war, and a general specula- 
tive feeling existed. The Vanderbilt House was finished and opened by 
J. L. Cook & Sons on the i8th of March ; the Agan Block, corner of Wash- 
ington and Market streets, was begun in March ; the Barton Block and 
Opera House was finished in November; the High School Building was fin- 
ished in December, and many other minor buildings were erected. The 
Sherman House, as it was known at this time, (the hotel on the northwest 
corner of Washington and Warren streets) was burned on the 13th of No- 
vember, the fire extending around the Franklin Buildings on Genesee street 
and causing a loss of about $100,000. The corner was speedily covered by 
the present Larnard Building. 

An Act passed the Legislature May i, 1868, amending the charter by 
making the term of office of Assessors two years and their remuneration 
three dollars a day until the first of August, and two dollars a day there- 
after; providing, also, that the Council might raise not exceeding $100,000 
annually for all city expenses and installments on the public debt and inter- 
est, and $10,000 for bridges and new sewers. The Council was authorized 
to borrow $30,000 with which to pay the indebtedness in arrears on the 1st 
of March, 1868, and issue bonds for the same. A few other minor changes 
were made. 

In May, J. W. Barker, Ira 11. Williams, T. B. Fitch, and Elias W. Leav- 



2o6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



enworth were made Commissioners to establish a system of sewerage for 
the city and procure a map of the same. This was a task involving great 
labor, but as far as the system could then be completed, the work was suc- 
cessfully accomplished and has amply compensated the city. 

1869. — The Republicans continued in power this year by the election of 
Charles P. Clark, for Mayor, and six of the eight Aldermen. The finance 
report of the preceding year showed that the funded debt had reached 
$170,776.36. 

An extensive series of public improvements was inaugurated and carried 
out during the year, including the paving of North Salina street from Wolf 
to Bear street, at a cost of $4,716.44; a 24-inch sewer in a part of West 
Genesee street, and the same in Clinton street from West Water to the 
Fayette street sewer ; the same in Clinton street between the Jefferson 
street sewer and Onondaga street ; re.paving North Salina street between 
Bear and Kirkpatrick streets ; 24-inch tile sewer ordered in Shonnard street 
between Niagara and West streets; Nicholson pavement in Montgomery 
street between Genesee and Onondaga streets, for which James Finegan 
was paid $17,406.02 ; 24-inch tile sewer in West Water street from Clinton 
street to the creek, and a sewer in West Fayette street from Salina street to 
the creek. A portion of these improvements were possibly begun before 
the end of the preceding year. 

The new High School Building was dedicated in April, and Odd Fel- 
ows' Hall, corner of Market and Washington streets on the 28th of the 
same month. 

The new Onondaga Savings Bank Building was finished and opened on 
the 23d of May, while on the 16th of October the discovery of the world- 
famous Cardiff Giant, the history of which gigantic humbug is too well 
known to need relating here, was proclaimed to the public. For many 
months Syracuse and its vicinity were notorious throughout the whole 
country as the home of that great, uncouth statue, which was cut from 
gypsum in a western State, brought east and buried on an obscure Onon- 
daga county farm, to be afterwards dug up and foisted upon the public as 
a petrifaction centuries old. Thousands of dollars were paid by the people 
to see this monstrous fraud. 



A Protest and Warning. 207 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

I'RO.M 1870 TO 1880. 

John (iretnw.iy's Harbecue — A I'rotest ,ind Warning — Charter Klection — I'liblic Improvements — 
A New Water Supply Demanded — The fully Lake IVoject — The Fire Alarm Telegraph — Demo, 
cratic Victory — .\ I'eriod of Prosperity— -A Uank Run — Small I'ox Flurry — The Chenango Valley 
Railroad — Funding of a Heavy Floating Debt — Mayor (Iraves Deplores the Existence of the (ireat 
City Debt — Development of Southern Suburbs — The Village of Danforth— Dissension between the 
City and the Gas Company — Public Alarm at the Municipal Debt — The Committee of Ninety-Six 
— The Belden .•\dministration and its Benefits. 

THE year was ushered in by a great barbecue which was given by the 
late John Greenway on Clinton Square, the public in general being 
invited. A whole ox was roasted in the presence of the multitude who as- 
sembled ; thousands of loaves of bread were provided and everybody who 
cared to, partook of the novel feast. 

We have mentioned the fact that in the latter part of the preceding year 
a large and costly sewer was ordered in West Fayette street. It was done 
in plain violation of the charter and on January 4th Mayor Clark vetoed 
the resolution, there being no funds available for the work ; but the majority 
of the Council was against him and the resolution was passed over his veto. 
The local assessment was made and publicly protested against on the 17th 
by numerous property holders along the line, ten or twelve reasons being 
stated why it was illegal. But the new Council on the 19th of February 
affirmed the assessment as made. The sewer was built during the year. 

On the 7th of February, there appeared at the instigation of the exist- 
ing administration a "protest and warning," against "unusual and corrupt 
practices in the administration of public affairs," and asserting in unmistak 
able terms, that they must be stopped. Both political parties, it was claim- 
ed, were amenable to the charge of electing and appointing unworthy per- 
sons to office, leading to dishonorable and corrupt acts in various depart- 
ments of the administration. It was expressed by the signers that, " there 
may be a limit beyond which good citizens cannot be bound by party 
usage." This document was repeatedly published, the roll of signers grow- 
ing daily and embracing several hundred of the leading men of the city. 
It probably had a salutary effect upon the subsequent local legislation. 

The charter election resulted in a Republican victory, Charles P. Clark 
being re-elected by a majority of 350 over D. O. Salmon. Five Democratic 
Aldermen were elected, thus giving that party the ascendancy in the Coun- 
cil. The financial report of the City Clerk gave the funded debt of the 
city as $208,500, with no floating debt. 



2o8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Among the prominent steps taken to provide for public improvements, 
that were either carried out or ordered, were a resolution by the Council in 
January, authorizing the removal of the old Central depot, which resulted 
in its destruction as before noted ; a resolution authorizing the city to bond 
for $500,000 in aid of the Syracuse and Northern railroad, which was in- 
corporated and work begun in this year ; the building of a bridge over the 
canal on Warren street ; the levying of a tax of $14,000 under the author- 
ity of the legislature, for a fire alarm telegraph ; laying flag stone walk on 
the south and east sides of Fayette Park; the widening of Franklin street. 
Water and Genesee streets: orders to open and extend Wyoming street; 
to open Linden street through to Jackson street : to widen Elm street from 
Henderson to Canal street ; to open Highland street from Willow to Park; 
to open and extend Wyoming from its then terminus southerly through 
block 312 to Gifford street: to repave West Water street between Salina 
and Clinton " with Medina sandstone at an early day; " to build a sewer in 
Townsend street from James street to the canal; to pave Jefferson street 
from Salina to Montgomery, and Clinton from Water to Jefferson; the ex- 
tension of Tallman street from Cortland Avenue to Salina street, and some 
other minor works. Very much of the paving of this year was of the mis- 
erable Nicholson. 

The subject of abetter water supply attracted considerable attention and 
in August a public meeting was held to consider the question of utilizing the 
Tully lakes as a source. Homer D. L. Sweet had made a survey of the 
line and presented a report which was in the main favorable to the project 
from an engineering stand-point. The city then appropriated $3 000 for 
a more complete survey, the results of which are given in the record of 
1871. 

On the 5th of September the new fire alarm telegraph was tested and 
found satisfactory, and on the 19th of the same month the new Weiting 
Opera House was opened with a performance of "The Lancers." On the 
26th of September the Council authorized the payment to Christian Cook 
of $10,000 and to George Doheny $5,000 for opening the alley through the 
rear of the Washington Block and adjoining buildings. 

E. F. Wallace died on the 15th of August. He was a graduate of Dar- 
mouth College and studied law in Salem. He came to Syracuse in 1825 
and practiced his profession for a time ; but it was never to his taste and he 
engaged largely in salt manufacturing ; was Consul to Cuba from 1861 for 
eight years and held numerous local positions which proved his high stand- 
ing in the community. He was the father of the Hon. William J. Wallace. 

Ira H. Cobb died November 5th. He came to Syracuse in 1845 and 
followed mercantile and manufacturing pursuits. He was very conspicuous 
in the anti-slavery movement and was prominent in the famous "Jerry 
Rescue." 



Another Saf.e of Salt Lands. 209 



1871. — The subject of the new water supply for Syracuse was the im- 
portant one during this year, as it is now in the year 189O. The survey 
mentioned was finished about the beginning of the year, and a Citizens' 
Committee was appointed. Their report, made on the 30th of January, 
shows the estimated cost of the necessary works at $1,004,070.87, and asked 
that the City Clerk procure a draft of a bill to be sent to the Legislature 
to grant the necessary power to proceed in the matter. Several public 
meetings were held and for months the subject was discussed in the public 
prints, not only as related to the Tully source, but also as to Skaneateles 
lake, which is now thought to be the future water supply. But the final 
report of the committee, which was made in February, while favorable in 
most respects to the Tully source and the proposed works, concluded 
with the recommendation that under the existing condition of the city's 
finances it was not advi.sable to begin the undertaking at that time. 

In January, steps were taken to sell the remaining State salt lands in the 
Third ward, and George F. Comstock, Henry S. Randall, and George 
Geddes were appointed by the State authorities to appraise the tract. This 
resulted in an appraisal of the property of the lots occupied by the Syracuse 
Solar Salt Company at $49,1 15 ; those by the Onondaga Solar Salt Com- 
pany, and L. Stevens & Co., at $126,050 ; and the mill and other structures 
at $2,500. The Commissioners of the Land Of^ce said that as it appeared 
the lands could be sold for a sum ample to pay those occupying them for 
all damages and costs of removal, the report of the Commission was ap- 
proved. The Commissioners were directed to first purchase other lands 
equal in quantity to those to be sold and then proceed with the sale. The 
removal of the salt vats began in February, but the first sale did not take 
place until May, when nineteen lots in block 61 were sold for $15,540, five 
lots on block 67 for $8,750, eleven lots on block 70 for $17,450, nine lots on 
block 422 for $2,595. Another sale was made at a later date, as recorded a 
little further on. 

The Democrats were victorious in the charter election, Francis E. Car- 
roll being chosen for Mayor over C. T. Longstreet by 250 majority, but five 
of the Aldermen elected were Republicans. The financial report showed the 
funded debt to be $148,000, in addition to $800,000 in bonds. The floating 
debt was about $12,000, besides the Fayette street .sewer debt of $36,999.50 
and other items which made it reach f;58,ooo. Against the $Soo,ooo rail- 
road bonds, the city held stock of the Northern road of the par value of 
$500,000, and of the Chenango Valley road $300,000. Of the Fayette street 
sewer debt, the Central Railroad company paid $15,000 and held orders for 
the remainder as before stated. An injunction had been issued enjoining 
the Treasurer from collecting the local tax on this sewer, but it was substan- 
tially dissolved, the tax collected and the whole matter closed up in 1875. 
27 



2IO Memorial History of Syracuse. 



The salaries of the principal city officers were fixed this year at $'.250 for 
the Treasurer; $1,1500 for the Clerk ; $1,200 for the Street Superintendent ; 
$1,200 for the Engineer. The Board of Education budget was $119,600, of 
which $20,000 was for permanent improvements. The city tax levy was 
$415,629.73. 

Strenuous efforts were made this year, beginning with a public meeting 
on the 1st of February, to secure for the city a larger representation in the 
Board of Supervisors. The proposition was made to increase the number 
to two from each ward. Nothing was accomplished on that occasion, except 
the appointment of a committee of five to secure the necessary legislative 
action in the matter. Another meeting was held on the 7th of the same 
month, at which it was resolved to petition the Legislature to increase the 
number of wards in the city to fourteen. At the same time the people of 
the towns in the county arose in their might and in meetings and the public 
press opposed the measure with energy. The whole subject was finally 
dropped for the time being. 

The Legislature passed an Act on the 7th of April, making it lawful for 
the city to receive donations of lands or parks, and providing for a Board 
of Commissioners composed of nine citizens who should report annually to 
the Common Council. The Commissioners named in the Act were William 
D. Stewart, Barrett R. White, H. D. Denison, Frank Hiscock, V'ivus W. 
Smith, T. B. Fitch, Simon DeGraff, John A. Green, John R. Whitlock. 

An Act was passed on the 13th of March, authorizing the construction 
of a street railway in North Salina, Church, Warren, Willow, Townsend, 
Lodi, and Alvord streets to Wolf street. The incorporators were A. B. 
Caldwell, J. O. S. Lynch, C. Fred Herbst, John Demong, N. Grumbach, G. 
Doyle, Moses Summers, D. O. Salmon, B. D. Noxon, W. T. Hamilton, S. 
G. Lapham, J. G. Rhoades, William Barnes, C. B. Clark, N. Peters, and 
Peter Miller. 

An Act passed the Legislature on the 31st of March, amending the char- 
ter as follows: Whenever a sewer over two feet in diameter is ordered, the 
Common Council shall cause an estimate of the expense to be assessed on 
property holders and the excess above such sum shall be paid by general 
tax. 

On the 15th of April, another street railway was authorized by law from 
South Salina street through Fayette, Mulberr}', and Madison streets to 
University avenue and the University. The incorporators were H. Candee, 
A. L. Orman, D. H. Bruce, J. G. Rhoades, Ralph Frizelle, C. G. Hinckley, 
C. E. Pharis,T. Hough, C. B. Clark, N. S. Gere, C. E. Hubbell, Jacob Levy, 
M. P. Pharis, A. C. Morey, C. C. Bradley, jr. Neither of these two lines was 
constructed. 

The Common Council (February 6th) took the necessary steps to secure 



Improvement in the Eighth Ward. 211 



the passage of a law enabling the city to levy a tax of $20,000 for the pur- 
chase of a fourth steam fire engine and the erection of an engine house in 
the First ward, and resolved to open Croton street from Mulberry to Salina, 
and McClellan and Marshall streets, and extend University avenue ; to 
authorize (April 3d) the Committee on city property to buy a lot for the 
new steamer in the First ward ; to report favorably (April 10th, on wooden 
so-called pavements on West street from ]-"ayette to Tully, Wyoming from 
Fayette to Otisco, Salina from Warren to Burt, East Genesee from Orange 
to Almond, and Jefferson from Montgomery to Orange; to order a 24. 
inch tile sewer in part of Marcellus and Walton streets; to open (May 
i;th) Adams street from Irving street to Renwick avenue; to open (Octo- 
ber 9th) North Salina street to the lake; and to build a new bridge on Tall- 
man street. 

In January a movement was made towards building a street railway 
from Clinton Square to Wolf street, in North Salina, Church, Willow, 
Townsend, Lodi, Almond, Court and Park streets ; but the project was not 
consummated. Another similar proposed undertaking was to build a line 
from Salina street east on Fayette to Mulberry street, thence to Madison, 
and thence to University avenue ; but this was also abandoned. The open- 
ing of McClellan and Marshall streets and the extension of University ave- 
nue, before alluded to, were early movements towards the remarkably rapid 
upbuilding of the Eighth ward highlands which followed. As soon as it 
became known that the University was to be located on that hill, far-seeing 
men realized that the population must rapidly increase in that direction and 
real estate values would appreciate in similar ratio. A large portion of that 
beautiful hillside was formerly in possession of Stephen Bastable and was 
used until a comparatively recent date for farming purposes. In later years 
George F. Comstock came into possession of a large tract near the crest of 
the hill. The corner stone of the new University was laid on the 31st of 
August this year, and the " Hall of Languages" soon graced the sightly em- 
inence. At about the same time the purchase of what is now the Reming- 
ton Block for the same institution, awakened the public to a realization that 
a great University had taken root in the city and was destined to succeed. 
These influences conspired to attract home-seekers to those eastern high- 
lands which were rapidly built up with a superior class of residences. The 
growth in that locality has continued with uniform progress to the present 
time. Meanwhile the opening of the street railway to Oakwood and the 
natural beauty and healthfulness of the region south of the city drew many 
people in that direction in quest of homes. Being just outside of the city 
limits the locality escaped municipal taxation, which was beginning to alarm 
conservative people and which alarm constituted a factor in building up 
that locality. Its growth continued rapidly down to and after the organiza- 
tion of the village of Danforth. 



212 Memorial History ok Syracuse. 



On the 17th of August, a meeting of citizens of the Eighth ward was 
called to decide upon plans for the improvement of Forman Park. A com- 
mittee was appointed and the result of their action was the grading of that 
park, the erection of the beautiful fountain, contributed by A. C. Yates, 
and other improvements which unite to render this one of the most inviting 
localities in the city. 

The great Chicago fire occurred in October and a public meeting was 
promptly called for the purpose of aiding the sufferers. The sum of 
$25,000 was contributed by the Common Council from the public funds, 
and during a few succeeding weeks about $10,000 more were subscribed by 
citizens and forwarded to the stricken city. 

It was in this year that the remarkable arson case occurred which came 
of the burning of the large double dry goods stores which had been con- 
ducted by the Bennett Brothers, on South Salina street. Two other men, 
Adam Fralick and one Vedder, acquired an interest in the business, which 
had been unprofitable, and through a deep-laid plot the premises were fired 
and almost wholly destroyed. Fralick was subsequently convicted of the 
crime, sentenced to State prison for life, and committed suicide just before 
being locked in a cell in Auburn prison. Whether this fire and the great 
conflagration in Chicago, filling the newspapers with sensational stories of 
the event, exerted any influence upon depraved minds in Syracuse, or not, 
cannot be known ; but it is a fact that within a few weeks in October and 
November, twelve or fifteen bold attempts were made to burn buildings in 
Syracuse, no less than nine of them being made within thirty-si.\ hours on 
October 15-16. They were scattered in different parts of the city and in- 
cluded all kinds of structures, from the humblest dwelling to the Putnam 
School building. The loss was not very heavy in any single instance, and 
two or three arrests were made ; but the criminals were not discovered. 

Ex-Mayor William Winton died on the 19th of March. He was a na- 
tive of Connecticut and came to Syracuse about 1826. He was for many 
years a well known and popular landlord, first of the old Exchange Hotel, 
corner of South Salina and Washington streets, and later of the Globe 
Hotel. He was also interested in salt manufacturing ; was a Trustee of the 
Onondaga County Savings Bank, and was elected Mayor in 1868. Though 
a retiring man, he made many warm personal friends and was much re- 
spected in the community. 

James Lynch died on the 7th of April. He was a native of Ireland ; 
was in the United States navy in 1812, and located in Syracuse in 1825. 
During the next thirty years he was a prominent and successful merchant 
in Salina. He filled many positions of trust in financial circles and com- 
manded the esteem of the community. He was father of John O. S., and 
James Lynch. 



The Harrison Street Trunk Sewer. 213 



Timothy C. Cheney died on the 9th of April. He settled in Syracuse 
at an early date and became a prominent builder. 

1872. — A review in the public press of the business situation in Syra- 
cuse at the beginning of this year, displayed a hopeful tone. An investi- 
gation showed, as stated, that there was " not a single business house liable 
to distress." A general feeling of security prevailed and there was reported 
"more business stirthan in any other city west of Syracuse." 

In the charter election, Francis E. Carroll, Democrat, was re-elected over 
William Baumgras. Mr. Baumgras was a successful business man of prac- 
tical ideas, and very popular with the German population, from which fact 
it was hoped that he could be elected. Mr. Carroll's majority was 191, and 
five of the Aldermen were Democratic. Police Justice L. L. Alexander, 
(Dem.) was elected over Patrick Corbett by only two majority. 

In the Mayor's inaugural address he called attention to the " lamentable 
deficiency "of water; recommended the purchase of a new hook and ladder 
truck, and reported an apparent reduction of the funded debt of $8,000, 
leaving it $239,500. The indebtedness had been increased by the issue of 
$100,000 in bonds in aid of the University. He also referred to the un- 
adjusted assessment of the East Fayette street sewer, and gave the liabili- 
ties of the city as $112,522.04, and the assets $85,787.01. 

On the i8th of March, 1872, a resolution was adopted by the Common 
Council recognizing the need of a proposed trunk sewer in Harrison and 
Onondaga streets from Chestnut street to the creek, and requesting the 
representatives in the Legislature to procure a law authorizing its construc- 
tion. The project was subsequently carried out, the contract being let to 
A. L. Mason. It was then the most important part of the sewerage of the 
city. 

Other improvements of the year were the paving of North Salina street 
on portions of which Nicholson, cobble and Medina sandstone were used ; 
paving Clinton street with Nicholson : paving James street between Salina 
and Warren streets; a 24 inch tile sewer in the alley from Jefferson 
to Fayette streets and in Baldwin street from the State raceway to the 
creek, and in Butternut street : paving of Railroad street from Salina 
street to Montgomery street ; paving of East Fayette street with wood 
pavement ; extension of Highland street and the widening of Oak street ; 
opening of Alvord street from Butternut to Beecher street, and the opening 
of DeWitt street, and the purchase of a new hook and ladder truck. 

The fourth steam engine, at a cost of $4,400, arrived in January, and in 
the same month began the first agitation of the subject of a Government 
Building in Syracuse. The topic was, as usual, elaborately treated in the 
public press, and all the possible sites commented upon. It is interesting 
to note that the one finally chosen was the old City Hall site, on which the 



2 14 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



City has finally erected, not a Government Building, but a City Hall of its 
own. A bill was introduced in Congress in January to provide for the pro- 
posed building, but nothing was then really accomplished. 

A petition was circulated in January asking the public to take action 
towards securing the passage of a law authorizing the city to issue $250,- 
000 in bonds in further aid of the Chenango Valley railroad. A public 
meetincr was held at which the proposition was considered unfavorably. 

The first substantial improvements on the shores of the Onondaga lake, 
which were intended to render it attractive as a resort, were made this year, 
and " Lake View Point " was fitted up by Fred Ganier, thus inaugurating a 
work that has gone on from season to season and made the lake shores at 
several points very popular as summer resorts. 

Beginning with about the first of October, both of the Savings Banks 
of the city experienced a " run " which continued about ten days. This 
proceeding grew out of the foolish forebodings of a few timid persons, who 
whispered them to others and thus spread a feeling of fear to such an ex- 
tent that thousands of depositors withdrew their savings, often at a loss of 
interest to themselves and causing the banks great inconvenience. The 
business community of the city did not share in the least in this distrust and 
not one depositor of any business prominence withdrew his deposit. 

The Presidential campaign was a most active one and resulted in an 
overwhelming victory for the Republican party through the election of U. 
S. Grant for his second presidential term. A large Grant and Wilson club 
was formed, and in the election the city gave the great General more than 
900 majority. 

On December 15, amass meeting was held in opposition to Sunday 
liquor selling in the city. Other action had previously been taken in this 
matter and a Committee of One Hundred, (so called) appointed. The meet- 
inCT was well attended and a powerful influence brought to bear to reduce the 
free Sunday liquor selling that had prevailed. But it can not be said that 
the results were commensurate with the labor done. 

Two destructive fires occurred— the burning of Leeret & Blaisdell's 
box factory on East Water street, August 15th, and Olmsted & Jones' sad- 
dlery hardware factory on South Clinton street, March 13th. 

The small pox again visited the city and caused a good deal of conster- 
nation, particularly in the adjacent rural districts, where wild tales of the 
epidemic were circulated. In reality on the 27th of January there were 
twenty-six cases reported. A considerable number were reported afterwards 
and several died, but the disease was kept well under control by the vigi- 
lance of the Health Board and the physicans. 

Christopher C. Bradley died on the 3d of January. He removed to 
Syracuse from Groton, N. V., about 1822 and for many years was the head 



The Chenango Valley Railroad. 215 



of the leadinr^ foundry in the place. He held the office of Village Trustee, 
County Treasurer and other responsible positions, and was in every way a 
respected and prominent citizen. Christopher C. Bradley, Jr., president of 
the Bradley Company is his son. 

John A. Green died on the 20th of June. He was a native of Utica 
and went to New York to engage in business early in his life. When 
twenty-one years old he went to California as one of the ■49ers and was 
very successful there in acquiring wealth. He located in Syracuse in 1851 
and joined with Jno. M. Jaycox, forming the for-a-time successful wholesale 
grocery firm of Jaycox & Green. He took a leading position in Democratic 
politics and was a member of the contesting delegation at the Baltimore 
National Convention which nominated Jno. C. Breckinridge for the presi- 
dency. In 1864 he was a delegate to the National Convention in Chicago, 
and again in 1868. In 1864 he was appointed Brigadier-General in com- 
mand of the 24th brigade. He was a man of much force of character and 
genuine ability. 

On the same day (June 20th) Henry Gifford died. He was one of the 
early settlers in the village and one of the first to engage in the coarse salt 
industry. He was a large holder of real estate and built many houses in 
the Fifth ward. He was Vice-President of the Syracuse Savings Bank, a 
Trustee of the Water Company, a director of the Gas Light Company, and 
occupied other stations of trust. 

E. B. Wicks died on the 3d of February. He located in Syracuse in 
1828 and engaged in the hat and fur business on Genesee street with 
J. R. Warner and afterwards began a banking business in connection with 
the other business, on South Salina street where the Mechanic's bank was 
located. When that bank was organized he was made its president and 
continued in that office until his death. He was a member of the firm of 
Ellis, Wicks & Company in the leather business and also engaged in other 
operations. He was a Trustee of the village a number of years and in 
1849-50 was a member of the Common Council from the Fourth ward. He 
was father of Edward B. Wicks, now of Salt Lake, Utah. 

Thomas Spencer died on the 5th of March. He settled in Syracuse in 
1830, was a prominent salt manufacturer and at one time Superintendent 
of the Salt Springs. 

1873. — On the 12th of February the Chenango Valley railroad was 
formally opened with an excursion to Earlville. This line was largely aided 
by the city, and its business during its early years did not meet the expect- 
ations of its projectors, and the city authorities became uneasy as to the 
prospects of their investment. A public meeting was called on the 8th of 
March relative to the matter, and a committee was appointed to investigate 
the financial condition of the road. The subject was discussed at length 



2i6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



and it was learned that the company needed about $600,000. A resolution 
was adopted that the Legislature be requested to pass a law authorizing the 
issue of second mortgage bonds and enabling the city to dispose of its 
stock. About the same time, at a meeting of the directors, the holders of 
certificates of indebtedness agreed to hold their certificates another year, 
and thus relieve the existing embarrassment. The Common Council, how- 
ever, on the 2ist of April, passed a resolution declaring that the road was 
bankrupt and instructing the directors from the city to adopt such meas- 
ures as they deemed best for the interests of the city. In May a circular 
was issued announcing the formation of a company for the purchase of the 
road. It finally passed under control of the West Shore Company, and is 
now practically in the hands of the New York Central. 

It is a fact that at this time prudent citizens of Syracuse saw impending 
calamity in the greatly increased burden of debt under which the city was 
staggering, the apparently reckless manner in which the public funds were 
disbursed, and the prevailing general financial "hard times" (the reaction 
of the inflation due to the war.) As the date approached for the charter 
election, both political parties published " platforms "^a rather unusual 
proceeding in the city. Both pledged themselves to the necessary reforms. 
The declaration of the Democratic party was perhaps unprecedented in its 
self-accusation, for its pledge was to correct "abuses of which nearly every 
man it elected a year ago has been guilty!" 

The election resulted in the choice of William J. Wallace, the Republi- 
can nominee, for Mayor, over Elizur Clark. Four of the eight Aldermen 
were also Republicans, also six of the eight city Supervisors. The acts of 
some of the preceding administrations found little favor in Mayor Wallace's 
inaugural. He condemned in the strongest terms the creation of a floating 
debt, and showed that instead of $25,000 having been spent in the previous 
year for re-paving, as provided by the Charter, more that $38,000 had been 
thus expended. The funded debt was found to be $1,226,000, with a float- 
ing debt of more than $100,000. The liabilities of the city in the Clerk's 
annual report were given as $166,04691, and the assets as $51,794.46. The 
taxation of the preceding fiscal year had been $426,799 21. Mayor Wallace 
saw little possibility of materially reducing taxation but expressed his de- 
termination to enforce economy as far as he was able, and to keep within 
the provisions of the Charter. He wielded the veto weapon on many 
occasions during the year. A public meeting was held on March 26:h, to 
provide for the funding of the great floating debt. James J. Belden, Peter 
Burns and a few others advocated a tax levy and the payment of the debt 
but a resolution was finally adopted in favor of funding and $110,000 was 
thus disposed of a little later. 

In February the Council took action towards the paving of Otisco street, 




/^. ^ /2Y^^^^ ^X^ 



Extensive City Improvements. 217 



and Warren street from Church to James with cobble stone, and widening 
Clinton street between Church and Genesee streets. The old Jamesville 
road was also discontinued. .\ resolution of March 17th ordered Nichol- 
son pavement around Fayette Park, and one of May 12th ordered the same 
pavement on Washington street, between Salina and Montgomery streets. 
At the meeting of May 19th, the Committee on Highways made an ex- 
tended report, counseling retrenchment and the restriction of street im- 
provements to such as appeared absolutely necessary, and then reported 
favorably on applications for wood pavement on North Salina street be- 
tween Division and Isabella streets; on West street between Tully and 
Seymour streets ; on East Genesee street between Almond and Lemon 
streets ; cobble-stone pavement on Church street between Salina and War- 
ren streets; and 24-inch tile sewers in Fabius street from Niagara street to 
the creek, and in Grape street from Harrison to Taylor street. At the same 
time Mayor Wallace took occasion to remonstrate against the liberal con- 
tracts with the owners of the Nicholson pavement patent in the city, as 
the monopoly of that ownership practically shut out competition. 

In September the Greeley wood pavement was ordered in Jefferson street 
between Clinton and Salina streets. In October a 24-inch tile sewer was 
ordered in Montgomery street from Cedar street to the Harrison street 
sewer; and in December $5,000 was ordered paid to George F. Comstock 
for grading Spruce street and the parks in the Eighth ward. Towards the 
close of the year the proposition to build a swing bridge on Salina street 
over the Erie canal was discussed. It was confidently asserted in some 
quarters that the project was impossible, but E. W. Leavenworth showed 
in a communication to the press that it was perfectly practicable. The 
building of the bridge is noticed on another page. 

The second sale of salt lands in the Third ward was made in midsummer, 
at which one lot in block 64 brought $800 ; nine in block 420 brought 
$5,800; six in block 426 brought $4,150 ; four in block 424 brought $10,- 
350; one in block 426 brought $800; two in block 429 brought $2,050, 
and three in block 430 brought $5,100. 

On the 14th of June an Act of Legislature gave to John Greenway, 
Charles B. Sedgwick, P. P. Midler, John M. Jaycox, and A. H. Green the 
right to build a street railway from the corner of Salina and Butternut streets 
to Messina Springs, through Butternut, Park, Douglass and Manlius streets. 

James P. Haskin died on the 30th of January. He settled in Syracuse 
prior to 1850, and engaged heavily in salt manufacturing. In the later years 
of his life he was President of the Morris Run Coal Co., which he was large- 
ly instrumental in organizing, and also engaged in other extensive operations. 
He was a man of great force of character, strong will, and indomitable per- 
severance. 
28 



2i8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

1874. — The charter election this year resulted in a political change in 
the administration, N. F. Graves being elected Mayor over James J. Belden 
by 381 majority; four of the Aldermen were Democrats. In his inaugural 
address Mayor Graves alluded to the large debt "hanging over the city like 
a cloud and darkening the future." He said there was no doubt that capi- 
tal would flow into Syracuse, if such investments could be looked upon as 
safe. The Clerk's report showed a total debt of $1,353,000, all of which 
was funded. 

The principal acts of the Common Council were a report of a Com- 
mittee on Highways (January 26th) favorable to a large trunk sewer in On- 
ondaga street. This project was vehemently attacked in the press by 
E. W. Leavenworth, as wholly unnecessary, at least of such a large size, 
and when the resolution afterwards came up in the Council it failed of 
passage. Douglass and Hickory streets were extended from Highland to 
Oak street; the sewer was ordered in Harrison street from Chestnut street 
to the creek ; Walnut street, Oswego street, and Kellogg street were ex- 
tended ; a flag stone walk was laid around Forman Park; an 18-inch sewer 
was ordered from Oswego street to Harbor brook ; and a 24-inch sewer in 
Townsend street from Union avenue to Laurel street, with other minor im- 
provements. 

On the 8th of May an Act passed the Legislature authorizing the build- 
ing of swing bridges over the Erie and the Oswego canals on Salina street, 
and regulating their control and management. The bridge over the Erie 
canal was built in this year. 

On the 29th of June occurred a terrible calamity at the Central Baptist 
church, by which many people lost their lives and many more were injured. 
It was caused by the falling of a floor in the rear portion of the building 
when the room was filled with people. A full account of the disaster will be 
found in connection with the history of that church in a later chapter. 

We have alluded to the fact that the street railroad between the centraf 
part of the city and Oakwood cemetery was opened in July, 1864. One of 
the principal objects in the construction of this line was the further devel- 
opment of the beautiful section of territory lying south of Castle street. 
A large part of this tract was in possession of Charles A. Baker, George 
Raynor, the widow of Robert Furman, and others, and it was believed that 
if placed in market at reasonable prices, and with the railroad in operation, 
it would be rapidly built up. This expectation was realized and during the 
ten years from the date mentioned to the time under consideration, a great 
many lots were sold and houses built. The lots were almost without 
exception four rods wide or more, and the houses erected were all, or nearly 
all, above the medium size and cost. Several new streets were opened and 
the locality greatly improved. 



Improvement in the Southern Suburb. 219 

In 1874, a larcje number of leading citizens in that vicinity conceived 
the plan of establishing a village government, mainly for the purpose of 
securing better school advantages and better streets. The agitation of the 
subject finally crystallized in an election called for the especial purpose of 
voting upon the matter on December 21 of this year. 

The section of territory which it was proposed to include within the lim- 
its of the village was bounded as follows: Beginning at a monument at the 
intersection of the easterly line of Salina street with the south line of the 
city of Syracuse ; thence westerly along said city line to the right bank of 
the Onondaga creek ; thence northerly across said creek to the left bank ; 
thence up along said left bank of said creek, following its windings and 
turnings, to a point opposite the center of Colvin street ; thence across said 
creek to the right bank in the center of Colvin street ; thence easterly along 
the center of said street to the center of Salina street ; thence northerly 
along the center of Salina street to the center of the Day road ; thence 
along the center of said road to the southwest corner of Oakwood ; thence 
northerly along the west line of Oakwood to the south line of the city of 
Syracuse ; and thence westerly along said city line to the place of beginning. 

The election was held on the date mentioned and the whole number of 
votes cast was 137, of which 85 were in favor of the incorporation. The 
amount of money it was proposed to raise for village expenses was five hun- 
dred dollars. The Act of incorporation was passed by the Legislature 
and at the first village election Edward Abeel was chosen as President. 
The village was appropriately named in honor of the pioneer, Judge 
Asa Danforth. Mr. Abeel held the office of President one year, 
when he was succeeded by T. K. Fuller. He continued in the office five 
years and was succeeded by Edward P. Glass, who filled the position until 
the village was annexed to the city, as related a little further on. Improve- 
ment in the village after the incorporation was rapid and substantial. A 
wooden school building was erected which was subsequently superceded by 
a large brick building, while the erection of handsome dwellings continued 
with increasing rapidity. The village of Danforth soon gained a reputation 
for beauty and healthfulness not excelled by that of any other suburb of 
Syracuse. 

At the very beginning of this year a demand was made public for fur- 
ther charter amendments. The features which it was claimed needed 
attention were more definite and rigid rules for street improvements; an 
increase in the number of wards; a new Auditing Board for city accounts; 
regulations for control of public charities ; amending the police regulations, 
and creating a responsible head for the Fire Department. None of these 
proposed amendments was consummated at that time. 

Gen. William H. Moseley died in April. He settled in Salina in 18 19, 



J20 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



and carried on mercantile business in Syracuse. His health failed and he 
returned to his former home in Massachusetts, and was there made a Ma- 
jor-General. He returned to Syracuse in 1850. In 1857 he was appointed 
librarian of the Court of Appeals library, and from 1850 to 1861 he pub- 
lished The Syraaisan, a semi-literary monthly. Gen. Moseley er joyed the 
fullest respect of the community. 

A. G. Salisbury, the much-esteemed teacher, died on the 9th of April. 
He was at the head of the city schools from the beginning down to 1864, 
when he entered the army as additional paymaster with the rank of Major 
and was mustered out as a Brevet-Colonel in October. 1867. The remain- 
der of his life, with the exception of one year and a half, during which he 
was Warden of the State prison at Auburn, he passed in Syracuse. 

Paschal Thurber died December 26th. He had been a resident of Syr- 
acuse nearly fifty years and was one of the pioneer merchants. 

J875. Syracuse was destined to suffer severely in the summer and fall 

of this year from the small pox and the disease attracted sufficient atten- 
tion in August to demand a public meeting to prevent an epidemic. Either 
in anticipation of the disease or for the general reason that there had been 
mild visitations of it in previous years, the Common Council on January 4, 
directed the clerk to advertise for a site for a city pest house. This action 
led to the purchase of eight acres of land on Beech street and the erection 
in August of the hospital for patients afflicted with contagious disease, with 
necessary outbuildings. Meanwhile in spite of all efforts the disease increased. 
About the 1st of September there were forty cases reported, and on 
the 6th there were six burials from the scourge ; up to that date a total of 
128 cases had been reported, with 36 deaths. The disease progressed with- 
out very much fluctuation until late in the autumn. The press boldly as- 
serted that it was on the wane and confidence restored as early as Octo- 
ber 1st, and on the 8th of the same month a manifesto from leading business 
men was issued, concluding that the disease was about stamped out and 
that there was no danger to people visiting the city. The fact is there were 
52 cases on the ist of November and the disease was not eradicated until 
the close of the year. On the loth of November the city physician report- 
ed that there had been 810 cases and 182 deaths, which number was some- 
what increased after that date. Business suffered seriously on account of 
the loss of country trade and the epidemic cost the city more than 
$60,000 loss directly, and a vastly larger sum indirectly. The hospital and 
grounds cost about $12,000. 

The charter election resulted in the choice of George P. Hier (Republi- 
can) for Mayor, over Henry M. Bancroft, by 479 majority, and five Repub- 
lican Aldermen were elected. There was a tie on this office in the First 
ward and a special election was held on the 27th of February, resulting in 



The Struggle With the Gas Light Company. 221 



the choice of Jeremiah F. Barnes. The Mayor in his inaugural address al- 
luded to the necessity for changes in the charter, a subject which was already 
in the hands of a committee, and condemned wooden paving. The peo- 
ple were just awakening to the fact that they had spent hundreds of thous- 
ands of dollars on the streets which was almost thrown away. The funded 
debt was stated as $i,339,CXX) on the 1st of January ; the liabilities as $126,- 
S67.32, and assets as $1 14,470.52. 

Several important public improvements were made during the year. In 
January the Council advertised for proposals to build a large trunk sewer 
through Hurnet, James, Pearl, and Olive streets to the creek, and the work 
was done. An Act of Legislature was procured early in the year authorizing 
the paving of Salina street from the Oswego canal to Onondaga street and 
the assessment of one-half of the cost upon the property along its line, and 
one-half on the city. The Council approved the Act in March and the 
project was carried out, an 18-inch tile sewer being laid at the same time. 
The bridge question over the canal on Salina street was disposed of by 
the completion of the present swing bridge.* 

Other improvements were the paving of Harrison street between Mont- 
gomery and Salina streets: an 18-inch tile sewer in Plum street ; the same 
in Willow street from McBride to Townsend street ; opening of Almond 
street from Taylor to Burt street; re-macadamizing West Genesee street 
between Wallace and Leavenworth avenue. 

A contest with the gaslight company occurred this year, the contract 
with the city having expired, the beginning of which was a resolution that 
was adopted by the Council, expressing its determination to purchase the 
company's plant, as it had the power to do under the contract of 1849. 
After a great deal of newspaper discussion and argument by the company 
to prove that the city was economically lighted, and by the city to show 
that the company was drawing immense profits from the corporation, the 
matter was finally solved by the company in the spring of 1877 offering to 
supply gas on a ten year contract at $2.10 per thousand feet for streets (in- 
cluding lighting and extinguishing) and $2 00 for public buildings. Upon 
this the Council passed a resolution that the city would pay $2.00 and no 
more for its gas for any period after April i, 1877, and the proposition was 
accepted by the company. 

At a meeting of the Council in June, the Mayor presented a communica- 
tion upon the necessity of adopting some other material than plank for side- 
walks, as there were then pending suits against the city on claims for more 

•The first stone bridge at this point was built in 1823 of a single arch, the bridge rising very 
high in the center. It was superceded t^ one of wood with stringers and planks. Following this 
was erected the old iron bridge similar to others jiow crossing the canal in the city, which stood un- 
til the year under consideration. 



222 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

than $100,000 for accidents on the walks. The matter was not acted upon. 

In March, a committee previously appointed reported favorably upon 
certain proposed amendments to the charter. Briefly they provided for the 
division of six of the eight wards, thus creating fourteen, in order to 
obtain larger representation in the Board of Supervisors; the creation of a 
Board of Public Works and defining its duties— consisting of one member 
from each ward, to serve without compensation ; creating a Board of Fire 
Commissioners ; revising the methods of levying and collecting taxes; reg- 
ulating and defining the powers and duties of the Board of Education and 
increasing its number to fourteen, and the same in relation to the Council, 
with other less important changes. Excepting that a Board of Fire Com- 
missioners was created upon the organization of the paid department, 
none of the above proposed amendments became operative, at least at 
that time. 

In November the Council settled the long outstanding matter between 
the New York Central Railroad Company and the city relative to the 
East Fayette street sewer (pending since 1867), by paying to the railroad 
company §21,999.50 for money advanced to pay the city's share of the 
sewer lax and $12,238.44 for interest. 

Kasson Frazer died on the 14th of May. He was a native of Onondaga 
county and passed the greater part of his life in Syracuse as an active busi- 
ness man and manufacturer. He was for many years associated with Peter 
Burns in the manufacture of saddlery hardware. 

George Crouse died on the 25111 of August. 

1876. — The Republican nominee for Mayor, John J. Crouse, was elected 
in the Centennial year, over John R. Whitlock, by 122 majority, and three 
Republican Aldermen. The financial report at the time showed that the 
funded debt was $1,216,00, with a floating debt of about $150,000. These 
figures were not changed in the Clerk's report of April. 

In his inaugural addre.ss the Mayor protested against the manner in 
which street improvements had been carried out, the lavish expenditure of 
money and such meagre returns. He suggested that a stone breaker should 
be purchased, and also a chemical fire engine, for which the Council had 
been petitioned in the latter part of 1S75. He also advised the funding of 
the floating debt in thirty year bonds. This latter measure was carried out 
this year. 

The principal public improvements of the year were: macadamizing of 
Gifford street from West street to the Onondaga creek : a 3oinch brick 
sewer in University avenue from Madison to Washington street : a brick 
sewer in West Onondaga street from the creek to Delaware street, 3 ft. 9 
inches from the creek to Russell street, and 2 ft. 6 inches thence to Dela- 
ware street ; a 3-foot brick sewer in Leavenworth avenue and Clark street 



To Fav the Outstanding Debt. 223 



from West Genesee street to tlie creek ; relaying of the West Fayette 
street sewer from the creek to its western terminus, ordered in 1875. 

In March a bill was sent to the Legislature giving the Common Council 
authority to levy a city tax as follows: 

To defray the ordinary and contingent expenses of the city, for high- 
ways, sewers, and bridges, a sum not exceeding $150,000; for principal and 
interest of the bonded debt, the actual sum falling due in the ensuing 
year ; for the purposes of the Board of Education a sum not exceeding 
S 100,000; for the expenses of the Fire Department, including salaries, a sum 
not exceeding $35,000; for the expenses of gas and lighting the streets a 
sum not exceeding $35,000 ; for water dues $22,500, or such sum as might 
be awarded by Commissioners duly appointed for the purpose ; for interest 
on temporary loans not exceeding the sum of $10,000; for damages and 
costs not exceeding $5,000. The aggregate sum thus expended was limited 
to $450,000. The same Act defined the duties of the Police Commission- 
ers and the Justice and detailed the manner of making the tax levy. A 
supplemental Act of June 2 reduced the aggregate amount to be expended 
to $425,000 with the exception of the year 1876, when the city's share of 
the Salina street pavement was to be added. 

On the 13th of May, by an Act of the Legislature, the Common Coun- 
cil was authorized to issue bonds for $125,000 to pay the outstanding debt 
of the city, the bonds to be met by general tax. Another Act of the same 
date authorized the construction of a trunk sewer in West Onondaga street, 
and the same in Burnet, James, and across Salina street to the creek. 

A contract with the Water Company was made this year, fixing the 
payment at $25,000 annually from July, 1875; and $5,000 were appropri- 
ated for celebrating the 4th of July. 

The Congress Hall hotel and McCarthy's wholesale stores were erected 
this year. 

1S77. — The reader of these annals covering the preceding ten or fifteen 
years, will not fail to have noticed that Syracuse was rapidly becoming in- 
volved in debt and that, aside from the value, present or prospective, of the 
railroad and university bonds in her possession, the city at the beginning of 
the year under consideration could not exhibit improvement at all com- 
mensurate with her expenditures; and prudent men of all shades of politi- 
cal faith, or of none at all, also began to view the matter in precisely this 
light. A feeling of actual alarm sprang up and measures for future protec- 
tion from evils likely to follow extravagance and corruption were freely 
discussed The result was a call for a public meeting on the 3d of January, 
at which there was considerable speaking indulged in. Dr. Wieting 
claimed that he had years before foretold the existing situation. Dennis 
McCarthy acknowledged that the subject of relief from high taxes and all 



224 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



the attendant evils, presented a great problem. He doubted if nnuch less 
than the authorized sum of $425,000 could be made sufficient for the 
annual necessities of the city; and that all the talk about electing a Reform 
Council was useless, for any Council would still be made up of erring 
human beings. Peter Burns counseled a thorough revision of the charter, 
and thought the Council was subject to wire-pullers. At the first meeting 
(January 3) a committee of one from each ward was appointed to investi- 
gate how the public money had been spent in the preceding year. The 
members of the committee were A. L. Johnson, Thomas J. Leach, A. A. 
Howlett, William Kirkpatrick, Obadiah Seeley, Charles Tallman, Stiles M. 
Rust, and Hiram Kingsley. The theory of action seemed to be that if the 
existence of past errors and delinquencies could be shown, they might by 
some means be avoided in the future. A second meeting was held January 
lOth at which a Committee on Flan of Action was appointed as follows: 
J. Barnes, Peter Knaul, W. B. Smith, Robert McCarthy, J. J. Greenough, 
John R. Whitlock, Nathan Cobb, and Jacob Crouse. This committee re- 
ported before the meeting adjourned. In the first sentence of their report 
they seemed to find a response in the body of the meeting, as well as to 
have discovered a detail in the method of reform that had previously been 
almost overlooked. " It is the future that demands our attention, not past 
errors," they said in substance. " Men must be elected to municipal office 
who are above reproach, and retrenchment, retrenchment must be the future 
watch-word. " Their "Plan of Action " was briefly for the appointment of 
a committee of twelve from each ward, who should constitute a Committee 
of Ninety-six, equally divided as to Democratic and Republican politics, by 
whom the nominations for all city offices should be made, their candidates 
to be supported in the election and the nominations to be submitted to 
a citizens' meeting. The report was adopted. This great Committee of 
Ninety-Six met on the 17th of January and organized by making C. P. Clark 
president, and P. H. Agan and R. A. Bonta, secretaries. A committee of 
two from each ward was selected from the large committee to report a plan 
for making nominations. They reported that the Mayor should be nomi- 
nated from one party, the Overseer of the Poor from the opposite party, 
and so on through all the elective officers, alternating them to each political 
party and making the Board of Aldermen one-half Republican and one half 
Democratic. 

A convention of the Committee of Ninety Six was held February ist.at 
which reform resolutions were passed and the nominations made, John R. 
Whitlock (Democrat) being the choice for Mayor. Now, the difficulty 
(which should, perhaps, have been foreseen) arose. It was not in the na- 
ture of things political that Republican politicians and newspapers would 
enthusiastically support a Democratic nominee for Mayor, and the result 



Tin- Belden Apminmsi-kation. 225 

was that James J. B.'lden was nominated by the Republicans (much against 
his inclination) and he finally accepted. 

The time was ripe. With the agitation which had preceded the nomi- 
nations, to which allusion has been made, the too evident necessity for a 
change in municipal management, and the well known qualifications of Mr. 
Helden for the successful conduct of large undertakings, there swept over the 
public mind such a political revulsion that the Republican candidate went 
into the Mayoralty with the unprecedented majority of 1,745, and carried 
with him the entire Board of Aldermen. 

At this time the liabilities of the city were reported to be §;i03,252.72, 
and the assets $100,19908. In his inaugural address Mayor Belden set 
forth so clearly the sources of financial difficulty that any one could under- 
stand, and expressed his determination that there should be a radical 
change. During the preceding year, §84.923.26 were expended for cleaning 
the streets and temporary repairs, and he characterized this as one of the 
chief sources of waste. The funded debt was stated as being $1,418,000 
and the floating debt $95,763.10. He showed that when the sums of money 
the payment of which could not be escaped, were met from the city's in- 
come under its then existing circumstances, there would be only about 
§20,000 left for pavements, sewers, salaries, and miscellaneous expenses — a 
sum that was a mere tithe of what had previously been annually expended 
for those purposes for many years. Therein lay one of the causes of in- 
creasing indebtedness. He proposed to "start from the bottom," with a 
new set of books, and make future years take care of themselves, at the 
same time doing the best that could be done with the accrued indebted- 
ness. The influence of his practical business methods was soon felt. 

In the Clerk's financial report, April 4, the funded debt was given as 
being §1,418,000, it having been increased in January by funding $125,000 
of floating debt, authorized by Act of Legislature in May, 1876. On the 
9th of the same month, the Mayor sent a communication to the Council, 
insisting upon further retrenchment, stating that there was not a dollar in 
the treasury, and collections of taxes were slow ; that there was a floating 
debt of more than §100,000, (alluded to as being added to the funded debt), 
with enormous litigation, and that the insignificant floating debt of §3,000 
was made to appear at that figure only by crediting up the whole great 
amount of uncollected ta.xes to assets; that the city, represented by the 
Council and the Mayor, must, like an individual, be just before being gen- 
erous. The uncollected city taxes accumulated in the eight years beginning 
with 1869, amounted to $84,299.60, and the local ta.xes to $54,200, a total 
of about §138,500. 

A change was made in the charter (May lo) providing that in making 
out the tax levy for any year, all debts incurred in the preceding year, if 
29 



226 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



any, should be included in such levy, but the aggregate amount to be raised 
should not exceed $425,000, except in the year 1877, when the city's share 
of the Burnet street and the West Onondaga street sewers should be added. 
This provision was intended to prevent the accumulation of a floating debt 
and to abolish the pernicious practice of outgoing Councils incurring debts 
for their successors to pay. 

It will he readily inferred that under the municipal administration of 
1877, public improvements were limited to those which were absolutely 
necessary. On the 21st of February, James Finegan was ordered paid 
$17,500 for Telford macadam in James street, but the amount was after- 
wards reduced to $15,783. The street cleaning contract was let to Finegan 
& Field and it was publicly stated that the streets had never been so clean. 
The Water Company was asked by the Council in May to lay a 24-inch 
main in Cortland avenue to Montgomery street. Action had already been 
begun early in the year by the company, who expressed their intention of 
so much increasing their sources of supply as to give the city 10,000,000 
gallons daily in addition to the existing supply. The plan was carried out 
during this and the next year, by the employment of Worthington engines 
on the bank of the creek and drawing the water through a gravel filter. 

In August, a 24-inch sewer was ordered in Genesee street between Ged- 
des street and Leavenworth avenue, and in October, steps were taken to 
build a new bridge on Walton street. Permission was also given the I)., L. 
& W. Railroad Company to build their bridge on Jefferson street. 

1878. — Mayor Belden announced his determination to decline a renomi- 
nation for this year, but all possible influence was brought to bear to lead 
him to reverse his decision. A petition signed by two or three hundred 
prominent citizens of both political parties appeared in the Journal in 
February, just before election, which, combined with other influence ex- 
erted, induced Mr. Belden at a late hour to consent to a renomination. 
The workingmen entered the political field this year and nominated A. P. 
Yates for Mayor ; but it was a bad time for such an experiment, and Mayor 
Belden was re-elected by a majority of 2,923 over Wilbur M. Brown (Demo- 
crat), and 1,057 over Arthur P. Yates, and seven of the Aldermen elected 
were Republicans. 

In his inaugural address the Mayor briefly reviewed the previous year. 
He said that the measures of retrenchment adopted had proved successful. 
There had, he said, come into the hands of the Common Council a state- 
ment of assets amounting to $136,587.69, which consisted wholly of 
uncollected taxes, and a floating debt of $141,373-76, besides unadjusted 
suits and claims. Of the first named sum there had been collected during 
the year $125,190.36, besides $11,39933 in liens on property. There had 
been paid on that floating debt $116,040.48 and there was cash on hand 



Reports of City Departments. 227 

§9,149.88. The receipt-s for 1877 were $342,757.59. All liabilities for the 
year had been met at maturity and the city owed no debt, actual or con- 
tingent, which had been incurred during 1877. All account.s of this year 
and those relating to previous years had been kept entirely separate. 
• The annual financial report made in April, showed the total funded debt; 
to be III. 382, 500; the liabilities at that time $25,333.28, and assets $27.91 5.45, 
with no floating debt. The Board of Education budget was $109,034.91. 
The Board asked for $7,500 additional for a school site in the Fourth ward, 
which was not granted. The salaries of the principal city officers were fixed 
at §3,000 for the Treasurer, and $2,000 for the Clerk, they to pay their as- 
sistants ; $1,200 to the Superintendent of Streets and $1,500 to the Over- 
seer of the Poor. 

The first annual report of the Board of Commissioners following 
the organization of the paid department in April, 1877, appeared this 
year, showing that there were on hand four Amoskeag engines, one chemical 
fire engine, one hook and ladder truck and apparatus, five hose carriages, 
and sixteen horses, and 11,000 feet of hose. The expenses of the depart- 
ment for the year were about $30,000 and the fire losses about $140,000. 

The first annual report of the Street Superintendent (H. K. Brown) was 
also made, showing that there was expended for street improvements, street 
cleaning and the salary of the deputy $30,213.09, and for the Walton street 
bridge, and the abutments of the Jefferson street bridge, $94475. 

The first City Attorney (Martin A. Knapp), also made a clear report of 
all the litigation in which the city was involved, and a large amount had been 
cleared away. An Act of Legislature (May 7) gave the nomination of City 
Attorney to the Mayor, made his term two years and salary to be fixed by 
the Council. 

The Common Council in February reported the cost of the West Onon- 
daga street sewer as about $17,000; the West Genesee street sewer about 
$5,500; the Burnet street sewer about $68,000, and passed a resolution that 
the Finance Committee negotiate a temporary loan for the payment of 
the cost of those sewers and that the Assessors assess the local tax. 

In March it was ordered by the Council that all tires on wagons used 
in the city after July 1st, 1878, for heavy loads, should not be less than 
four inches in width for a certain weight, and three inches for a load of less 
weight. This action served to protect the streets from a great deal of injurv. 

The new rooms of the Syracuse Board of Trade were dedicated on the 
22d of June, when the President, H. W. Van Buren, delivered an ad- 
dress. This institution was quite active for a few years, but scarcely 
warranted by its work the expectations of its founders. 

In September, a Board of Commissioners was appointed by the Court to 
fix the amount to be paid to the Water Company for three years from July 
1st. The amount decided upon was ^26,000 annually. 



228 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Public improvements were not extensive under the general system of 
economy prevailing. The Council in April declared its intention of con- 
structing an J 8-inch sewer in Elbridge street, and a 24-inch sewer in Kellogg 
street and Slocum avenue. At the same time it was resolved to have the 
charter so amended as to provide for the collection of one-half the cost of 
re-paving and re-macadamizing streets by local assessments. 

In September the payment of the $37,500 of bonds due this year was 
extended fifteen years, and new ones issued. In the same month a 24- 
inch sewer was ordered in East Genesee street, and in December bonds were 
i.ssued for $1,500 to pay a debt of the Creek Commission before alluded to. 

A local paper of the latter part of the year made the announcement 
that, " Go where you will, business men are talking more confidently than 
they have for five years of improvement." A banker was also quoted as 
saying that he was confident the improvement in business would be steady 
and continuous. 

Orrin Welch died on the 21st of March. He located in Syracuse in 1848 
and passed his business life in the office of the Canal Collector, the Gas- 
light Company, and the Syracuse and Binghamton Railroad Company, until 
1870. After that time he was connected with the Morris Run Coal Com- 
pany. In 1876 he was a Police Commissioner, to fill a vacancy, and later 
in the same year, was placed in the Board of School Commissioners. He 
was one of the most prominent Masons in the State and a man who had a 
host of friends. 

Joseph J. Glass died on the 28th of March. He settled in Syracuse in 
i860 and organized the milling firm of Glass, Breed & Co. He was promi- 
nent in Republican politics; was a delegate to the Constitutional Conven- 
tion in 1846 and Member of Assembly in 1848-9. 

Alonzo Crippen died April 14. He settled in Syracuse about 1826 and 
carried on a grocery business in the First ward many years and was also a 
salt manufacturer. He was one of the Village Trustees, and in 1852-3 was 
a member of the Common Council. He also held the offlce of Justice of 
the Peace. 

W. C. Gage died on the 25th of April. He began work in Syracuse in 
1847 as clerk in the Brintnall Hotel, and at a later day kept that house for 
about six years. After a short period in New York city he returned to 
Syracuse and conducted the Empire House about seventeen years. In 1874 
he took the Syracuse House, but retired from business two years later. He 
was a popular host and respected citizen. 

Thomas B. Fitch was born in the town of Kirkland, Oneida county, De- 
cember 10, 1810. At eleven years of age he began work as a clerk in a drug 
store in Utica, and in a short time became the confidential assistant of his 
employer. In 1831 he came to Syracuse and rented the "Green Drug 



TiiK Republicans Continue in Power. 229 

Store," on the north side of Hanover Square and soon afterward took in 
with himself Captain Ilirani I'litnam, the firm being T. B. Fitch & Co., 
which continued until 1846, when they sold out to Dillaye & Co. In the 
fall of 1851 Mr. Fitch was instrumental in organizing the Mechanics' Bank 
and was elected president, with E. B. Wicks as cashier. He was one of the 
founders and a trustee of the Syracuse Savings Bank; was a director of the 
Binghamton railway; was largely interested in early street railroads; a 
director of the Syracuse Gaslight Company ; a trustee of the First Presby- 
terian church; a member of the first Board of Education, and held nu- 
merous other positions of trust and responsibility. Charles E. Fitch, the dis- 
tinguished journalist, is a son of Mr. Fitch. He died in Syracuse in 
September, 1879. 

George Stevens was born in Onondaga Valley July 16, 1808, and when 
he reached his majority he removed to Salina. For some years he followed 
the occupation of builder and manufacturer of salt. In 1834 he established 
a grocery on James street, in which he was very successful, but his entire 
property was swept away by fire ; his numerous friends came to his aid 
and he was enabled to re-e^tabli;h himself and finally gained a competency. 
He was President of the village in the last year of its existence as such and 
was elected to the Assembly for 1850-51. He held a number of 
minor offices and was Police Justice three years. During this period he 
suffered a stroke of paralysis, compelling him to resign the office. He was 
one of the directors of the Merchants' Bank and for several years its presi- 
dent. He was in every way a representative citizen, conspicuous for his un- 
swerving integrity and high order of business and executive ability. He 
died on the 8th of April. 

Jason C. Woodruff died on the i6th of July of this year. He located in 
Syracuse in 1824 and was Mayor in 1852. His career has been elsewhere 
referred to in these pages. 

1879. — On the 22d of January, of this year, the Common Council again 
received a memorial from the (iaslight Company, stating in brief that under 
the offer of the city made April i, 1877, of $2.00 per thousand feet of gas, 
the company was furnishing it at a loss, and that on and after February i, 
1879, ^'ic price of gas would be $2.25. The Council promptly passed a res- 
olution declining to pay that price. 

The charter election resulted in a victory for Irving G. Vann, the Re- 
publican candidate, by a plurality of 870 over Henry J. Mowry, Democratic, 
and Frank Raymond, the Greenback-Labor candidate. Five Republican 
Aldermen were elected. In the remarks of retiring Mayor Belden, he 
reported the tax levies of 1877 ^^^ '^7^ ^" collected, excepting a trifle of 
$113.71 ; that the city, as far as those two years were concerned, was not 
one dollar in debt ; the funded debt had been reduced $37,000, less $1,500 



230 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



issued to the Creek Commission, and there was not a dollar of unfunded 
debt. It may be readily understood that this condition of municipal affairs 
was most satisfactory to the community and regret was universal that Mayor 
Belden could not be induced to retain the office for an indefinite period. 

In his inaugural address Mayor Vann congratulated the preceding ad- 
ministration upon its remarkably gratifying exhibit, and stated the 
amount of funded debt as $1,384,060, with a floating debt covering interest, 
etc., which had accrued before 1877, of $25,000. 

In the Clerk's financial statement of April r, the funded debt was given 
as above. Mayor Vann followed in the lines so clearly marked out by his 
predecessor and restricted public improvements to those absolutely neces- 
sary. In May the Council expressed its intention of building an i8inch 
sewer in Grace street and a 24 inch sewer in Montgomery street, and in June, 
an iS-inch sewer in Otisco street. The iron road bridge over the creek on 
Jefferson street was built this year, and the other principal works were an 
18-inch sewer in TuUy street from Tioga to Seneca street ; an iron road bridge 
in Belden avenue ; a 30-inch sewer in William and Lodi streets to Gertrude 
street, and a 24-inch sewer in Lodi from Gertrude to James street. 

In a resolution of April 1st, the Council appropriated $2,500 as a perma- 
nent fund for school purposes in the Fourth ward. The Board of Educa- 
tion had previously purchased a lot there at a cost of $6,400. This action 
of the Council was vetoed and a larger appropriation made, as above stated. 

The newly-invented telephone was exhibited for the first time in Syra. 
cuse on the 12th of June. 

Bravo C. Dunbar died on the i8th of March. He came from Boston, 
Mass., where he had been engaged in business, to Syracuse in 1856 and 
bought the Roger Billings property at the junction of Warren and South 
Salina streets, and engaged extensively in the manufacture of wagons. 



Record of the Last Decade. 231 



CHAPTER XIX. 

RECORD OF THE LAST DECADE. 

The I.asl Dfc.iilt; — .\pplitation for .1 Xt-w Gas Company Charter — The "City Improvement 
Society " — liuiUling of the West Shore Railroad — Removal of I'oHce Commissioners — Trouble with 
the lioaril of Education— City .Annexation— The New City Hall Project— Failure of the Wilkinsons 
— Charter .Anicndments — Better Water Supply Demanded — The Committee of One Hundred and its 
Work— William .\. Sweets Project — .Annexation of Ceddes— C.ift of Burnet Park — The Kirk Ad- 
ministration — Pushing the Work for a New Water Supply — -V Real Estate Boom — Extension of the 
Street Railway System — Conriusinn. 

THE charter election of iSSo resulted in the choice of Franci.s Hen- 
dricks (or Mayor, over the popular candidate of the Democrats, Col. 
J. W. Yale, by a majority 1,782. Seven Republican Aldermen were elected, 
and Thomas Mulholland's majority for Police Justice reached 3,649. 

The old administration retired leaving a good record, as indicated in the 
Clerk's annual report of April ist in which the funded debt was given as 
$1,351,500; the liabilities $1^,028.28, and assets $30,466.26, with no floating 
debt. The budget of the Board of Education was $106,801.70, and it was 
allowed $5,000 for the Fourth ward school and $2,000 for the Seymour street 
school. 

Public improvements continued upon the former careful and restricted 
basis. A resolution passed the Common Council in January to purchase 
more ground for burial purposes, but nothing was done under it. In Feb- 
ruary, Riley V. Miller, William A. Butler, and others, were given permission 
under certain restrictions, to introduce means for steam heat and power; 
among the conditions being one that a company should be formed with a 
capital of $150,000, and that steam should be supplied to the city for pub- 
lic buildings etc., without charge. This enterprise was progressed consider- 
ably, but for various reasons its consummation was destined to postpone- 
ment. 

At a special Council meeting of March 23d, an application was made 
by a proposed new gas company for a franchise to lay pipes in the streets, 
guiranteeing to furnish gas at $1.50 and $1.75 per thousand feet. The 
meeting adjourned so that an expression of the people might be obtained. 
Following this, the old gas company issued a proposition to sell its plant. 
A long and annoying contest of words followed, similar to those of the 
past, the close of which will be noted further on. 

The principal improvements projected during the year were the re-pav- 
ing of West Fayette street with sandstone from Salina to Wyoming street ; 



232 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



paving East Genesee street with sandstone from Mulberry to Warren street; 
constructing a 24-inch sewer in Gertrude and Madison streets; the division 
of the Fifth ward into three election districts; and the erection of the iron 
liberty pole now standing near the swing bridge, under contract with Cobb 
& Herrick. 

The presidential campaign of this year was unusually exciting, and mass 
meetings and processions were numberless. General Grant visited Syra- 
cuse on the 26th of October and was give a royal welcome. The city 
Republican majority was more than 1,500 on the electoral ticket. 

The corner stone of the new County Clerk's building was laid on the 
nth of August, Hon. William J. Wallace delivering an able address of an 
historical character. 

Thomas Davis, Chief of Police, died on the 8th of January. He was 
born in Salina in 1824. His father was Caleb Davis, one of the prominent 
early butchers. Thomas was appointed on the police force in 1852 and in 
1856 was made Chief, but was soon removed by reason of a political change. 
He was again appointed to the position in 1863. One year later he was 
again displaced, when he joined with Thomas Mulholland, Garret Putnam 
George W. Herrick, and Michael Walsh in a private detective agency. 
When the police force was reorganized in 1869, he was again made Chief 
and held the position until his death. 

Dudley P. Phelps died on the 25th of September. He located in Syra. 
cuse in 1829, entering the service of Dr. Jonathan Day as office boy, where 
he remained until the good doctor died of cholera in the terrible days of 
1832. He remained in the same ofifice with Dr. Day's successor until 18^4. 
He then entered the law office of Wilkinson & Outwaterand studied for six 
years. In 1S40 he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court and later 
in the other Courts, but soon afterward entered the employ of the new 
Syracuse and Utica Railroad Company, where he continued until 1852. In 
1856 he became the general ticket agent for the Michigan Southern Railroad 
Company, with headquarters in Syracuse. This position he resigned in 
i860, and from May, 1861, to March, 1868 was treasurer of the Onondaga 
County Savings Bank. During the next ten years he was president of the 
Trust and Deposit Company, which he aided in organizing. Mr. Phelps 
felt a deep interest in politics as a Republican and was elected to the As- 
sembly in 1855 ; was County Treasurer from 1864 to 1866, a member of the 
Hoard of Education, and held other responsible positions. Mr. Phelps was 
a man of whose character it is difficult to speak too highly ; his business 
capacity was above the average, and socially none could be more popular. 

1881 — In the latter months of the year 1880 a movement came to life 
by which some hopeful persons endeavored to secure the future "develop- 
ment of the natural beauties of our city, its site and surroundings; to pro- 





/D^-6 C9<U^^— 



The City Imtrovement Society. 233 



mote the convenience and comfort of our citizens, and more fully secure 
good government," and to promote the extension and prosperity of the city. 
This was to be accomplished through the laying out of streets in suburban 
tracts, providing for public parks, amending the city charter, the rigid ex- 
ecution of laws, and all possible advancement of the general business in- 
terests of the community. A preliminary meeting was held and a Com- 
mittee of Sixteen was appointed who reported to a public meeting held 
January 4th, of this year, the report covering substantially the above points, 
and thus "The City Improvement Society" was organized. 

Another meeting was held February 22, when Standing Committees 
were appointed and the various objects of the society placed in their hands. 
This plan looked well, but .somewhere in its conception was lacking the 
vital element and after a few abortive meetings it lapsed into oblivion. 

The West Shore Railroad Company was actively engaged early this 
year in securing rights of way and making transfers, and during the year 
continued the operations which led up to the final notorious granting of an 
immensely valuable franchise through the city by the Common Council, 
with very little return. 

The charter election resulted in the re-election of the Republican nomi- 
nee, Francis Hendricks, over Charles E. Stevens by a majority of 1,763, and 
the election of si.x Republican Aldermen. The financial statement re- 
ported assets of $47,833.00, and liabilities $39,423.73. All claims against 
the existing Council were reported paid, excepting a small amount on two 
warrants for crosswalks and on the James street pavement of 1877, amount- 
ingto $9,430. The funded debt was $1,32 1,000, a reduction from the previous 
year of about $30,000. The city tax levy for the fiscal year was $363,000. 
The public school appropriation was $75,000 with $15,000 additional for the 
Prescott and the Seymour street schools. The whole amount expended 
for schools was $121,159.50; for the fire department, $31,588.99; for the 
police force $31,740; on streets $19,666.57, not including cost of broken 
stone. 

The principal public improvements projected or carried out during the 
year were a 30-inch sewer in Seymour street from Niagara street to connect 
with the Onondaga street sewer; a 24-inch sewer in Mulberry street from 
Harrison to Jackson street, and in Almond and Washington streets from 
Fayette to Lemon street ; a 24inch sewer in Lodi street from Burnet to 
William street; re pavement of Wyoming from Fa3-ette to Marcellus street 
and Marcellus from West to Wyoming with sandstone ; re-pavement of 
Warren from Genesee street to the canal; East Fayette from Salina to Mul- 
berry street, and Clinton from Fayette to Water street ; and the construc- 
tion of a four-foot sewer in North Salina street from the hay-market to But- 
ternut street ; a two and a half foot sewer in Butternut to Townsend, and a 
30 



234 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



two foot sewer in Townsend street to Laurel street ; this latter improve- 
ment and some others mentioned were made in the spring and summer of 
1882. 

On the 19th day of July the Wieting Block and the three stores south 
of it on Salina street were burned to the ground, causing a loss of about 
$400,000. The Wieting property, with the purchase of the lands on West 
Water street now covered by the Opera House, and one lot on Salina 
street, was built up by Dr. Wieting in 1883. The adjoining Salina street lots, 
one owned by Giles Everson, and the other by Patrick Lynch, were covered 
with their present fine structures in 1889. 

Edmund B. Griswold died on the 9th of April. In his early life he 
studied law, but gave up the profession to enter the hat .store of L. T. Haw- 
ley, and finally bought the business. For a number of years he carried on 
the trade with his brother on North Salina street. He was somewhat promi- 
nent in Democratic politics and was a member of the I2th regiment in the 
war of the rebellion. 

Jacob S. Smith, one of the staunch business men of Syracuse, died on 
the 22d of June. He located in the city in 1825, and in 1830 in company 
with Levi Chapman, bought the dry goods store of Bradley Wright and car- 
ried on business on the corner of West Water and Clinton streets. He sold 
out in 1840 and worked as clerk in the leather store of H. W. Van Buren 
and Dr. Lyman Clary, in the Townsend Block, until 1850, when Dr. Clary 
retired and Mr. Smith was given an interest in the business. About 1855 
the store was removed to Hanover Square where for many years it was a 
well known and successful institution. Mr. Smith was a member of the 
Board of Education, and was tendered various other evidences of the confi- 
dence of his fellows. 

J882. — In the charter election this year the Democrats wrested the 
sceptre from the Republicans after they had wielded it for seven years, by 
the election of John Demong over George Barnes by a majority of 69. Si.v 
of the eight Aldermen were, however, from the opposite party. The Re- 
publican press of the city stated that this was "a great surprise." 

The financial report showed the funded debt to be $128,800, a decrease 
of $129,500 since 1877. All other debts, with the exception of about $1,700, 
were paid. 

The outgoing Mayor congratulated his co-laborers on the work of their 
administration. There had been seven and one quarter miles of macadam 
pavement made, and one and one-third miles of sandstone pavement ; 
and 7,000 tons of broken stone used in repairs alone. The annual financial 
report of April i, did not change the above figures materially. 

During the admini.stration of Mayor Hendricks (August 29, 1881,) he re- 
moved the Board of Police Commissioners, by virtue of authority of the 



Removal of Police Commisioners. 235 

Act of Legislature of June 21, 1881, applying to the regulation of the police 
force of the city, and transmitted his reasons for the action to the Council. 
His authority and the status of the new appointees was questioned and the 
matter taken to the Courts, where the opinion was rendered that the act 
was legal and the new Board were confirmed, in May, of this year, Mayor 
Demong turned the tables by removing the Board left in office by the re- 
tiring administration, and appointed in their places W. B. Kirk, J. D. Acker- 
man, Rhoda Mara, and T. D. Brewster, a non-partisan Itoard. The reasons 
given for this action were, official neglect and personal dissension in the 
Board. This action caused a good deal of animated discussion. 

The public improvements of the year were not extensive, the principal 
ones projected being the opening of Finegan avenue between Lodi and Oak 
streets ; paving of West Water street between Salina and Clinton streets 
with sandstone : a 24-inch sewer in Gertrude street between Howard and 
Hawley streets: and the Council declared its intention to construct an 18- 
inch sewer in Madison and Adams streets. 

The new Wieting Block was in process of erection this year, and also the 
building occupied by Sperry, Neal & Hyde as a wholesale dry goods house, 
on Clinton street. The Hughson carriage works were burned on October 
8th. The establishment was located at Nos. no, 112 and 114, West 
Fayette street, and the loss was nearly $60,000. 

On the 9th of January the wall of a burned building on West Genesee 
street fell upon a faloon, crushing it and causing the death of three persons 
and the injury of others. 

Henry Shattuck died on the 28th of April. He was a native of Pompey 
and located in Syracuse about 1826, where he worked several years at 
brick-making. He had held the offices of Constable, Under-sheriff, Deputy 
sheriff and deputy United States Marshal, and after 1861 became a large 
owner of real estate and built many dwellings. 

Earl B. Alvord died on the 23d of July. He was also a native of Pom- 
pey, but was intimately associated with the material interests of Syracuse 
for many years. He began manufacturing lime at a comparatively early 
day and later invested largely in real estate ; was also a heavy dealer in coal 
and was connected with very many extensive business interests. 

1883. — In the charter election this year Thomas Ryan, Democrat, was 
chosen Mayor, by a majority of 86 votes, and four of the Aldermen were of 
the same political faith. The funded debt was reported at $125,600; assets 
$47.48668; liabilities $38,353.44. All obligations of the year were re- 
ported as paid, excepting small items amounting to a little more than $2,- 
000. In Mayor Ryan's inaugural address he informed the Council that, 
although the city was authorized to raise $450,000 by annual tax, it was 
gratifying to know that their predecessors for several years had not been 



>36 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



obliged to call for that amount and hoped that the good example might be 
followed by themselves. 

The budget for the year was made up at $376,000 and the Board of 
Education asked for $108,700. There was much opposition to granting 
this sum and the resolution which the Council finally passed appropriating 
that amount, was vetoed by the Mayor, but the veto was not sustained. 
The Board was granted a further sum late in the year making a total of 
$116,000. 

The West Shore Railroad Company were actively pushing their road in 
this locality during the year, and were directed by the Council in January 
to build an iron bridge at their Geddes street crossing and the present hoist 
bridge over the Oswego canal on Salina street. A wide-spread feeling pre- 
vailed that this railroad company had obtained a great deal from the Com- 
mon Council without adequate return to the city, and there was a disposi- 
tion manifested by the public to force the Company to make every possible 
improvement along their line in the city that could be demanded with any 
reason. But the company acted upon a very liberal policy in this regard. 
The contract for their splendid depot was let in March and the road was 
opened on the 1st of October. 

Public improvements were not extensive this year, the principal ones 
being the opening of Fountain street from Gertrude street to Finegan 
avenue; paving of Clinton street with sandstone; building an 18 inch tile 
sewer in Holland street from Slocum avenue to Ontario street ; construct 
ing a 30-inch brick sewer in Harrison street from Spruce to Chestnut street ; 
re-paving East Genesee street from Grape to Orange street; and South 
Franklin street; building a 24-inch tile sewer in Tallman street from the 
creek to South Onondaga street and the same in Butternut street from 
Townsend to McBride street; an 18-inch sewer in Madison street between 
Almond and Orange streets, and the introduction of the Thompson & 
Houston electric light system in the central part of the city. 

1884.— At almost the first meeting of the Council this year the discovery 
was made that the city treasury contained about $10,000 in worthless checks, 
which had been made by James Finegan and A. S. Webb, whose sureties 
were Wilkinson & Co. (Alfred & J. Forman)then doing a banking business 
in the city. This firm was called on to reimburse the city for the amount. 
The money was eventually recovered. 

In February, the Board of Education addressed to the Council a request 
for an appropriation of $8,000, with which to pay bills that had been carried 
over from the preceding year. To give the request additional weight. Su- 
perintendent Smith made a statement of his financial dealings with the Coun- 
cil from and including 1876, which is worth preservation here. In 1876, he 
said, the Board asked and were awarded $90,000 and $6,200 for the Pres- 



Deficiency in Board of Education Fund. 237 



cott School ; in 1877 they asked $75,000 and $7,500 for the peimanent 
fund, the latter being refused; 1878, their experience was the same; 
1879 they asked $75,000 and were cut down $2,500, and of the $10,000 asked 
for the permanent fund, they got ?5,ooo ; 1880, they asked and were award- 
ed $75,000 and $7,000 for the two funds respectively; 1881, $86,000 and 
$4,000; 1882, $1 16,000 and were awarded $100,000, and in June $10,000 ad- 
ditional ; 1883, $102,109.53, and were awarded $93,900, and of $16,500, ad- 
ditional asked, they got $14,800. 

This request came before the Council and was met upon the square issue 
that no more money could be given the Board for the purpose named, with- 
out violating the charter. The consequence was that about the last of 
January, when the funds on hand were exhausted, the Board took steps to 
close the schools. In this exigency Mayor Ryan personally placed a sum 
of moneyat the disposal of the Board to carry them through the year. He 
was subsequently reimbursed under an Act of Legislature. 

The local political campaign this year was a heated one. It was loudly 
claimed that the affairs of the city were again literally "going to the doers," 
and that a revolution must take place. As one means of effecting this, a 
Municipal Club was organized, composed of an e.xcellent conservative ele- 
ment and Wilber S. Peck, a prominent merchant, placed in nomination for 
Mayor. Martin A. Knapp and Hamilton S. White had declined the nom- 
ination. The Republicans did not unite in Mr. Peck's support and nomi- 
nated Willis B. Burns, while the Democrats unanimously re-nominated 
Mayor Ryan. The result might have almost been foreseen, for although 
the Democrats were divided into two factions, Mayor Ryan was re-elected by 
a majority over Burns of 1,708, while Burns had a majority over Peck of 
403. Thomas Mulholland's majority for Police Justice was 1,747. 

The funded debt was reported as $1,222,000, of which there was of prin- 
cipal and interest to be paid during the year, $111,702.50. In his inaugural 
address the Mayor expressed satisfaction that the funded debt was rapidly 
being " wiped out," and that there was no floating debt. He commended 
the new electric lighting system and hoped the Board of Education and 
Council would come to an amicable agreement. The Board of Education 
asked for $136,000, and $6,989.58, to settle obligations of the preceding 
year. $104,868.33, was appropriated, and a law was passed under which 
$7,250 more was afterwards appropriated. 

It was in this year that the annexation agitation began and the policy 
of taking Geddes into the city corporation was freely discussed. A good 
many prominent residents of that suburb favored the plan, but the " rotten 
system" of letting public contracts, as it was stated, caused a good deal of 
opposition. At the same time the project of bringing the beautiful suburb 
of Danforth within the corporation was strongly advocated by citizens of the 
city, but the residents of that village were not yet ready for the change. 



238 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

The Water Company enjoyed its periodical scuffle with the city authori- 
ties this year, the three year's contract having expired on the last of July. 
A disposition was shown by the Council to refuse an advance in rates de- 
manded by the company, whereupon the latter expressed its purpose of put- 
ting in water meters and charging the city ten cents per gallon for its water. 
This plan was repudiated and when the conflict had continued for the cus- 
tomary period, the price for another three years was fixed at $26,000, the 
sum which had been paid during the previous three years. 

An appropriation of $200,000 had been secured in Congress through the 
efforts of Hon. Frank Hiscock for a Government Building in Syracuse. 
The lot on the corner of East Fayette and Warren streets was purchased of 
the St. Paul's Church Society for $70,000, and as the remainder of the ap- 
propriation was not deemed sufficient for a suitable building, Mr. Hiscock 
secured a further appropriation of $75,000, and the building was begun in 
March. 

The project of erecting a new City Hall also assumed a definite char- 
acter, and upon a report of a committee previously appointed, a bill was 
drawn and brought before the Council in April, authorizing the construction 
of a new public building at a maximum cost of $150,000, for which bonds 
were to be issued. Another committee was appointed, who reported De- 
cember 8th in favor of adopting the site of the old City Hall and advising 
the appointment of a committee of three to obtain plans and specifications 
for the proposed structure and report previous to February i, 1885. This 
subject will be again alluded to farther on. 

On the loth of December occurred the disastrous failure and assignment 
of the Wilkinsons, private bankers, with preferred creditors whose claims 
were more than $100,000, and an enormous indebtedness besides. This was 
followed by the failure of Westcott & Co., brokers, for more than $50,000. 
The Wilkinsons' assignment was subsequently declared fraudulent by the 
courts, after extended litigation, and a number of the depositors who had 
united and placed their claims in the hands of attorneys, received a large 
percentage of their money. 

The year was a memorable one from its having developed an intense 
and active condemnation of the methods that had long prevailed in letting 
contracts for street improvements. It was shown in the public press that 
there had been spent on the streets during three years prior to May, 1884, 
the enormous sum of $224,405.41, and when the field was surveyed there 
was very little real permanent improvement discernible, with a few excep- 
tions. Streets that were reported as macadamized, were found to be cov- 
ered with a thin layer of broken stone inadequately rolled and with poor 
foundation; gutters were paved in a miserable manner; sandstone pave- 
ments were constructed of unfit material in direct violation of contracts, 



A Municipal Awakening. 239 



and a general system of disregard of moral and material obligations (to give 
it no stronger definition) was shown to liave been practiced for a long period. 
The city Engineer and Street Superintendent were called to account and 
the policy of removing the former official was favorably considered, but 
finally abandoned. South Salina street between Burt and Castle streets 
was paved this year with sandstone, and a part of North Salina street had 
already been similarly treated. The numerous delays in this work, with its 
doubtful character when done, coupled with innumerable smaller pieces of 
work that were executed in a still more disgraceful manner, finally caused 
such a storm of protestation from outraged tax-payers, that a reformation 
was promised. For a time, the contractors were held to more strict account- 
ability and their work was carefully watched; but it cannot be said that the 
improvement in methods was permanent. A resolution was adopted by 
the Council in September that thereafter when any contract was reported 
as completed, a committee should be appointed to inspect the work and see 
if the specifications had been fulfilled. 

In January, sixty additional Thompson-Houston electric lights were or- 
dered by the Council (making one hundred in all) on a five years contract 
made at sixty cents per night per light. This resolution was vetoed by the 
Mayor ; but in August, between fifty and sixty were ordered, seven of which 
were placed in the Second ward ; four in the Third ward ; fifteen in the 
Fourth ward ; nine in the Fifth ward ; five in the Sixth ward ; nine in the 
Seventh ward ; and six in the Eighth ward. To this number sixteen were 
added in November. 

The other principal public improvements of the year were the projected 
pavement of James street, between Lock and Townsend streets, with asphalt 
blocks ; an 18-inch tile sewer in Adams street between Almond and Orange 
streets; the same in Gertrude street froih Oak to Lodi street; a 24.inch 
sewer in Seymour street ; and the same in Lock street between Isabella and 
North Salina streets. 

In January, of this year, a Charter Revision Committee was appointed 
consisting of Martin A. Knapp, Christian FreeofT, S. W. Sherlock, J. Page 
Munroe, and A. II. Green, which reported progress in March, but a part of 
the Committee did not concur in all of the proposed changes. The results 
of their work are recorded under date of 1885. 

Many new buildings were erected during this year, more than four hun- 
dred and twenty, as reported by one of the local papers. Among them 
were the Greyhound Block, William O'Connor's residence block on South 
Salina street, the V. M. C. A. Building, E. McDougall's flats, and others of 
less importance. 

Reuben Wood died on the 16th of February. He was a native of 
Greenbush, N. Y., where he was born in 1822. In early life he was a baker 



240 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



and in 1852 located in Syracuse to follow that business and gradually take 
up kindred lines of trade, such as confectionery, fancy goods, etc. He be- 
came especially well known as an expert angler and was a recognized au- 
thority on all topics connected with that art. On this account he was 
placed in charge of the fishing tackle at the International Fisheries Exhibi- 
tion in London, in 1883. He was conspicuous in the local military, a Mason 
of prominence, one of the old city firemen, and an excellent citizen. 

A. C. Powell died on the loth of September. He was born in Schenec- 
tady July 25, 1813, and was a graduate of Hobart College, having decided 
to make civil engineering his profession. He settled in Syracuse about 
1850 and became a leading and respected citizen ; was a trustee of the On- 
ondaga County Savings Bank; Mayor of the city in 1864, and was Super- 
intendent of the Salt Springs. He was associated in canal and railroad 
surveys, and was called to Austria in connection with government engineer- 
ing work in that country. 

Allen Munroe died on the loth of November. He was a native of El- 
bridge and received his education in the Munro Collegiate Institute. He 
ent^aged as dry goods clerk in Auburn and a short time in New York, and 
located in Syracuse in 1847. He became a conspicuous figure in Whig and 
Republican politics and was elected Mayor of the city in 1854. He was a 
member of the firm of J. W. Barker & Co., and in various other bus- 
iness enterprises and speculations acquired wealth, which, however, he 
lost much of in the latter years of his life. He was elected State Senator 
in i860, and in 1876 was sent to the Assembly. He was also president of 
the Onondaga County Savings Bank a number of years, and was in many 
ways a representative citizen. 

1885. — The topic of a new City Hall was earnestly discussed during the 
very early days of this year, and J. B. Brooks, Thomas McManus andFred- 
rick Schwarz were appointed a committee of three (before mentioned) in 
January, on site, plans, etc. They reported to the Council on February 2d 
that plans had been submitted from five architects : but no further practical 
work was done on the project in this year. 

The Charter Revision Committee, alluded to on a preceding page, fin- 
ished their work, which was approved by the Legislature and received the 
Governor's signature on the 21st of February. The changes were not very 
numerous, but some of them were quite important. Among these, one 
gave the Mayor the appointment of the City Engineer, the Superintendent 
of Streets, and the City Attorney, at the same time retaining all his former 
appointing powers; he was also given a clerk at $800 a year, and his term 
of office was made two years, with a .salary of $2,500. He was given the 
right to object to any item in the city budget, and such objectionable items 
should then be considered by the Council, and might be passed over his 




n>Jio^di^xHjf i ^itfr 



Agitation of the Water Question. 241 

objections by a two-thirds vote. The Mayor, by another section, was given 
power to try any officer summarily and inflict a fine of $25, or suspend him 
until the next meeting of the Council. The term of the Police Justice was 
made four years and his pay $2,200 annually. The term of the City Attor- 
ney was made two years, with salary to be fixed annually by the Common 
Council. Taxes unpaid three weeks after the Treasurer's notice that the 
rolls were in his possession, were subjected to an addition of three per cent. 
For non-payment within three weeks more, five per cent. On taxes 
unpaid after February 15th, one per cent, per month was added 
to the five per cent. The Assessors' term was made four years, with 
an annual salary of $1,500 ; and at the then succeeding election the Alder- 
men were elected for one year in the odd-numbered wards, and for two 
years in the even-numbered wards. After that election the Aldermanic 
term was made two years, with an annual salary of $250 to each. The 
limit of the appropriation for the fire department was increased to $50,000. 
The amount that could be appropriated for contingent expenses was limited 
to $125,000. 

The result of the charter election was the choice of Mayor Ryan for his 
third term, over Austin C. Chase, although the latter was endorsed by the 
Municipal Club. This result was, perhaps, caused in part by the nomina- 
tion of Charles B. Freeman by the Prohibitionists. Mayor Ryan's plu- 
rality was 1 19. Four of the Aldermen (from the 2d, 4th, 5th, and 6th 
wards) were Republicans. The financial statement, as it then appeared, 
showed a funded debt of $1,194,500, of which, with interest, there matured 
during the year $111,912.50. There was no floating debt. Mayor Ryan's 
inaugural address was congratulatory in its tone. He recommended the 
building of the new City Hall; complimented the increase of $15,000 to 
the firemen ; spoke of the new Municipal Civil Service Examiners, from 
which he anticipated good results, and alluded to the fact that there was 
then no contract existing with the Water Company. 

The momentous and continued public topic of this year, was a better 
supply of water for the city. At a meeting of the Common Council March 
9th, F. B. Merrill, representing the Central City Water Works Company, 
made a statement of the plans of that company and the numerous advan- 
tages to arise therefrom, if they were given the franchise asked for. At the 
next meeting both the new and old companies were represented and each 
vied with the other in assurances of what they could and would do. At 
the Council meeting of March 23d the Central City Company was voted a 
franchise for twenty years on a pretty broad and liberal basis, provided they 
brought water from a source that was acceptable to the people. The strife 
between the two companies then waxed warmer than before. The Central 
City Company announced its intention of beginning work in April, and in 



242 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

the next month the old company secured an injunction, restraining the city 
from taking any action in this direction. 

In the fall another element came into the field making the contest a tri- 
angular one. This new element had its birth in a citizens' meeting held 
November 14th, where several speakers condemned both the old company 
and the new and advocated city ownership of its own works. The persons 
who took this step were among the leading citizens of the city. A com- 
mittee of thirty-two was appointed to investigate the subject of city owner- 
ship. At the second meeting, November 17th, a committee of five was 
appointed to draft a bill covering the proposed project and another com- 
mittee of three to receive subscriptions there and then, and $750 were 
promptly subscribed. The large committee was subsequently raised to one 
hundred members and visited Cardiff with Howard Soule, the experienced 
engineer, and were pleased with the prospects of obtaining a liberal supply 
of good water from that locality. The local press teemed with communi- 
cations from various writers, each having his own views of the case. But 
for some reason the Committee of One Hundred closed its career without 
accomplishing anything material, except the gathering of considerable val- 
uable information on the subject from other cities. 

Meanwhile the old company was not idle, and repeatedly assured the 
Council that if they could be guaranteed some definite contract for the 
future, they would take immediate steps to increase the supply and bring 
water from Tully lakes or some other good source; but while they were 
harassed and thrown into litigation to even keep their existence, they would 
not make costly extensions. The year closed as far as that subject was 
concerned, by the Council agreeing to pay $26,000 a year for water for 
three years from July i, 1884. 

The principal improvements projected or carried out during the year 
were a 24-inch sewer in Jackson street from Orange to Grape street, and an 
l8-inch sewer in Kellogg street between Merriman avenue and Ontario 
street ; a 12-inch sewer in Carbon street ; a 24-inch sewer in Fabius street 
between Oswego and Niagara streets; a 30-inch sewer in Van Rensselaer 
street between Park avenue and VV^est Genesee street, and a 24 inch sewer 
in Park avenue from Van Rensselaer street to Leavenworth Park ; a 24- 
inch sewer in Almond street between Harrison and Jackson streets, and a 
36-inch brick sewer in Butternut street from Lodi to Beech streets. 

During the period since our last reference to improvements around the 
lake, it had grown rapidly in popularity as a resort, although pleasure facil- 
ities were still in a very crude state. Charles Kinne was the principal 
pioneer in the work of improvement and for several years ran a steamer, the 
John Grcenway, to the various piers and carried pleasure parties. He was 
captain of his own boat and was destined to meet his death while on duty. 



Increased Business Activity. 243 

for the boiler of his boat exploded on the 23d of May, in this year, killing 
himself and Anthony Vincent, the engineer. 

At about this time Syracuse began to feel the first impulse of a period 
of material growth and business activity which has continued down to the 
present time. During the year under consideration there were 35S build- 
ings erected at an approximate cost of $1,313,790, but none of them were 
very important. 

There were nineteen failures in the city during the year, the losses ag- 
gregating $295,281.77, with assets of $115,659.08. In the previous year 
there were thirty-four failures, aggregating $1,451,708.59, with assets of 
$451,563.49. 

N. Stanton Gere died January 30th. He was born in Geddes in 1832, 
and was a son of Robert Gere. He was early in the grocery trade with 
A. C. Belden, in Geddes, and afterwards largely engaged in contracting. 
He was a trustee of the Merchants' Bank, Superintendent of the Salt Springs 
three years, and a Supervisor several years. 

Ferris Hubble died January 3 ist. He was born in Putnam county, N. Y., 
in 1804, and settled in Onondaga county in 1823. He followed farming a 
few years, and then became popular and successful as a captain on the canal. 
Later he engaged in mercantile business in Geddes, and the manufacture of 
salt. He was postmaster in Geddes a number of years and held other po- 
sitions. 

Herman Ackerman, a prominent German business man, died on the 28th 
of March. He came to America in 1819 and settled in Syracuse in 1840 ; 
was a merchant, brewer, and associated in other business enterprises, and 
particularly in the manufacture of salt in Virginia about the time of the 
breaking out of the war. He was father of Jacob Ackerman, now of Syra- 
cuse. 

Richard Savage died on the nth of April. He was born in Syracuse 
in 1817 and early in life was a captain on the canal. He afterwards built 
the " St. Charles Hotel" (now the Remington block) and conducted it for 
a time, and then engaged in the lumber trade. He was a respected citizen. 

William Baumgras died July 4th. He was born in Bavaria in 1829 and 
located in Syracuse in 1845. Five years later he joined his brothers, Jacob, 
Charles, and Frederick, as Baumgras Brothers, painters, etc. In 1867, with 
his brother Frederick, he engaged in mercantile busine.ss in paints, wall 
papers, etc. He was prominent in politics down to 1878; was Supervisor 
in 1863-4, and in 1872 received the Republican nomination for Mayor, was 
made Police Commissioner, and received many evidences of the confidence 
of his fellow-citizens. He was father of Julius, William H., and Clarence 
Baumgras, all of Syracuse. 

1886.— The water problem of Syracuse absorbed a large share of public 
attention during the greater part of this year, and to some extent entered 



244 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

into politics, at least so far as related to the proposition to bond the city 
to enable it to establish its own water works. • Willis B. Burns was nomina- 
ted for Mayor by the Republicans, the issue, as stated in the press of that 
creed, being "a better city government." Mr. Burns expressed himself 
previous to election as opposed to bonding the city for water while it was 
well known that Mayor Ryan leaned strongly towards the Central City 
Water Company. Mr. Burns was elected. The details of the proceedings 
of the year in this connection are briefly as follows : In January the old 
Water Company, as an offset to the persistent efforts of the Central City 
Company, made a proposal to the Council that they were willing to perform 
all that was promised by the other company, except as related to bringing 
water from Oneida lake, and would fix a scale of rates as low as those given 
by any company in any city of the same population as Syracuse. 

On the 15th of January, the Citizens' Committee, before mentioned, 
expressed themselves in favor of municipal ownership of water works. In 
the same month one hundred and four prominent citizens sent a communi- 
cation to the Council approving of the grant to the Central City Company, 
and a public meeting to consider the subject was called by the Mayor for 
January 23d, in response to a petition from numerous citizens. A bill had 
already been drawn providing for a special election to vote upon the ques- 
tion of issuing bonds by the city to the amount of $1,500,000 to build its 
own works ; but the sentiment of the meeting was in opposition to the 
scheme. This gathering was characterized as " Mayor Ryan's meeting." 
A committee was appointed to visit the Governor in opposition to the meas- 
ure, but the water bill was signed on the 17th of March. This bill gave the 
city power to construct its own works and named, as commissioners, H. L. 
Duguid, William Kirkpatrick, George Barnes, R. V. Miller, William Kear- 
ney, and Charles Schlosser. 

On the 6th of July, City Attorney E. S. Jenney submitted two reports 
to the Council, the first one being a decision that the Central City Company 
would have grounds for an action against the city if the water supply was 
provided in any other manner than as proposed by that company, or by any 
other persons. The other opinion was to the effect that the Council had a 
right to appropriate money to pay the State Board of Health for a general 
investigation of the available sources of water supply, particularly from a 
sanitary standpoint, as had been proposed. 

Meanwhile the sentiment against the city bonding itself for new water 
works grew in strength. A public meeting was held in Wieting Opera 
House on April 25th, which was largely attended and where many leading 
citizens spoke against the measure. The special election was held April 
27th, and resulted in a majority of 4,076 against bonding. 

While these matters were progressing, William A. Sweet came far into 
the front with his plan of bringing water from Salmon River. He procured 



The Salmon River Water Bill. 245 

a preliminar}' survey, analysis of the water, organized free excursions to the 
locality, had a bill drawn and read to the Common Council early in 1887, 
and advanced the matter so far that in May of that year the Water Com- 
mittee met and reported in favor of granting a franchise. But about that 
time opposition to this scheme arose from the other several parties in inter- 
est. Howard Soule, associated with City Engineer W. H. H. Gere, ad- 
dressed a communication to the Council March 7, 1887, in reply to a request 
for an examination into the merits of this project, giving the estimated cost 
of the works as nearly $5,000,000. A bill was drawn at Mr. Sweet's sug- 
gestion and laid before the Legislature enabling the city to bond itself for 
$3,000,000. The Council at a little later date expressed approval of the plan 
of holding aspecial election on thequestion and Mr. Sweet generously offered 
to pay the cost of such election. On the 2d of May the Council rejected 
Oneida Lake as a source of supply, and on the 9th of the same month 
Alderman Joseph W.Young, and Charles Listman, the Committee to whom 
was referred the proposed ordinance granting a franchise to the Sweet Sal- 
mon River Company, reported that river as the best available source and 
the adoption of the ordinance as the only practical solution of the whole 
problem. The ordinance was referred to the City Attorney. His report 
was in opposition to the ordinance, chiefly because there were then two bills 
before the Legislature relating to the subject and serious complications 
would probabl}' arise. He suggested several important changes in the pro- 
posed ordinance. On the 31st of May the old company sent a communica- 
tion to the Council, again asserting its readiness to supply the city on a fair 
business basis and under a contract as binding and economical in its terms 
as had been offered by any other company. The proposed franchise asked 
by the Salmon River Company was amended, as suggested. 

Another new element in the many-sided problem appeared early in the 
year 1887, growing out of extended experiments by the old company in the 
boring of wells in Onondaga Valley and pumping from them, as had already 
been done successfully in other cities. This project and the propositions of 
the old company found man)- influential advocates among conservative 
citizens. 

In the charter election Willis B. Burns, Republican, was elected (for two 
years) over Mayor Ryan by a majority of 1,912, and six of the Aldermen, 
(in the 2d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, wards,) were also Republican. In his inau- 
gural address no special recommendations were made, but a conservative, 
economical administration was recommendtd. The funded debt was 
stated as $1,165,000. It w-as shown that during the preceding year there 
had been about two and three-quarters miles of street graded and macada- 
mized, and $6,264.46, had been paid for broken stone. Temporary repairs 
and street cleaning cost $28,880.59, ^^^ O"^ ^^^ one-third miles of sewer 



246 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



had been laid at a cost of $17,265.44. The Board of Education budget was 
$129,858.40, and they a.sked $20,000 for a new building in the Sixth ward. 
The Board was given $1 18,579.31, to which was added $8,000 in July for a 
building in the Third ward. 

The principal improvements made during the year were a 24-inch brick 
sewer in Grape street from Madison to Harrison; 18 inch tile sewer in 
Delaware street from Grace street to West Onondaga streets; the same in 
Johnson street between Rust and Tallman streets; 24-inch sewer in Town- 
send street between Ash and Butternut streets; 18-inch sewer in Kellogg 
street from Ontario to Delaware streets; sewer in South Onondaga street 
between Tallman and West Onondaga streets; 24-inch sewer in Ash street 
between Townsend and McBride streets; an 18-inch sewer in Peters street 
from Ash to Butternut streets, and a sewer in Merriman avenue from On- 
tario to Sabine streets. 

It was in this year that the annexation of a large extent of territory to 
the city assumed definite shape. There was not very much discussion of 
the subject, except as related to Geddes, where opinion was divided on the 
policy of retaining the village government and adding to it what is well 
known as the " Sackett Tract " and some other smaller sections, or of com- 
ing into the city. In April a petition was circulated in Geddes favoring 
annexation to the city, which was quite extensively signed. At the same 
time a bill was before the Legislature (introduced in the Senate in February) 
amending the charter of the village so as to provide for the annexation to 
the village of the territory mentioned above. Another feature of the dis- 
cussion was the division of the village into four wards. In March the Com- 
mon Council passed a resolution disapproving of the annexation of Geddes 
and the "Sackett Tract" to the city and voted to send the resolution before 
the Legislature. 

The annexation of Geddes and territory adjacent thereto was author- 
ized by an Act of Legislature passed on the 17th of May, (1886), and em- 
braced all within the following described boundaries: "All that district of 
country being the territory of the village of Geddes and all that part of the 
town of Geddes in the county of Onondaga which lies east of the 
line described as follows : Beginning at the intersection of the south line of 
the town of Geddes and the west line of the highway known as the Geddes 
and Onondaga road ; running thence northerly along the west line of said 
road to the south line of the village of Geddes ; thence westerly along the 
south line of said village and the Geddes cemetery to the .southwest corner 
of the cemetery ; thence northerly along the west line of .said cemetery to 
the northwest corner thereof ; thence east along the north line of said cem- 
etery to the west line of said village ; thence northerly along the west line 
of said village and the continuation thereof so far as to intersect the west 



Annexation of tiik Town of Geddes. 247 



line of farm lot number 143 : thence northerly along said west line to a 
point intersecting the continuation westerly of the north line of 6th North 
street to the west line of Quince street ; thence northerly along the west 
line of Quince street and the continuation thereof to the intersection of the 
northerly line of farm lot number 54, and thence easterly along the north 
line of farm lot number 54 and the north line of reclaimed lot number 39 
to low water line on the southerly shore of Onondaga lake." 

The existing charter and ordinances were made to apply to the new ter- 
ritory. The territory h'ing easterly and northerly of the Erie canal was 
annexed to the Third ward. That westerly and southerly of the canal was 
divided into two wards by a line through the center of Genesee street ; that 
south of that street forming the Ninth ward and that north of that street 
the Tenth ward. While this matter was in progress, a petition was circu- 
lated in Danforth for the same purpose. Between the date of our last al- 
lusion to this suburb, in a preceding chapter, great changes had occurred. 
Going back to about 1870, the Summer visitor to that locality would have 
found Furman street a grass-covered lane on which was one small cottage, 
while a rail fence stood directly across the street. Kennedy street and 
West Castle street were in a similar condition, while on Salina, Mulberry, 
and Grape streets south of Castle there were only a very few dwellings. 
Green fields of many acres in extent stretched away in several directions 
and grazing cattle were not seldom seen. But soon after 1870 George Ray- 
nor, who had already erected a number of excellent dwellings, added to 
their number and new comers turned in that direction for the purchase of 
lots and built for themselves beautiful homes. No part of the residence 
sections of the city has ever grown more rapidly in population or with a 
better class than the suburb, and the growth continued down through the 
village existence which has been described, and to the date under consider- 
ation, when the annexation to the city took place. 

The Act of the Legislature under which the annexation of this section 
were made to the city was passed on the 15th of June of this year, to take 
effect on the 3d Tuesday of February, 1887. The Danforth territory which 
was annexed is bounded as follows : " All that part of the town of Onon- 
daga included in the corporate limits of the village of Danforth, and so much 
of Oakwood cemetery as is not already included in the city of Syracuse ; and 
also all that part of the town of Onondaga bounded and described as 
follows: Beginning at the west bank of Onondaga creek and the south line 
of Danforth, and running thence southerly up and along the west bank of 
said creek as it winds and turns to the westward prolongation of the south 
line of lot number 93 of the Onondaga Reservation ; thence easterly along 
the south line of said lot and its westward prolongation to the east line 
thereof; thence north along said east line and the east line of lot number 



248 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

92 of said town to the center of the Day road (so-called) and thence westerly 
along the center line of said road to the south line of said village to the 
place of beginning." 

In June of this year the city received a gift of a magnificent tract of 135 
acres of land on the hills west of the city, from Major John B. Burnet, to 
be devoted to the purposes of a public park. The only important condi- 
tions of the gift were, that the city should expend $3,000 for surveying and 
mapping the tract during the year; $10,000 annually during the succeeding 
four years, and $3,000 annually thereafter. There was some fear on the part 
of the city authorities that public sentiment was against the acceptance of 
the gift under the conditions named, but it was formally accepted in August 
and appropriately named Burnet Park. 

It was at about this period that a street railway "boom " was started in 
Syracuse. The building and extension of these popular public modes of 
travel had remained substantially inactive for a number of years while the 
city was growing rapidly and the demand for cheap and rapid means of 
reaching the suburbs was becoming imperative. The demand was somewhat 
strengthened, and greatly so at a little later date, by real estate operations 
which led to considerable building in outlying sections, to which reference 
will be made a little further on. In January of this year a franchise was 
granted to the Burnet Street Railway Company, and in June to the Wood- 
lawn and Butternut Street Company. 

D. J. Morris died on the nth of March. He was born in Utica in 
1805, and located in Syracuse in 1839, ^s a member of the firm of Morris & 
Sanford, merchant tailors, on the siteof the present Syracuse Savings Bank. 
In the later years of his life his son, Milton H. Morris, was associated with 
him in business in one of the stores of the Globe Hotel Block. 

Francis A. Marsh died on the 4th of April. He was born in Pompey, 
learned the printing trade, and settled in Syracuse in 1884. He was connected 
with the publication of the daily Star, and at a later date and down to 1875 
was city editor of the Standard. He was one of the Board of Aldermen 
in 1856, and during the latter years of his life was Justice of the Peace. 

Alfred Wilkinson died on the 7th of July. He was born in Syracuse, 
August 17, 1831. His education was obtained in the Syracuse Academy, 
and he finished a course in civil engineering in the Polytechnic Institute in 
Troy, N. Y., in 1850. In 185 1-2 he was resident engineer of the Syracuse 
and Rochester Railroad, with which his father was intimately connected. 
He then took charge of the Griffin & Wilkinson foundry in the Fifth ward. 
In 1856 he was made Assistant Superintendent of the Michigan Southern and 
Northern Indiana railroad, where he continued until 1838, at which time 
he settled in Syracuse and with S. H. Slosson founded the banking firm of 
A. Wilkinson & Co. In 1862, Mr. Slosson was succeed in the business by J. 



J^&= 



^ «^ 



I 





<C,^_-<:_-cs' 




Death of Several Prominent Men. 249 

Forman Wilkinson. The later failure of this firm has been mentioned on an- 
other page. Mr. Wilkinson took an active part in politics and was a Repub- 
lican down to 1878, when he espoused the cause of Horace Greeley for 
President. After that remarkable campaign Mr. Wilkinson joined the 
Democratic ranks, and was an influential supporter of Samuel Tilden for 
the Presidency. He filled the office of Collector of Internal Revenue from 
1S62 to 1865. Mr. Wilkinson was possessed of strong traits of character 
and excellent business qualifications. 

William B. Kirk died on the iSth of January. He was born at I'ishkill 
X. v., in 1799. He learned the trade of wagon-making and in 1829 located 
in Cortland, but remained there only one year, removing thence to Cardiff, 
in Onondaga county. Through an unforseen business transaction he came 
into possession of the early tavern which stood on the corner of Fayette 
and Salina streets, (to which an earlier reference has been made) and in 
1826 settled in Syracuse to become the landlord of that house. He made 
it very popular as the "Kirk House," and there laid the foundation of a 
large fortune. He became a heavy owner of real estate and stock of the 
New York Central Railroad and occupied a prominent station among the 
staunch business men of the city. He was father of the Hon. W. B. Kirk, 
now of Syracuse. 

John J. Grouse died on the loth of Februar}-. He was born in Ganas- 
tota on the i6th of August, 1834. He acquired a good education and then 
associated himself with his father in a large wholesale grocery business and 
retained the connection until his death. He was twice elected ^Vlderman 
of his ward in Syracuse, and in 1876 was honored with the Mayoralty of the 
city. He was universally respected in the community. 

Dennis McCarthy, died on the 15th of February. He was born in Salina 
March 19, 1 8 14, and was the son of Thomas McCarthy, the pioneer merchant 
of that village. After securing his education he joined his father in business 
in 1834, and four years later his father retired, the son continuing alone 
until 1846, when he removed to Syracuse and began the long and successful 
mercantile career which ended only with his death. In early life Mr. Mc- 
Carthy was a Democrat, but when the country was threatened by its internal 
enemies he became one of its firmest supporters and continued with the 
Republican party thereafter. He was sent to the legislature in 1845, and 
was Mayor of the city in 1853. I" 'S66 he was elected to Congress, and in 
1875 to the State Senate, and was reelected in 1877. He was very promi- 
nently identified with the banking interests of Syracuse and in all ways 
occupied a position of honor and responsibility. 

1887. — This was the first term in which the Mayor held his office over a 
municipal election, his term having been extended to two years. The elec- 
tion, however, embraced the Aldermen and other officers in eleven wards, 
32 



2iO Memorial History of Syracuse. 



and ten of the eleven Aldermen were Republicans, only the First ward elect- 
ing a Democrat. In his address to the Council, the Mayor referred to the 
fact that in the previous year there had been seventy-two contracts let for 
sewers, gutters, street sprinkling, etc., which was about double the number 
of 1885. Eighteen different sewers had been constructed and $27,500 paid 
on the funded debt, which was thereby reduced to $1,1 4 1,500. Forthe fiscal 
year just beginning, only $1,000 was to be paid, which occurred through the 
admission of Danforth into the corporation. The assets were stated as 
$73,762.25, and the liabilities $73,460.62. The tax levy for the fiscal year 
was $407,872.24. 

The great enlargement of the territorial limits of the cit\- brought with 
it the necessity for various additions in the several departments. The Police 
Commissioners on January 10, asked for an addition of twenty-four men to 
the police force, although the actual admission of the new territory was not 
consummated until February; and the Board of Education asked the Council 
on February 28th, to procure a charter amendment raising the school fund 
from $20,000 to $50,000 and in the same month asked permission to purchase 
the lot on the corner of Mulberry and Madison streets, at $15,000, for the 
new Putnam school building. This request was granted. The Board this 
year was granted for temporary repairs, wages, etc., $129 919.19, and for 
permanent fund $30,000. 

The charter was amended under an Act of May 1 8th, by which the 
boundaries of the enlarged city and the wards were established, and provid- 
ing for the election on the general ticket of the Mayor, Police Justice, four 
Assessors, six Justices, and one Overseer of the Poor. Also, providing for 
regulating the numbering of buildings in the city and for making a city map ; 
for placing telegraph wires under ground ; defining the duties of Justice 
and fixing the limit of expenses of departments as follows : The fire depart- 
ment $75,000; lighting streets and public buildings $50,000. Fixing the 
tax levy limit at $500,000, excepting 1887 8, when there might be added 
$25,000 in each of those years for Burnet Park. The salaries of Assessors 
were fixed at $1,800 annually. 

The salaries of the city ofificers were for this year fixed as follows : 

City Treasurer, for ser\'ices of self ;J;2,2oo 

" " " one assistant >.5oo 

City Clerk for services of self - 2.200 

" " " one assistant - ■ - - Soo 

City Engineer, for services of self, and to keep his own horse and wagon -- 2,200 

City Engineer for one assistant - ' .""" 

City Attorney, for services of self - 2, 500 

Superintendent of Streets, for services of self and to furnish and keep his own horse and wagon, 2,500 

Weigher of Hay, for services of self 720 

Repairer of Lamps, for services of self, and to furnish and keep his own horse and wagon 1,100 

Mayor's Clerk, for services of self Soo 

Janitor, for services of self 720 



Various Public Improvements. 251 



The principal public improvementsprojected or executed during the year 
were briefly, as follows ; Castle street, macadamizing from Salina street to 
Cortland avenue: an 18-inch tile sewer in Jackson street from Mulberry to 
Montgomery street ; the same in a part of Wilkinson street, and in Munroe 
street from Almond street to Renwick avenue; the same in Putnam street 
between Westcott and Maple streets ; a 24-inch sewer in Van Rensselaer 
street from Park avenue to Tracy street ; the same in Division street between 
Lodi and Townsend streets; the saine in the extension of Landon avenue; 
the same in James street from the line of the late Dr. Wieting's lot to 
Catherine street, and 36 inch from there to Lock street ; 18-inch sewer in 
Linden street ; a 6o-inch sewer in Croton street from Onondaga creek in 
Tallman street. South Salina street and Croton street ; opening of Comstock 
avenue from I'niversity I'lace to the Jamesville Road ; a 24-inch sewer in 
Pine street to East Fayette and thence to Rurt street, and a 36-inch sewer 
in West Genesee street from Clinton street to the creek. 

Mayor Burns used the veto power liberally, particularly during the 
latter part of the year, to keep the expenditures within the provisions of the 
charter. The street railway movement continued with increasing activity, 
and franchises were granted to the People's Railway Company, the Third 
Ward Railway Company, and the Burnet Street Car Company, in January, 
1 888,and for the extension of the lines of the Fifth Ward Railway Company, 
the Syracuse and Geddes Company, and the Central City Company. A large 
contract for grading in Burnet Park was let and executed during the year. 

The land embraced in what is known as Leavenworth Circle was formally 
transferred to the city in June and now forms a beautiful attraction at that 
point. In the same month the city contracted with the Syracuse Electric 
Light and Power Company for 147 street lights at $12 per month per light. 

In November the Mayor removed from office, Police Comissioners William 
B. Kirk, Charles Schlosser, and Patrick Slattery, and Darwin L. Pickard re- 
signed. In their places were appointed D. H. Bruce, J. W. Yale, A. V. 
Altman, and 'E. D. Lewis. In the same month the walls of a burned 
building on South Salina street, (site of the Everson and the Lynch build- 
ing.s) fell upon and killed Myron S. Simmonds, of Collamer and Fritz 
Porzan, of the city. 

1888.— In the charter election of this year W. B. Kirk was elected by a 
plurality of ^^t, over Austin C. Chase, Republican and Nathan Wardner, 
Prohibitionist. Eight of the eleven Aldermen elected were Republicans. 
The bonded debt at this time was $1,140,500, of the principal of which 
|i,0Oo fell due in the year. The tax levy was $537,000. The Board 
of Education asked for $187,255.02, which was allowed. 

In his inaugural Mayor Kirk alluded to the inadequacy of the city hall 



252 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

and expressed the hope that something would be done soon for carrying 
out the proposition for a new building. He referred to the water question 
and the approaching end of the litigation to determine if the city had a 
legal right, as against the old company, to construct and own its own sys- 
tem, a plan which he strongly favored. 

On the 5th ,of March, the Water Compan_\- submitted a proposition 
to the Council binding themselves to give the city an adequate water sup- 
ply from their gang wells in the Valley, the principal guarantee asked being 
a ten year contract at a stipulated price. At the same time the Council 
expressed its approval of submitting to the people the question of bonding 
the city for water and requested the Legislature to pass the Salmon River 
water bill. 

On the 2d of April, the Council adopted a resolution requesting the 
Senator and Assemblymen to procure the passage of the bill authorizing 
the construction of a new City Hall. This bill became a law on the 8th of 
May and authorized the city to issue bonds for $300,000 to build the new 
structure, and giving the Mayor power to appoint four Commissioners to 
have charge of the work. He appointed as such Board, Henry J. Mowry, 
John Dunn, Jr., Aug. Falker and E. F. Holden, who decided upon adopt- 
ing the site of the old City Hall. The plans of Architect Charles E. Colton 
were submitted in August and accepted ; the old building was demolished 
and the new one began in the fall of 1889. 

During the winter, as a culmination of all the preceding agitation of 
the water question, a law was passed giving the Mayor power to appoint a 
Board of Water Commissioners consisting of three men from each of the 
two dominant political parties, to make an exhaustive investigation of the 
subject of furnishing the city with an ample supply of wholesome water. 
He appointed as such Board E. B. Judson, Alexander H. Davis, James B. 
Brooks, William H. Warner, P. B. McLennan, and W. K. Niver. These 
Commissioners met and organized in .Tune, and subsequently made an elab- 
orate report in favor of the city building and owning its own water works, 
and adopting Skaneateles lake as the best and most available source. There- 
upon began a long and intensely active campaign to secure this end. A 
special election was authorized to determine the matter, resulting in a major- 
ity in favor of the plan, of 10,395. 

Several changes were made in the charter, under Legislative Act of May 
29th. The more important of these were the following : All rules, by-laws 
and ordinances of the Common Council, before going into force, shall re- 
ceive the afifirmative vote of two-thirds of all of the members elected. 

The Council shall have power to order the construction and repair of 
sewers, pavements, gutters, sidewalks, macadamizing, etc., and provide for 
defraying the expenses by local assessment. 



AcTivnv IX Rkal Estate Operations. 253 

I^ocal iniprovements, except the construction of sewers or the construc- 
tion and repairs of sidewalks, shall be made only upon the petition of the 
owners of one-half the total front feet of property along the line of the 
improvement ; and in the case of sewers, one-third of the property owners. 

When the cost of any specific local improvement exceeds 511,000 the 
Council may, in its discretion, issue local improvement bonds for three- 
fourths of the payment of the same, to mature in one, two, and three 
years. Action was also taken, constituting the Supervisors and the Mayor a 
Board of City Auditors, and attaching a salary of $100 to the office, except 
in case of the Mayor. 

Other changes related to the percentages collectable after specified pe- 
riods on unpaid local assessments : defining more fully the powers of the 
Overseer of the Poor and the Police Justice, in certain cases; and regulat- 
ing the numbering of buildings. 

During this year and the succeeding one (with which this yearly record 
must close) there was an unexampled growth and activity in real estate oper- 
ations, and development of the street car system and suburban territory. 
Large tracts were purchased by individuals and companies, notabh' what 
are now known as Elmwood Park, and Walnut Park, on the west road to the 
\'alley ; Eastwood Heights, between the city and East Syracuse ; Anderson 
Park, South Salina street beyond the city line, and several others, and di- 
vided into lots and placed in market at fair prices and on long time. The 
sales were large, the purchasers being chiefly among the middle classes who 
desired to secure homes of their own. 

The agitation, begun in 1887, to secure the permanent location of the 
State F"air in Syracuse, was continued this year and resulted successfully. In 
aid of the project about $30,000 were subscribed by citizens. 

About 17,000 feet of sewers were built during the year, the principal of 
which were the large brick sewers in Croton street and in Burnet avenue, 
and between four and five miies of paving was done, about two-thirds of 
w-hich was sandstone : the more important of the latter was the paving of 
West Fayette street from Salina to Wyoming street, and North Salina 
from the canal to Butternut street. 

In June of this year the Fifth ward was divided into five election dis- 
tricts, and later in the year the Seventh ward was tlivided into three and the 
Fourth into four districts. 

On the 1 3th of September, the Grand Opera House was burned, and 
has since been rebuilt in its present beautiful form. 

Following is the schedule of salaries of city officers, as fixed for this 
year : 

City Treasurer, in full for all services of self and all assistants ^,700 

City Clerk, for ser>ices of self 2,500 



J54 Memorial Histoky ov Syracuse. 



City Clerk, for one assistant *°° 

City Engineer, for services of self and all assistants, and to keep his own horse and wagon... 4,500 

City Attorney, for seriices of self and all assistants 2,500 

Superintendent of Streets, for services of self and to keep his own horse and wagon 2,500 

Weigher of Hay - '-° 

Mavor's Clerk - 8°° 

Janitor.... 720 

I nspector of Vinegar 5°° 

Repairer of Lamps, for services of self and to keep his own horse and wagon 1,100 

Dr. A. C. Baum died on the 15th of October. He was born in Mont- 
gomery' county, August 28, 1832. His parents located in the town of 
Cicero when he was a child. He was educated at Cazenovia Seminary and 
Madison University; studied for the medical profession and practiced a 
number of years, and was a surgeon during a part of the war period. 
After the close of the conflict he established a banking business in the 
Pennsylvania oil region, in which he was successful. Returning to Syracuse 
he became a member of the wholesale dry goods house of Neal, Baum & 
Co. During the few latter years of his life he founded the business of 
manufacturing and selling Baum's castorine a.xle oil. He was a member of 
the Common Council in 1877, and was a respected and popular citizen. 

Charles Tucker died on the 19th of October. He was born in Connect- 
icut April 23, 1817, and settled in Syracuse in 1840. He was identified 
with the Onondaga County Bank until it was discontinued, and during 
many years of the later years of his life he was agent of the White estates. 
Dr. John M. Wieting died on the 13th of February. An appropriate 
sketch of his life appears in later pages of this work. 

On the 17th of February, Theodore Dissell died. He was born in Ger- 
many in 1841 and came to America with his parents while a child. He 
was employed by A. C. Yates in his large clothing establishment, and in 
1 861 became a partner in the house. On the death of Mr. Yates in 1880, 
Mr. Dissell succeeded to the business. 

Henry K. Brown died on the 7th of June. He was a native of England 
and removed to America in 1820; lived in Utica until 1840 and then set- 
tled in Syracuse. He was a builder and contractor and erected many of 
the prominent buildings of the city. During the first term of the Mayor- 
alty of James J. Belden, Mr. Brown was made Superintendent of Streets. 

John R. Whitlock died on the nth of October. He was born in Sara- 
toga county February 11, 1828, and, with his brother Joel, began dry goods 
trade in Syracuse on the site of the Milton S. Price .store. In 1853 he lo- 
cated on East Genesee street by himself and about 1870 removed to the 
corner of Salina and Fayette streets and there continued in successful busi- 
ness until his death. He was locally prominent in politics as a Democrat ; 
was Alderman in 1873-4; was nominated for ;\Iayor in 1877, and was ap- 
pointed Police Commissioner in i88i. 



The Ci.osiNr. Year. 255 



1889. — The record of the last year which can be included in this work 
was one of general progress and prosperity. In the charter election'Alder- 
men were chosen for the odd-numbered wards only, and Mayor Kirk held 
his office for his second year. The First, Ninth, and Eleventh wards elected 
Republican Aldermen, and the Third, Fifth, and Seventh, Democratic. 
In the full Board there were six Republicans and five Democrats. 

The Mayor in his address to the new Council stated that the bonded 
indebtedness of the city was only $1,139,500, which was less than three per 
cent, on the assessed valuation of the city. Of these bonds $i,ooo,000 
were in railroad bonds; $100,000 in University bonds, and $37,500 in 1878 
bonds for funding floating debt, with $1,000 in the village of Danforth 
bond. The amount to be paid during the year was $79,137.50, and $1,000 
in July. He laid great stress upon the water question and strongly rec- 
ommended the energetic prosecution of the plans for securing water from 
Skaneateles lake, a project which was consummated as far as the necessary 
legislation was concerned, early in the year 1890. 

The charter was further ainended this year, the principal changes being 
as follows: Giving the Mayor the appointment of a Commissioner of Pub- 
lic Works with a salary of $3,500 and defining his duties ; also a Corpora- 
tion Counsel, term two years, and defining his duties ; fixing the salary of 
the Overseer of the Poor at $2,000, and giving him an assistant ; fixing the 
maximum sum for lighting the city at $65,000, for the police $90,000, for 
bridges, sewers, and repairing and cleaning the streets $60,000; for ordi- 
nary expenses, interest on temporary loans, adjustment of claims, Board of 
Health, salaries, etc., $125,000. 

In this year very extensive operations on sewers were carried out, a de- 
tailed list of which is given in the published Council proceedings and need 
not be repeated here. Among the more important were those in Cortland 
avenue, in Gifford street, in Crouse avenue, and in Mulberry street. Sev- 
eral important paving contracts were also executed, among them being 
paving Townsend from James to willow street with asphalt ; paving James 
street with asphalt from Townsend to Oswego canal ; and from Townsend 
to lot 10, block 400, with asphalt and sandstone: paving Johnson street 
from Rust to Tallman street with cobblestone and macadam: paving Fa- 
bius street from West to Granger with cobblestones and macadam. 

During the year several franchises were granted for the building of 
new street railways and the extension of existing ones, as hereafter described, 
while operations in real estate continued active. Considerable progress 
was made on the new City Hall, the new Kirk block, and several other 
quite important structures were erected. The buildings of the city were 
renumbered on the Philadelphia plan of 100 numbers to the block, and 
signs put up on all street corners. 



256 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Small pox again visited the city, breaking out on East Water street, but 
through the prompt and active work of the health authorities it was soon 
stamped out. 

This local and chronological record closes with the city of Syracuse 
bearing every evidence of future rapid and steady growth ; her business and 
manufacturing institutions on a sound and prosperous foundation and rap- 
idly increasing in number and capacity; her public buildings assuming 
a character to render them a credit to the modern prosperous city ; hei*ed- 
ucational and religious institutions a source of pride to every citizen ; ami 
a general feeling of confidence existing in all circles that Syracuse will at 
no distant day double her population and advance in a proportionate degree 
in all other directions. 

The following figures show the annual growth of the city budget from 
the year of incorporation to the present : 



IS64* 


1S65 


1866 


1S67 


1 868 


1869 


$90,317.00 


$115,477.72 


$149,112.25 


$163,242.67 


$227,200.00 


$283,933-80 


1870 


1871 


1872 


1873 


1874 


1S75 


$347,985.48 


$415,629-73 


$416,629.47 


$426,696.21 


$373,063.32 


$456,333.43 


1876 


1S77 


1S7S 


1879 


18S0 


iSSi 


$480,445-42 


$345,000.00 


$345,000.00 


$325,000.00 


$363,000.00 


$366,000.00 


I8S2 


1S83 


1S84 


1885 


1 886 


1887 


$390,oot\oo 


$376,000.00 


$42 5, 000. (X) 

1 888 
$537,000.00 


$425,000.00 

1S89 
$813,000.00 


$425,000,00 


$525,000.00 



Dennis M. Kennedy d-ied in California, whither he had gone to benefit 
his health, on the 2d of April. He was born in Lysander in 1S39, ^^^ ^<-'^- 
tied in Syracuse in 1861, becoming a member of the hardware firm of Ken- 
nedy & Frizelle. The firm was afterwards Kennedy & Spaulding. In 
1883 'i<i retired from the business and bought an interest in the Pease 
Furnace Company, becoming its president. He was in the Board of Al- 
dermen in 1878, and was a successful business man. 

Milton S. Price died on the 9th of April. He was born in New Wood- 
stock, Conn., October ist, 1825. In his early life he was a clerk in Syra- 
cuse and afterwards carried on a general store in Lafayette. He began the 
dry goods trade in Syracuse in 1853, and until his death conducted one of 
the largest establishments in the city. 

J. Forman Wilkinson died on the 9th of May. lis was born in Syra- 
cuse in June, 1829. He graduated as a civil engineer from the Troy Poly- 
technic Institute and was afterwards connected with the Syracuse & Utica 
railroad. His later business career has been noticed on a previous page. 

* The city records previous lo 1,864 '"''^ '" Ji chaotic ami unreliable oiiuliliim and, therefore, no 
attempt is made to carry this record l>acl< of that year 




/ 



ii^^^C 



Civil List and Political History. 257 

John Crouse died on the 25tli of June. He was born in Montgomery 
county June 4, 1802. His early life was spent on a farm and as a clerk, 
and in carrying on a store in Canastota. In 1855 he began the wholesale 
grocery trade in Syracuse with James Crouse. His son, John J., was after- 
wards a member of the firm, and when James died, Jacob Crouse joined 
the firm. In 1864 the latter withdrew and D. Edgar Crouse took an in- 
terest. On the 1st of February, 1887, the business was sold out. Mr. 
Crouse died the wealthiest man in Syracuse. He left as a monument the 
Crouse College for Women, which he gave to Syracuse University. 

Joseph Barton died November 16. He was born in New York Sept 6, 
1825, and settled in Syracuse in 1837, with his parents. He learned the 
cigar making trade and carried on a successful business in that line. Re- 
verses overtook him. but he recovered from them and accumulated wealth, 
lie purchased valuable property on East Genesee and East Fayette streets 
and was burned out in 1867, and on the site built the Barton Opera House, 
the first in the city. This property was transferred to Moore & Lynch, the 
l)resent owners, in 1879. 

Henry L. Duguid died December 30, 1888. He was born in I'ompey 
December 25, 1S32, and was educated at Pompey Academy and Hamilton 
College. He studied law but in 1S58 engaged in business in which he was 
eminently successful. His services wers sought in various corporations as 
trustee, director, or president, and in responsible governmental positions. 
He was three terms in the Legislature. In December, 1883, he was made 
president of the Syracuse Savings Bank. 



CHAPTER XX. 



civil, LIST AMI I'OI.ITICAl. lll>ri)RV. 



VilLige Oflicers— City Officers — Judicial Officers of Herkimer County — Supreme Court Judges — 
Surroaiates — County Clerks — Sheriffs — Treasurers — State Senators — (leneral Political Character of 
the Village and Ciiy — Kirst State Convention in Syracuse — Old Time (iatherings — Democratic 
State Convention iSjij — An K.xcitinj^' Invent — Later Politics. 



\ ILI.AliK OLLK'LKS. 



'^25- — TKisrK.K'. — Joshua I-'orniau, .\ni()s P. ( Irangcr, Moses I), Burnet, lleman Walbridge, 
John Ko^'ers. Asskssors— James Webb, .\lfrcd ,\orlham, Thomas Spencer. Ci.kkk— John 
Wilkinson. Ikkasurer — John Durnford, 

p3 



258 Memokiai, History nv Syracuse. 



1826. — Trustees — Wm. Malcolm, Jonas Mann, John Wall, Henry Young, A. N. Van I'attcn. 
Assessors — A. N. V.-in I'atten, Stephen \V. eadwell, Alfred Northam. fl.EKK — I'cler Yan 
Olinda. Treaslrek — John Durnford. 

1827. — Trustees — Jonas Mann, Archie Kasson, John Wilkinson, James Wehl), Jonathan Day. 
Assessors — Stephen W. Cadwell, Barent Kilkins, Humphrey Mellen. C'l.KRK — John (,'. 
Field. Treasurer — Yolney Cook. 

1828. — Trustees — Henry Newton, John Wall, Amos I'. (Iranger, John Wilkinson, John II. John- 
son. Assessors — Joseph Slocum, Calvin Kiley. I'liny Dickinson. Ci-KRK — John C. I'iekl 
Treasurer — Stephen W. Cadwell. 

1829. — Trustees — Stephen W. Cadwell, Joseph Slocum, 1!. Davis No.xon, Calvin Riley, II. W. 
Yan Buren. Assessors — Elbert Norton, James WcIjIi, W. II. Kirk. Clerk— John C. Field. 
Treasurer — George Fitch. 

1S30. — Trustees — W. li. Kirk, Elbert Norton, Schuyler Strong, Columbus Bradley, II. W. Brad- 
ley. Assessors — R. I. Brockway, David .Stafford, Joseph Savage. Clerk — John C. Fielil. 
Treasurer — Hiram Judson. 

1831. — Trustees — Daniel Elliott, B. D. Noxon, Elijah Dunlap, Columbus Bradley, Roswell llin- 
man. Assessors — Theodore Ashley, W. H. .Mexander, I'aschal Thurber. Clerk — lliram 
A. Deming. Treasurer — Elbert Norton. 

1832. — Trustees — Hiram I'utnam, Wm. Malcolm, David Stafford, jr.. Willet Raynor, Columbus 
Bradley. Assessors — Daniel p;iliott, George Hooker, Mather Williams. Clerk — Hiram A. 
Deming. Treasurer — Elbert Norton. 

1833. — Trustees — Henry Davis, jr., Columbus Bradley, Stephen W. Cadwell, I,. H. Rcdficld, 
John H. Johnson. Assessors — .\. I'. Granger, John Wilkinson, Davis S. Colvin. Clerk — 
Edward B. Wicks. Treasurer — Hiram \. Deming. 

ig3^_ Trustees — B. D. Noxon, Lyman I'hillips, Silas .Ames, I'aschal Thurber, Wm. K. Blair. 

Assessors — Hiram I'utnam, George W. Burnet, H. W. VanBuren. Clkrk— J. K. Hanchctt. 
Treasurer — H. A. Deming. 

l835_ Trustees — Stephen W. Cadwell, Vivus W. Smith, Elihu Walter, Silas .Vmes, Roswell 

Hinman. Assessors — L. H. Redtield, Henry W. Starin, Thomas Bennett. Clerk — I'eter 
Outwater, jr. Treasurer — Hiram Judson. 

jg,5 Trustees — Pliny Dickinson, Thomas B. Fitch, Wm. Jackson, Elihu 1.. I'hillips, James 

Huff. Assessors— W. B. Kirk, David StalTord, jr., Hiram Putnam. Clerk— Levi L. Chap- 
man. Treasurer — Charles B. Hargin. 

jg,- Trustees — E. W. Leavenworth, Wm. J.ickson, John 11. l.athrop, Theodore Wood, Samuel 

Earned. Assessors— Hiram I'utnam. W. II, .Mexander, Robert Furman. Clerk— H. .Nel- 
son Cheney. Treasurer — E. B. Wicks. 

jgjg.—TRissTEES— E. W. Leavenworth, Jonathan Baldwin, Robert I'urman, '.Vnios I'. ( irangcr, 
Ziba W. Cogswell. Assessors— I'liny Dickinson, Charles A. Baker, John II. l.athrop. 
Clerk — Samuel D. D.-iy. Treasurer — E. B. Wicks. 

1839.— Trustees— E. W. Leavenworth, Jonathan Baldwin, Robert I- urman, .\. I'. (Irangcr, Ziba 
W.Cogswell. Assessors — Pliny Dickinson, Chas. A.Baker, John II. l.athrop. Clerk — 
Samuel D. Day. Treasurer— E. B. Wicks. 

1840.— Trustees— E. W. Leavenworth, Jonathan Baldwin, I'aschal Ihurbcr, Gardner Lawrence. 
Lucius A. Cheney. Assessors— Jonathan Baldwin, W'm. K. Blair, C. A. Baker. Clerk— 
Jasper Smith. Treasurer— H. W. Yan Buren. 



Civil. List and Poi.nu ai. History. 259 

iS4i.— rRisiKK.s— Thomas T. Davis, Wm. Barker, Elisha George, Hiram Putnam, Johnson Hall. 
.XssKssoRs— Wm. H. .Me.\ander, Wm. Malcolm, Mather Williams. Clerk — Wm. M. Clarke. 
Trk.\sirkr — II. \\ . \ an lUirtn. 

1842. — Tri'spkks — II. W. Durnfiiril, (Ud. Stevens, Joseph Savage, Chas. A. Baker, Robert Kur- 
man. Assessors — Horace liutts, .\nsel Ivill. Henry Cifforcl. Cl.F.RK — John K. Harlow. 
Trkasirkr— I'liny Dickinson. 

1843. — TRrsrKF.s — Henry Rhoailes, (leo, Stevens, .Manson Thorp, R. R. I'helps, Smith Ostrom. 
.\ssKSSi)Rs— John Newell. Wm. Barker. Horace lUitts. Ci.KRK-Richaril .\. Yoe. Treasur- 
er — Hiram Putnam. 

1844.— Tristkes — Philo D. Mickles, .Me-v. McKinstry, Horace Butts, Robert I'urman, I,. .\. 
Cheney. .Vssessors — Joseph Slocum, Chas. A. Baker, Jared H. Barker. Ci.ERK— Rodolphus 
II. Ducll. TRKASfRlR— Hiram I'utnam. 

1S45. — Tri sTEEs — \\ m. Barker, Jared II. Barker, Alex. McKinstry, I.. .\. Cheney, Bradley 
Carey. .•Ksses.sors — W. B. Kirk, Chas. .\. Baker, Joseph Slocum. ClERK — Caleb B. Crnnili. 
Treasirer — Hiram Putnam. 

1846. — Trustees — E. W. Leavenworth, S. V. R. Vanlleusen, H. White, W. B. Kirk, Joseph 
Billings. .Assessors- -Geo. Stevens, Chas. .V. Baker, Wm. Harker. Ci.erk — Oliver R. W. 
Lull. iRKASfRER — Hiram Putnam. 

1847. — Tristees — E. W. Leavenworth, .\le.\. McKinstiy; Chas. Leonard, Henry ."Vgnew, Perlev 
B. Cleveland, .\ssessor.s— Wm. Barker, H. W. Yan Buren, J. H. Parker. Ci.erk — I). P. 
Wood. Trkasi Ri'.R — Hiram I'utnam. 

C1T\- OFFICERS. 

1S48. — Mavcir — Har\ey Baldwin, Dem. Clerk — Richard A. Yoe. Treasirer — Perry Burdick. 
SiRVEVOR — Benamin F. Green. Aldermen — ist ward — Elizur Clark, James Lynch. 2d 
ward — John B. Burnet, .Mexander McKinstry. 3d ward — Gardner Lawrence, William H. 
Alexander. 4th ward — Robert Furman, Henry W. Durnford. 

1S41) — Mayor — Elias W. Leavenworth, Whig. Clerk — S. Corning Judd. Tkeaslrer — ILarmon 
W. Yan Buren. Surveyor — Joseph M. Trowbridge. Police Justice — R. Woolworth. Alder- 
men — 1st ward — James Lynch, Thomas Feagan, (Resigned F'ebuary 26th, 1850.) John P. 
liabcock, (.Appointed by Common Council to fill vacancy.) 2d ward — Alexander McKinstrv, 
Silas Titus. 3d ward — Gardner Lawrence, .\mos Westcott. 4th ward — Henry W. Durnford, 
Edward B. Wicks. 

i8;o. — Mayor — .Alfred H. Hovey, Whig. Clerk — I.eRoy L. .Ale.xander. Treasurer — Harvey 
Hathway. Surveyor — Joseph M. Trowbridge. Aldermen — ist ward — John P. Babcock, 
Miles W. Bennett. 2d ward — Silas Titus, George W. Herrick. 3d ward— .\mos Westcott, 
John W. Barker. 4th ward — Edward B. Wicks, Henry D. Hatch. 

1851. — .M \Y(>r — Moses D. Burnet, Loco Foco (Elected but declined to qualify,) Horace Wheaton, 
(.Appointed by Common Council.) Clerk — LeRoy L. Alexander. Treasurer — James A. 
Castle. SuRVEVOR — Benjamin F. Green. Police Justice — William A. Cook. Alder- 
men — 1st ward — Miles W. Bennett, Burr Burton. 2d ward — George W. Herrick, James M. 
Taylor. 3d ward — John W. Barker, (removed from W'ard) Benjamin L. Higgins (elected to 
fill vacancy) Yolney Green. 4th Ward — Henry D. Hatch, Charles Pope. 

1852. — May-or — Jason C. Woodruff, Loco F'oco. Clerk — LeRoy L. Alexander. Treasurer 
— Jacob S. Smith. Surveyor — Benjamin V. Green. Justice — Sylvester House (to i860.) 
Aldermen — ist ward — Burr Burton, .Alonzo Crippen. 2d ward — Llaniel O. Salmon, Harmon 
.Ackerman. 3d ward — Yolney Green, Addison G. Williams. 4th ward — Charles Pope, Oli- 
ver T. Burt. 



26o Memorial History of Syracuse. 



1853. — Mayor — Dennis McCarthy, l.nco Kocd. Ci.krk— l.ckoy I.. Alexander. Trkasirer— 
lohn M. Jaycox. Sirvf.yor — Benjamin V. (Ireen. Poi.lCF. JrsricK — Sylvester House. Ai.- 
liKR.MKN — 1st ward — Alonzo Crippen. Patrick Cooney. 2d ward — Daniel O. Salmon, Alexan- 
der McKinstrw 3d ward — .Xddisont;. Williams, John .\. Clarke. 4th ward — Oliver T. Hurt, 
George J. Gardner. 

1854. — .Mayor — Allen Munroe, Wlii;;. CiKRk— Carroll K. Smith. Trkasi RKK — S. Ilervey 
Slosson. StRYEYOR — John K. Kidder. .Vihermkn — ist ward — Patrick Cooney, Richard San- 
ger. 2d ward — Peter Ohneth, Jacob Pfohl. 3d ward — .Alexander McKinstry, .Solomon Wands. 
4th ward — Peter F'eatherly, Francis A. Thayer. 5th ward — William P.. l>urkee, Z. Lawrence 
Beebee. 6th ward — John A. Clarke, Timothy Hough. 7th ward — William C. \ oung. Rob- 
ert M. Richardson. Sth ward — George J. Gardner, Tobias X'.inDusen. Pol K I- JrsI ICF — John 
Dumford. 

1855. — Mayor — l.vman Stevens, Republican. Cl i kk — Carrnll K. Smith. 1 rkasi Ri.k— S. Iler- 
vev Slosson. Siryf.yor — John F". Kidder. .\i.1)KRMk\ — ist ward^Richard Sanger, Timo- 
thv R. Porter. 2d ward-^Jacob Pfohl, Peter Ohneth. 3d ward — Solomon Wands, Manly T. 
Hilliard. 4th ward — Francis A. Thayer, William Kirkpatrick. ;th ward — Z. Lawrence Heebe. 
Vernam C, lames. 6th ward — Timothy Hough, Charles H.Wells. 7th w.ard — Hubert M. 
Richardson, Horatio N. White. Sth W.ird— Tobias \"an Dusen, Elijah M, Ford. 

jS^5 — ^^^YOR — Charles F. Williston, Democrat. Cl KRK — Carroll V.. Smith. 'Trfasi rkr— Fdgar 
Mar%'in. Sirvfyor — Henjamin F. fireen. Ai.iif.rmkn — ist ward -Timothy R. Porter, I'od- 
dington B. Williams. 2d ward — Peter Ohneth, Peter Conrad. 3d ward — Manly T. Hilliard. 
Charles Manahan. 4th ward — William Kirkpatrick, (ieorge Sanford. jth ward — \ernam C. 
lames, William It. Durkee. 6th ward — HenryChurch, .Amos I!. Hough. 7tli ward — Horatio 
N. White. Francis A. Marsh. Sth ward — James L. Bagg, Norman Watson. 

1S57. — Mayor — Charles F". Williston. Democrat. Cl k.rk — James S. Gillespie. 'Irkvmkir — 
Horace Wheaton. SiRVFYfiR — Daniel Richmond. Police Jistkf. — John Durnford. Ai.ijer- 
MEN — 1st ward — Coddington I!. Williams, Patrick ( ooney. 2d ward — Peter Conrad, Cornelius 
L. .Alvord. 3d ward — Charles Manahan, John Ritchie. 4th ward — < leorge .Sanford, William 
Kirkpatrick. fih — ward John C. Manly, (to fdl vacancy)John J. Mowry. 6th ward — .Amos H. 
Hough, Henry Church. 7th ward — Francis .\. Marsh. John Radigan. Sth ward — Norman 
Watson, Samuel J. 1 ackey. 

1858. — Mayor — William Winton, Democrat. Clerk — James S. Gillespie. Trkasi rer — Horace 
Wheaton. Surveyor — John F. Kidder. Poi.ke JisnrF. — Sylvester House, .\liier.men — 
1st ward — P.alrick Coimey. 2d w.ird — Frederick Gilbert. 3d w.ard — Charles .Manahan. 4th 
ward — James Johnson. 5th ward — .\biah P. Doane. 6th ward — John L. Cook. 7th ward — 
Robert M. Richardson. 8th ward— S.imucl J. Lackey. 

1859. — Mayor — ICllias W. Leavenworth, Republican. CLERK — FMgar S. .Mathews. Trkam rer — 
Norman Otis. Sirveyor — John F. Kidder. I'oi.iCK Justice — John Durnlord, .Vi.dermen — 
1st ward — Harvey Hathaway. 2d ward — .Adam I.istman. 3d ward — .Samuel P. Geer. 4th 
ward— Luke Collins, jth ward — David Field. 6th ward — Charles P. Clark. 7th ward — Jason 
S. Hoyt. Sth ward — .Austin Myers. 

i860. — Mavor — .Amos WestcotI, Republican. Cl 1 RK — Fdgar S. Mathews. 'Treascrer — John 
<;. K. Truair. St RVEYOK -John 1-. Kidder. .\i HERMEN — 1st ward — Harvey Hathaway. 
2d ward — .Adam I.istman. 3d ward— .Samuel P. (ieer. 4th ward — Luke Collins. 5tli ward — 
David Field. 6th ward — Charles P. Clark. 7th ward — Horatio N. White. Sth ward^Sam- 
uel J. Lackey. Police JlsriCF: — L. L. .Alexrnder, four years. 

1S61. — Mayor — Charles .Andrews, Republican, Clerk — lulgar S. Mathews. 'Trfasi rer — 
John G. K. Truair. Sirveyor — Hamilton D. Borden. .Aldkr.Men — ist ward — Garrett 
Doyle. 2d ward — Jacob Pfohl. 3d ward — Samuel P. Geer. 4th ward — Horatio P. Glen. 



Civir. List and Poi.iTir.M. History. 261 



5th ward — David Kield. full ward — Moses Summers. 7lh ward — Miiratln N. White. Sih 
ward — Ira Seymour. 

1S62. — Mayor — Charles Andrews, Kepublican. Ci.EKK — Edgar S. Mathews. Tkkashrer — [ohn 
G. K. Tniair. Surveyor — Kenjamin F. Green. Ai.dkrmen — ist ward — Garrett Doyle. 2d 
ward — lienedict Haberlee. 3d ward — Samuel V. Geer. 4th ward — William Summers. 5th 
ward — losiah Hcttis. 6th waril — ("harles P. Clark. 7th ward — Horatio N. White. Sih ward 
— Ira Seymour. 

tS63. — Mayor — Daniel Bookstaver, Democrat. Cl.KRK — Robert M. lieecher. Trkasi'rf.r — 
Daniel J. Halsted. St'RVEYOK — James Burke. Ai.dkrmfn — ist ward^Franklin Ward. 2d 
ward — Charles Meebold. 3d ward — Francis H. Kennedy. 4th ward — Luke Collins. 5th ward 

— Jacob I'inkerton. 6th ward — Francis E. Carroll. 7th ward — I'arley Bassett. Sth ward 

Georj;e J. Gardner. 

1864. — Mayor. — .\rchibald C. I'owell, Republican. Ci.f.rk — Edward H. Brown. Trf.asurer 

John G. K. Truair. Si r\evor — H. Wadsworth Clarke. .\i,dermen — 1st ward — Franklin 
Ward. 2d ward— Charles F. Wisehoon. 3d ward — Jacobus Bniyn. 4th ward — Horatio (;. 
Glen. 5th ward — Josiah Bettis. 6th ward — Alfred Higgins. 7th ward — John T. Crouse. 
Sth ward — Philander \\ . Hudson. Police J I'STIie — George. W. Stevens, fourvears. 

1S65. — Mayor — William D. Stewart, Democrat. Ci.krk — Kdward H. Brown. Treasi'rkr 

John G. K. Truair. Sirxkvor — Henrj- F. Greene. Ai.uermen — ist ward — Peter .\Iackin. 
2d ward — Charles F. Wisehoon. 3d ward — Jacobus Bniyn. 4th ward — Charles Stroh. 5th 
ward — Anson A. Sweet. 6th ward — .Mfred Iliggins. 7th ward— John J. Crouse. Sth ward- 
James Bonner. 

1S66.--MAV0R — Willi.am D. Stew.irt, Democrat. C1.1 kk — Edgar S. Mathews. Treasurer 

.Moses Summers. Sirvkvor — H. Wadsworth Clarke, .\i.iikr.mfn — Ist ward — Peter Mackin. 
2d ward — John Graff. 3d ward — Edmund B. ('iriswold. 4th ward — Charles .Stroh, 5th ward 

— David Field. 6th ward— .-Xlfred Iliggins. 7th ward— Joseph E. Masters. Sth ward 

Robert Hewett. 

1S67. — Mayor — William Stewart. Democrat. Clerk — Edgar S. Mathews. Treasurer Charles 

J. Foote. SiRVEYoR — Hamilton D. Borden, .\i.iiekmen— 1st ward — Samuel Kent. 2d 

ward — John (Iraff. 3d ward — Jacobus Bruyn. 4th ward — David W ilcox. 5th ward Horatio 

G. Glen. 6th ward — Kich.-ird W. Jones. 7th ward — Miles Handwright. Sth ward Robert 

Hewett. 

186S. — MaydR — Charles Andrews, Republican. Cl.ERK — Edgar S. Mathews. Tre.vsurer 

Thomas S. Tniair. Si rvevor — H. Wadsworth Clarke, .\lder.me.n— ist ward— John Keever. 
2d ward— John Hirsch. 3d ward- Jacobus Bruyn. 4th ward— Nicholas Grumbach. 5th 
ward— John Sttdman. 6th ward— Richard W. Jones. 7th ward— Benjamin I.. Higgins. 
Sth ward — James I'inkerton. I'omce Justice — Henry GifTord. 

l86g. — Mayor — Charles P. Clark, Republican. Ci.erk — Edgar S. Mathews. Treasurer 

Thomas S. Truair. Sirvevor— H. Wadsworth Clarke, .\i.dermen— ist ward— .Samuel 
Kent. 2d ward- Peter Miller. 3d ward— William H. Austin. 4th ward— .Nicholas (irum- 
bach. 5th ward— Horatio G. Glen. 6th ward— Alfred Higgins. 7th ward— Jacob Levi. 
Sth ward — James Pinkerton. Police Justice— Patrick Corbett, three years. 

i'^io. — Mayor— Charles P. Clark, Republican, Clerk — Samuel W. Sherlock. Trearurer 

Parley Bassett. Surveyor— William Burke. Ai.der.men — ist ward— John -McCIuire. 2d 
ward— Maximilian Blust. 3d w.ard — Martin Smith. 4th ward— William Phillipson. 5th 
wa-d— Christopher C. Bndley. 6th ward — -Samuel E. Kingsley. 7th ward — Jacob Levi. Sth 
ward — George Draper. 

1S71.— Mayor— Francis E. Carroll, Democrat. Clerk— Samuel W. Sherlock. Treasurhr— 



262 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Parley Bassett. Surveyor— William Burke. Aldermen— ist ward— John McGuire. 2d 
ward— Jacob Knapp. 3d ward— Alfred A. Howlett. 4th ward— William Phillipson. 5th 
ward—Christopher C. Bradley. 0th ward— Thomas Nesdall. 7th ward— Jacob Levi. 8th 
ward — Thomas G. Bassett. 
1872.— Maydr — Francis E. Carroll. Democrat. Clkrk— Samuel W. Sherlock. Trkasirkr— 
Parley Bassett. Surveyor— John B. Borden. Ai,i>kr.\ihn— Ist ward— John McGuire. 2d 
«ard— John Demong. 3d ward— Richard Clancy. Jth ward— John Kohl. 5th ward— Jacob 
I'inkerton. 6th ward— Thomas Nesdall. 7th ward— William Cahill. 8th ward— E. Austin 
Barnes. Police JisTiCE—1,. I. . Alexander, si.x years. 
,873 --Mayor— William J. Wallace, Republican. ( 1 ekk— Samuel W. Sherlock. Trf..\si RER— 
Parley Bassett. Sirveyor— lohn B. Borden. Ai dermkn— ist ward— John Crawley. 2d 
ward— lohn Demong. 3d ward— Richard Clancy. 4th ward— John Kohl. 5th ward— John 
II. Horton. 6th ward— John K. Whitlock. 7th ward— William Cahill. 8th ward— George J. 
Gardner. 
jg^j, —Mayor— Nathan F. Graves. Democrat. Clerk— Samuel W. Sherlock. Tkeasirer— 
Parley Bassett. Sirveyor- John B. Borden. Aldermi.n— ist ward— John Cawley. 2d 
ward— lohn Demong. 3d ward— Richard Clancy. 4th ward— William Kirkpatrick. 5th 
ward— John D. Gray. 6th ward— John R. Whitlock. 7th ward— William Cahill. Sth ward- 
James L. Hill. 
1875.— Mayor— George P. llier, Republican. Clkrk— Lyman C. Dorwin. Treasirer— Albert 
I.. Bridgeman. Sirveyor— Edson L. Luddington. Aldermen— ist ward— Jeremiah F. 
Barnes. 2d ward— Adam Filsinger. 3d ward— .Vustin C. Wood. 4th ward— Thomas Ryan. 
5th ward— William Dickinson. 6th ward— Alfred Iliggins. 7th ward— Albert M. Morse. 
Sth ward— James L. Hill. 
1S76.— Mayor— lohn Crouse. Republican. Cli-.rk— Lyman C. Dorwin. Treasirer— James B. 
Kae. St rveyor— Dennison Richmond. Aldermen— 1st ward — John Harvey. 2d ward - 
John Demong. 3d ward—'limothy Sullivan. 4th ward— Thomas Ryan. 5th ward— .Samuel 
Taylor. 6th ward— Alfred Higgins. 7th ward— Albert M. Morse. 8th ward— Kiley V. 
Miiler. 
1877.— Mayor— James J. Belden, Republican. Clerk— Lyman ''.. Dorwin. Treasirer— 
Stiles M. Rust. Surveyor— Howard Soule, Jr. Aldermen— ist ward— Jeremiah F. Barnes. 
2d ward— John I.istman. 3d ward-. Timothy Sullivan. 4th ward— J. Kmmett Wells. 5th 
ward— A. Clarke Baum. 6th ward— Alfred Iliggins. 7th ward— Albert M. Morse. Sth 
ward — Jacob Crouse. 
1878.— Mayor— James J. Belden. Clerk— l.yman C. Dorwin. Treasirer— Stiles M. Rust. 
Surveyor— Howard Soule, Jr. Aldermen— 1st ward— John Harvey. 2d ward— Philip 
Schaefer. 3d ward— Timothy .Sullivan. 4th ward— J. Emmett Wells. 5th ward— P. B. Bray- 
ton. 6th ward— Alfred Higgins. 7th ward— Thomas McCarthy. Sth w.ird -Dennis M. Ken- 
nedy. Police Justice— Thomas Mulholland, to present time. 
,879.— Mayor— Irving G. Vann. Clerk— Lyman C. Dorwin. Treasi rkr— Timothy Sullivan. 
Surveyor— Edson L. Luddington. Aldermen— ist ward— Andrew .Martin. 2d ward— Joseph 
Waller. 3d ward— .\nthony S. Webb. 4th ward— Charles Schlosser. 5th ward— Charles 
Hubbard. 6th ward— D.iniel Candee. 7!h ward— Dennis B. Keeler. Sth ward— l.uthcr S. 
Merrick. 
1880.— Mayor— Francis Hendricks. Clerk- LymanC. Dorwin. Tre.\surer— Timothy Sullivan 
Surveyor— Edson L. Luddington. Aldermen— ist ward— Andrew Martin. 2d ward- 
Joseph Waller. 3d ward— Anthony S. Webb. 4th ward— Charles Schlosser. 5th ward- 
Greene W. Ingalls. 6th ward— Daniel Candee. 7th ward— William Cahill. Sth ward— Luther 
S. Merrick. 



Civil. List and Poi.iticai, History. 263 



1881. — Mavkk — Francis Hendricks. Ci.f.rk — I.ynian C. Dorwin. Trk.asirer — Timothy Sulli- 
van. Si RVF.VOK — VMson I.. l.uildinj,'ton. .Vr.iiKKMF.N— 1st ward — Frederick Itek-y. 2d ward 
— I.icob F.ichenlaub. 3d ward— .\nthony S. Webb. 4th ward — James Finejjan. 5th ward — 
Richard Trcniain. 6th ward — Willis li. Burns. 7th ward — John Bedford. .Sth ward — l.uthcr 
S. Merrick. 

iSSs. — Mayor — John Demimg. ClkrK — I.ynian C. Dorwin. Trf.\si'rkr — Timothy Sullivan. 
SiR\ EVOK — Edson 1.. Luddinjjton. .Vi.DERMEN — 1st ward — Frederick Beley. 2d ward — 
lacob Fichenlaub. 3d ward — .Vnthony S. Webb. 4th ward — James Finegan. 5th ward — 
Richard Tremain. tJth ward — Willis B. Burns. 7th ward — John Bedford. Sth ward — I.uther 
S. Merrick. 

1SS3. — Mayor — Thomas Ryan. Ci.krk — Lyman C. Dorwin. Treasirkr — Charlcs/J. Rae. 
SiRVEVOR — John B. Borden. .Vi.dermen — 1st ward — Frederick Beley. 2d ward — Jacob 
Eiclienlaub. 3d ward — Frank Matty. 4th ward — J. Emmet Wells. 5th ward — John C. 
Keefe. (ith ward — Charlee E. Candee. 7th ward — Thomas McManus. Sth ward — I.uther .S. 
Merrick. 

1884. — Mayor — Thomas Ryan. Clerk — Henry W. Bannister. Treasi rek — Charles J. Rae. 
Surveyor — Thomas Goodscll. .\i.I)KRMEX — 1st ward — Iloyt H Freeman. 2d ward — Charles 
I.istman. 3d ward — Frank Matty. 4th ward — Frederick Schwarz. 5th ward — William I. 
("lilletf. 6th ward — Charles E. (.'andee. 7th ward — Thomas McManus. Slh ward — (ames 
B. Brooks. 

1885.— Mayor — Thomas Ryan. Ci.erk — Henry W. Bannister. Trkasirf.r — Charles J. Rae. 
Sirveyor — John B. Borden, .•\liiermen — ist ward — John l.eahey. 2d ward— Charles List- 
man. 3d ward — James Downey. 4th ward — Phillip Goettel. 5th ward — John G. (ilazier. 
6th ward — Charles K. Candee. 7th ward — Thomas .McManus. Sth ward — Terrence D. 
Wilkin. 

1886. — Mayor — Willis B. Burns. Ci.ERK — Henry W. Bannister. Treasirkr — .Michael Whelan. 
Si rveyor — W. H. H. Gere. .Vi.dermen — Ist ward — John Leahev. 2d ward — Charles List- 
man. 3d ward— James Downey. 4th ward — Phillip Goettel. 5th ward — John G. Glazier. 
6th ward— Charles E. Candee. 7th ward— Thomas McManus. Sth ward — Terrence D. 
Wilkin. 

18S7. — Mayor — Willis B. Burns. Clerk— Henry W. Bannister. Treasirek— Michael Whelan. 
Sirveyor — W. H. H. Gere. .\lI)Ermen — 1st ward— John Leahey. 2d ward— Charles List- 
man. 3d ward — Patrick ()uinlan. 4th ward — Jacob Galster. 5th ward — Charles C. Lott. 
6th ward — Charles E. Candee. 7th ward— Peter E. Garlick. Sth ward— Joseph W. \oung. 
9th ward — Frank M. Sweet. loth ward — John P. Shumway. nth ward — John McLennan. 

18SS. — Mayor — William B. Kirk. Clerk — Henry W. Banni tcr. TREASLRER--Michael Whelan. 
SfRVEVOR — John B. Borden. Aldermen — ist ward — John Leahey. 2d ward — Peter .Snavely. 
3d ward — Patrick (Juinlan. 4th ward — John Finigan. 5th ward — Charles C. Lott. 6th ward 
— Charles E. Candee. 7th ward--Peter E. (larlick. Sth ward — C. E. Seager. yth ward- 
Frank M. Sweet. loth ward — John Scanlan. nth ward — John McLennan. 

1SS9. — Mayor — William B. Kirk, Democrat. Clerk — Henry W. Bannister. Trkasirer Ben- 

jaman W. Roscoe. Si kveyor — John J. Borden. Alijermen — 1st ward — Thomas .Small. 
2d ward — Peter Snavely. 3d ward — Frank Matty. 4th ward — James Finegan. 5ih ward- 
Terrence D. Wilkin. 6th ward — Charles E. Candee. 7th ward — Michael 1). Mc.\uli(Te. Sth 
ward — C. Eugene Seager, yth ward — Edward M. Klock. 10th ward — John Scanlan. nth 
ward — John McLennan. 

COLNTV t)FFICEKS. 
The duties of the civil officers of Onondaga county are so intimately 



264 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



associated with the government of the village and the city, that it is con- 
sidered important, aside from its general value as a record, to give a large 
portion of the list a permanent place in these pages. The following have 
been Judges of Onondaga county since its erection in 1794: 

Seth I'helps, 1794; William Stevens, 1705; Asa 1 )anfurth, I7(;7; William Stevens, 1799; I >an 
liradley, iSoi ; John liallard. 1S02 ; William J. Vreilenbnr^rh, 1804 ; Keubcn Humphreys, 1S05 ; 
Dan lirailley, iSoS ; Squire Munro, Kosvvell Tousley, and William J. X'redenburgh, iStxj ; Jacob R. 
I)e Witt, James tleddes, and Sylvanus Tousley, 1S12 ; Joshua Kornian, I,Si3 ; Reuben llumphrevs, 
1814 ; Jacob R. DeWitt, S()uire Munro, Amos Tousley, and John Ten Kyck, 1S15 ; James (). Wat- 
tles and Warren llecox, iSiS ; Jonathan Stanley, Squire .Munro, Levi Mason and James Webb, 
iSiy ; Nehemiah IL Karll (First Judge), John Mason, (icorge reltil, and James Sisson, Jr., 1S23 ; 
Nehemiah 11. Earll, First Judge, 1S2S ; (leorge I'ettit, Martin M. lord, Otis Uigelow, and John 
Smith, 1828; Samuel L. lulwards. First Judge, 1831 ; John Watson, 1833 ; Otis Higelow, David 
Munro, Oeorge I'ettit, James .\llen, (irove Lawrence ( First Judge) 1838: Nathan Soule, Oliver K. 
Strong, Lyman H. Mason, Johnson Hall, Daniel Pratt (First Judge) 1S43 ; John I.. Stevens, Cleorge 
A. Stansbury, Lyman Kingsley, .\masa H. Jerome, James R. Lawrence (First Judge) 1847 ; Rich- 
ard Woolworth, 1850, (appointed vice J. R. Lawrence resigned;) Israel Spencer, elected i.-ijo; 
Richard Woolworth, 1S54 ; Henry Riegel. lSf)2 ; .\. Judd Northru]). January i, 1SS3, and still in 
the offii-e. 

JUDCKS Ol' IHK SlM'KKMK Coiur. — Daniel I'ratt, four years, electcil June 7. 1847, re-elected 
Novemlier 4, 1851. LeRoy Morgan, eight years, elected Xovembcr S, 1S59, re-elected November 5, 
1S67, eight years. James No.xon, elected November, 1875, for fourteen years fnmi Januarv i, 1S76. 
Irving C, Vann. elected iSSi, and still in oMice. George N. Kennedy, 1SS3, and still in office. 

SlRRi)(;.\]'ES. — Moses DeWitt, I7<)4 ; Thonuis Mumford, 1797; Thaddeus M.Wood, 1799; 
Oeorge Hall, :8oo ; Medad Curtis, iSio; (ieorge Hall, iSii : James Porter, 1S22 ; Freeborn O. 
Jewett, 1S24 ; John Fleming, Jr., 1831 ; Isaac T. Minard, 1S40; David D. Hillis, 1844 ; Fsaac T. 
Minard, 1847: L. Harris Hiscock, 1851 ; .\masa H. Jerome, 1S55 ; Samuel D. Luce, 1859; Osc.ir 
L. Sprague, 1S63 ; DeWitt I'. Oreenlleld, 1865 ; Cyrus Sweet, 18O9 ; (leorge K. Cook, I,'^7.■, still 
in office. 

Coi.'NTY Ci,i:kks. — Renjamin Ledyard, appointed 1794; l^'oniforl lylcr, 1799; Jasper Hopper, 
1802; George W. Ohnstead, 1810; Jasper Hopper, iSii ; Truman .\danis, 1818 ; Daniel Mosely, 
1823; Reuben L. Hess, 1825; Alanson lulwards, 1834; Klijah Khoades, elected 1837; Charles 
T. Hicks, 1840; Vivus W. Smith, 1846: Rufus Cossitt, 1849; Bernard, 1852 ; Kdwin P. Hopkins, 
1855; Victory J. Birdseye, 1S58 ; F^lijah S. Payne, 1S61 ; Carrol K. .Smith, 1864; Theodore 1.. 
Poole, 1867 ; ICdgar E. Kwers, 1870 ; Charles A' Ilurd, elected November, 1S73, died before enter- 
ing the office ; Charles V.. Hubbell, elected at special election December 27, 1873; Thomas II. 
Scott, 1876; William Cowie, 1S79 ; Gustavus .Sniper, 1SS2 ; J. ICnimett Wells, 18S5 ; George I!. 
Cotton, 18SS ; 

SiiKKllls. John Harris 1794; .\biather I lull, 1796; Comfort Tyler, 179,8; Khialhan lieacli, 
1799: Kbenezer R. Ilawley, l8oi ; F.lijah Phillips, 1804; Robert Karll, kSo8 ; Ivlijah Rust, iSio ; 
Robert F^arll, iSii ; FMijah Rust, 1813; Ilezekiah L. Granger, 1S19; Giles Corni.sh, iSk); luii.is 
ICarll, 1819 ; Luther .Marsh, 1823; Lewis Smith, 1825; John II. Johnson, 1828; Johnson ll.ill, 
1831 ; Dorastus Lawrence, 1834; TUihu I.. Phillips. 1837; Frederick Henson, 1S40 ; Heber Wealh- 
erby, 1844; Joshua C. Cuddeback. 184(1; William C. (lardner, 1849; Holland W. C'hadwick, 
1852; James M. Munroe, 1855; George I.. Maynard, 1858; liyron D. Itenson, iSOi ; Jared C. 
Williams, i.S()4 ; Dewitl C. 'Toll, l8f)7 ; William Lvans, 1870; Davis Cossitt, 1S73 ; lohn |. .Mel- 
dram, 1S76 ; Hiram K. lulwards, 1879; Minor (i. llennell, I88j ; Thomas R, ( I'.Ncil, 18S5; Hec- 
tor B. Johnson, 188S. 



,i>*^i..-<^v.;^ 




yi- J.^ 





Civil List and Politicai. History. 265 

rKKASUKEKS. — Appointed liy the Hoard of Supervisors: Moses Carpenter, May 27, 1794; 
Jacob K. Dewitt, 1799; Jacobus Depew, October i, 1S05 ; Oliver K. Strong, October 5, 1809, 
resigned Xovember 11, 1830; Moses S. Marsh, appointed November 12, declined November 13, 
1830; Hezekiah Strong, appointed November 13, 1830. died 1842; lienjamin V. Colvin, appointed 
November, 1842: George H. Walters, appointed Pecember, 1844; Chares Gould, November, 1S45. 
The office of County Treasurer was made elective by the people in 1846, since when the foil wing 
persons have been elected : Cornelius M. lirosnan, Xovember, 1S46, took the oltice January i, 
1S47, resigned Hecember 9, 184S; Wheeler Truesdell, appointed to fill vacancy December 9, 184S, 
elected January i, 1849; Columl)us C. Bradley, elected November, 1S51, entered upon his office 
January 1, 1S52; Barton M. Hopkins, elected November, 1854; Patrick H. Agan, November, 
1857; Henry W. Slocum, November, i860; Dudley 1'. Phelps, November, 1863; Park Wheeler, 
November, 1866; George H. Gilbert, November, 1869; Charles W. Ostrander, November, 1872; 
Robert Hewitt, November, 1875; Cains A. Weaver, November, 1878; Thomas Merriam, Novem- 
ber, 18S1 ; Edward V. Baker, November, 18S4; Edward Drake, November, 1887; George B. 
Harwood, November, 1890. 

State Senators. — Previous to the change in the State Constitution in 1822 the following per- 
sons held the office of State Senatur from Onondaga county : Moses Kent, 1799; Jcdcdiah Sanger, 
1800; William Stewart, 1801 ; Joseph Annan (Cayuga), 1S02 ; Asa Danforth, 1803; none from 
Onondaga county from 1S06 10 1815 ; Henry Seymour, 1816 to 1819, inclusive ; none in 1S21 and 
1822. After the change in the Constitution in 1S22 the State was divided into eight Senatorial dis- 
tricts. The Seventh was composed of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and On'ario counties, after 
which were elected the following Senators from Onondaga : Jonas Earll, jr., 1823 ; Victory Birds- 
eye, 1827; Hiram F. Mather, 1829; Samuel L. Edwards, 1S33 ; Elijah Rhoades, 1841 ; James 
Sedgwick, 1845. The following were Senators under the Constitution of 1846 : George Geddes, 
184810 1S5 1, inclusive; James Monroe, 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855 ; James Noxon, 1856 and 1857; John 
J. Fooie, 1S58 and 1S59; Allen Monroe, 1S60, 1861, 1S62, 1863; Andrew D. White, 1S64. 1S65, 
iS65, and 1867; George N. Kennedy, 186S, 1869, 1870, 1871 ; Daniel P. Wood, 1S72. 1S73, 'S74, 
and 1S75; Dennis McCarthy, 1S76, 1877, 1S78, 1879, iSSo, 1S81, 18S2, 1SS3, 1884, 18S5 ; Fiancis 
Hendricks, 1S86 to the present time. 

Members of Assembly. — The long list of Members of .Assembly from the whole county need 
not be insetted here; it is a matter of record in many places and does not properly claim preserva- 
tion in these pages. Of those, however, who have been elected from the village and city we should 
mention some of the more prominent in the names of Comfort Tyler, 17S8-90; Asa Danforth, 
1801-02; James Geddes, 1804; Jasper Hopper, 1806; Joshua Forman, 1S08 ; Hezekiah L. 
Granger, 1815; J. R. Lawrence, 1S25, 1838, 1839, and 1S40; Johnson Hall, 1S29-30; Oliver 
Strong, 1S34; Horace Wheaton, 1834; John Wilkinson, 1835-36; Moses D Burnet, 1841 ; 
Thomas McCarthy, 1843; T. G. Alvord, 1844, 1S5S, 1S62-64, 1870, 1S72, 1874, 1875, '876, 1877, 
1S78, 1879, 18S0, 1S81-S2; Dennis McCarthy, 1845; E'ias W. Leavenworth, 1850; Daniel P. 
Wood, 1853, 1865, 1867; Joshua V. H. Clark 1855; Austin Myers, 1860-62; L. Harris Hiscock, 
1866-67; Peter Burns, 1871-72; Carroll E. Smith, 1875-77; George Raynor, 1873; William 
H. H. Gere, 1873; Allen Munroe, 1876; C. Fred Herbst, 1876-77; Henry L. Duguid, 1879- 
81 ; E. O. Farrar, 1882-83; J°^" Lighton, 1882-83; James Geddes, 1883-84; Francis Hendricks, 
1884-85; Thomas McCarthy, 1886-S7; Hector B. Johnson, 1SS7-S8; Howard G. White, 18S9-90; 
Willis B. Burns, 18S9 ; Ignatius Sawmillcr, 18S9-90; William Kennedy, 1890. 



A glance over the preceding list of city and county officials gives the 
reader a clear idea of the political complexion of the city in past years. It 
is seen that a NV'hig or Republican Mayor was elected in twenty-one years, 
and a Loco-Foco or Democratic Maj-or the same number of years. Tiie 
voting population of the city appears to be so evenlj- divided between the 
34 



266 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

two prominent political parties that any local issue of importance, or the 
uprising of an independent candidate or faction at any time, is liable to 
overthrow the calculations of politicians; all of which seems to render the 
city a pleasant place of residence as far as this feature is concerned. 

The city of Syracuse occupies a somewhat conspicuous position in poli- 
tics of the Empire State ; not only as the largest community in one of the 
more populous countits, but also on account of its central situation, which 
has led to its being chosen on many notable occasions as the gathering 
place of State conventions. On some of these occasions the issues at stake 
have been so momentous or the conditions among party leaders such as to 
attract national attention and bring to Syracuse some of the leading men of 
the country. Although not at all related to the political history of the city 
it will not be out of place to give a brief account of a few of the important 
political events that have occurred in the city. 

In former years many of the State conventions and great mass meetings 
were held in the city, chiefly on account of its central location, but in later 
years, when such gatherings are far more numerous than formerl)', and wiien 
a hundred miles more or less of railroad travel makes very little difference 
to the average delegate, Syracuse has often been deserted for Saratoga. 

The first State political convention held in Sj'racuse was on the 25th of 
August, 1830, by the workingmen, so called, but who, it was claimed, con- 
sisted mainly of sore- headed Democrats. Nothing of importance occurred. 
General Erastus Root was nominated for Governor, but he possessed too 
much political foresight to accept the nomination. His action greatly weak- 
ened the movement, and Ezekiel Williams was afterwards nominated and 
accepted. 

There was considerable interest in the campaign of 1S25, especially in 
regard to the office of Sheriff, for which General Granger was the candidate. 
He was the Clintonian candidate, and having been removed from command 
of the 147th Regiment of militia it was thought that, through synipathy and 
the strength of his party, he might be elected. But the Bucktail candidate 
was a popular man and the party was gaining strength in the county. In 
spite of everything General Granger and his friends could do he was defeated 
by a majority for his opponent of over 800 — four-fold more than thej' ob- 
tained on the remainder of the ticket. 

The campaign of 1834 opened by the Whigs in Syracuse and Onondaga 
county with a great popular demonstration, which it was hoped would prove 
a bomb-shell in the enemy's ranks. A call for 4 mass meeting to be held at 
the Mansion House on the 4th of July was issued and signed by an aston- 
ishing list of about 2,000 Whigs. The call insinuated, among other things, 
that the meeting was to consider " the alarming state of the country," and 
to make such arrangements as would maintain the Constitution. The in- 



Oi.n TiMK roi.iiic.M, Gatherings. 267 

vitation to attend was extended to "all whuaie unwilling to have the cur- 
rency ruined, their property wasted, their prospects blighted, their farms 
mortgaged, etc." Of course much of this kind of talk was mere clap-trap ; 
but it appears to have been effective, for it drew an immense gathering of 
Anti-Masons and other opposition leaders under one banner and practically 
united the Whig party. The meeting was called to order by B. Davis 
Noxon, and John G. Forbes, Elijah Rhoades, Richard Lusk, and Hiram F. 
Mather were selected as delegates to the Whig State;.Convention. A plat- 
form was submitted by John G. Forbes, and J. R. Lawerence and Schuyler 
Strong addressed the meeting. 

In 1836, when VanBuren was elected President, the Whig majority in the 
county was 1,795, and in Salina 706. In the following year the contest in 
Onondaga county was a very exciting one. The Whig party had united 
their forces, but had not yet developed anything like their later vigor. 
The county had almost uniformly gone Democratic and few believed the 
Whigs could win, but with such names on their Assembly ticket as Victory 
Birdseye, Phares Gould, James R. Lawerence, and Azariah Smith, they did 
achieve a great triumph. 

In 1839 the Whig majority in Salina was 90 and in the county 228. The 
Abolitionists were beginning to be heard from at this time and the opposi- 
tion press coupled them with the Whigs in opprobrium. Henry Clay visited 
Syracuse in July this year and William H. Seward, in September. Both 
distinguished men were properly received, and the work of preparation for 
the great campaign of 1840 was begun. 

Down to that year, no presidential campaign had excited a tithe of the 
general interest that was manifested in the contest between the W^higs and 
the Democrats — Harrison and VanBuren — the latter being then President. 
It partook somewhat of the character of the famous rail-splitting cam- 
paign of the Republicans in i860. Log cabins, raccoons, and other insignia, 
with the cry of " Tippecanoe and Tyler too," characterized the Whigs 
demonstrations and " Rough Hewers' associations," etc., were organized by 
the Democrats. Referring to local politics the village election in Syracuse 
was won by the Whigs; but the rejoicing of the victors was possibly some- 
what modified by the statement in the opposition newspaper that, " it is a 
sufficient answer to the claim of a Whig victory at the recent charter elec- 
tion in the village, set up bj- the Federal paper here, to state the fact that 
no Democratic ticket was regularly nominated." The Whig majority in 
Salina was 106. 

A Democratic meeting was held in May, 1840, at the house of T.J. 
Keeler, of which Daniel Pratt was chairman. Its prime object was to 
"disseminate the Democratic principles of Jackson." Martin VanBuren 
was complimented as "a wise statesman," and a " Rough Hewer's Associa- 
tion " was organized. 



268 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

On the 25th of September occurred the crowning event of the campaign 
in this section and probably in the entire State. It consisted of a great 
mass convention continuing two days, at which the attendance was estimated 
at 50,000. The proceedings of the first day were held in a grove beyond 
Prospect Hill, and the second day in the old depot. The local arrangements 
were in charge of E. W. Leavenworth. Hon. Francis Granger, of Ontario, 
presided, and Horace Greeley was chairman on address. An immense pro- 
cession was formed, in which figured log cabins on wheels, hickory trees 
with live coons in them, gaily dressed girls, etc., and paraded the streets to 
strains of music. The gathering was addressed b\- Gen. James Wilson, of 
New Hampshire, and Ogden Hoffman. 

The campaign of 1844 was vigorously carried on in Onondaga county, 
though with nothing like the enthusiasim that had characterized that of 
four years before. It was stated in one of the local papers that fifteen hick- 
ory poles were raised in the county, but apparently the effort was in vain, 
for Polk was given a majority of about 400. 

Again in 1842, when the battle in this State was between the Hunkers 
and Barnburners, an interesting incident occurred in connection with the of- 
fices of Salt Superintendent and Salt Inspector. Governor Bouck was elected 
and with a Senate friendl\' to the Democrats, gave that part}- control of all 
the patronage. \'ery little was expected from the Governor in Onondaga 
count}' and therefore a jjlan was devised by the Barnburners by which they 
hoped to secure a share of the patronage. The plan was to hold a county 
convention for the purpose of recommending to the Governor suitable per- 
sons for the office mentioned. This was done and the convention met at 
the Court House in December, and adopted the name of Rial Wright for 
Superintendent and Henry Beach for Inspector. In Salina the people were 
very active, but the Barnburners carried the day in the caucus. Their tick- 
et was Dennis McCarthy, Josiah Brintnall, and P. H. Agan. Wright and 
Beach held the office two years when a change was demanded. Beach had 
traitorously come out on the Hunker side, and the Barnburners wanted 
change. Wright had been elected Governor and thus, having the Governor's 
ear, they decided to hold a convention the Fame as had been done in 1842. 
This was done and Enoch Maiks became Superintendent and Mr. McKinley 
Inspector. All the subordinate officers were beheaded and the Barnburners 
had full swing. But towards the close of the first year the Hunkers began 
to clamor for a convention merely, as thej' said, to learn the people's wishes. 
Marks and McKinley were meanwhile nominated b\- the Governor for re- 
appointment. While these nominations were pending, the Democratscalled 
their convention to nominate delegates to the Constitutional convention. 
This was about two weeks before the adjournment of Legislature. The 
Hunkers now resolved to take advantage of the convention just named to 



A Ci.EVKR Pci.iTicAi. Move. 269 

bring Lij) their matter. They had already met and selected Mathew Van- 
Vleck and Jacob McCook for the two salt offices. The plan worked and 
the Barnburners were outgeneralled by a small majority. Now came the 
climax. Mr. McCarthy promptly introduced a resolution abolishing the 
office of Inspector and cutting the Superintendent's salary from $3,000 to 
$800. The resolution was adopted and the bill passed May 1 1, leaving no 
time for action by the Governor. Mr. Marks remained in office until the 
Democrats came into power. It was very neatly done. 

The Democratic State Convention of 1859 was held in Wieting Hall 
and came very near breaking up at an early stage of the proceedings in a 
bloody riot. The convention was called to order at 12 o'clock by H. C. 
Smith, of Munroe, and Thomas G. Alvord was nominated as temporary 
chairman. A division of the party had occurred in New York city, and a 
resolution was offered soon after the Convention was ready for business, re- 
gretting the difficulty and stating that the convention would not decide in 
" regulating the difference of the two existing organizations," and offering 
equal rights on the floor to both. John Cochrane then arose amid great 
excitement and denounced the " ungenerous action that had placed the 
chairman in his seat." His voice was almost drowned in hisses, but he con- 
tinued, asserting that the convention was not properly organized. He was 
interrupted by the chairman ard told that he must address the chair. The 
speaker proceeded in the same strain and was again interrupted amid tre- 
mendous excitement and told that he must speak to the resolution : he con- 
cluded with a motion to lay the resolution on the table. The chairman 
then proceeded to name committees, when Peter Cagger moved that Mr. 
Stryker, of Rome, take the chair. Intense confusion ensued, but Mr. 
Stryker went upon the stage and took a seat beside Mr. Alvord and the 
adherents of each gathered around them. Now both chairmen with their 
partisans attempted to proceed with business at the same time, when sud- 
denly amid the bedlam Mr. Stryker was grasped behind and thrown clear 
off the stage to the floor below. In a twinkling the air glittered with flash- 
ing revolvers, and a single shot at that moment, or a hot word spoken, 
would undoubtedly have caused a bloody struggle. Mr. Stryker was again 
led to his seat and committees on organization were named by both par- 
ties ; but, of course, nothing could be accomplished under the circumstances. 
It appears that Mr. Cagger's party had resolved to withdraw, which they 
did, taking along quite a large part of the convention, and leaving the 
Fernando Wood party, who then proceeded to perfect their organization. 

The intention was, of course, to have thrown Mr. Alvord from the stage ; 
but the bruisers delegated to do the act made a mistake and attacked Mr. 
Stryker. For participating in this affair, John C. Heenan. John Wood, 
Andy Sheehan, and others from New York, were arrested b)- Thomas Mul- 
holland and taken to the police station ; but their bail was promptly fur- 



270 Memorial Histokv of Syracuse. 



nished and there it ended. Wood, and Mr. Murray, of Cattaraugus, dep- 
recated the action of their opponent.s, while another speaker denounced 
the entire proceedings and stated that he would rather give up the 
field to the Black Republicans, if they could not heal the difficulty. 
Wood expressed himself as willing to welcome back the seceders if they 
would come. A crowd began to gather around him, while he submitted 
the names of a committee on permanent organization. An adjournment 
soon followed until evening. This was a part of the great conflict between 
the " Hards" and the " Softs," which had been in progress several years. 

The charter election of 1849, (the second in the history of the city, as 
such) was one of considerable e.xcitement and a good deal of interest. The 
period of the Hunkers and Barnburners in the Democratic ranks had not 
ended, and the city had given a Democratic majority in the previous year. 
But the day after the election the Journal announced that " after an ardu- 
ous struggle the sun rose on Syracuse as a Whig city. Our opponents of 
every grade and hue — Hunker, Barnburner, Free Soiler, and Abolitioni.st — 
combined in the struggle against us, but did not avail." As a result, the 
Whig Mayor, E. W. Leavenworth, three Aldermen, the Police Justice and 
the Street Commissioner, all Whigs, were elected. 

In 1850 the Democrats were triumphant in the charter election, placing 
Alfred H. Hoveyin the Mayor's chair. Before the election the Democratic 
organ exclaimed in black type : " $60.000 ! This is the amount the people 
of this city have been taxed by the Whig corporation during the past year. 
Rally to the polls I" That old, old cry of taxation seems to have been 
effective, as it has on so many later occasions ; and the same newspaper 
hilariously exclaimed on the day after election : " Democratic victory ! 
Syracuse redeemed ! After a reign of twenty years, this is is the first Dem- 
ocratic victory 1" etc., etc. For which no one will be disposed to blame the 
exultant editor. 

The campaign of 1851-2 was a lively one in Onondaga county and vicin- 
ity. General Scott was at the head of the ticket on a renomination, and 
against him stood Franklin Pierce. It was a very close contest as far as 
Onondaga county was concerned, Pierce's majority being only 318. But 
the old General was defeated in spite of the cry of " Lundy's Lane," which 
was set up in his favor. The local press said that the Third ward had re- 
deemed itself, and the Fourth had gone back to its old position. 

Beginning with 1850 the Democrats held the reins of power three years, 
when the Whigs elected Allen Munroe for Mayor, and in the following 
year the new Republican party triumphed in the election of Lyman Ste- 
vens. Since that time the Republicans have elected their Mayor eighteen 
times, and the Democrats have had the Mayor in seventeen years. This 
indicates that the city is quite evenly divided politically, while any local 



The Mii-iTiA of Early Days. 271 

issue of importance is sufficient to turn the tide in either direction. Noth- 
ing calling for particular mention has occurred in the city campaigns of re- 
cent years that has not already been alluded to. A reference to the pre- 
ceding lists of high officials in the councils of the State and nation shows 
that Syracuse has furnished a proportion of them of which she may justly 
feel proud. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

MILITARY HISTORY. 



The Early Militia — Changes among Local Officers — Regimental Organizations down lo 1812— 
Subsequent Changes down to 1822— Missing Records of Ten Years— Other Changes down to the 
War of the Rebellion— Onondaga in the War— Butler's Zouaves— Jenney's First Company— Jen- 
ney's Hattery— Organization of the I2th Regiment — Its Various Campaigns and Return Home— 
The r22d Regiment and its Record — Organization of the 149th Regiment — An Account of its Cam- 
paigns— The iS5th Kegiment and its l!rief and Brilliant Record— History of the 51st Regiment- 
Independent Military Organizations. 

IN the early days of the country's history the military spirit was far more 
active than it is in later times. It was then, on the average, a very ordi- 
nary specimen of manhood who did not either boast some sort of military 
title or a close family connection with some one who did. Captains, majors, 
and colonels were numerous, and generals were not especially scarce. This 
active military spirit lingered long after the Revolutionary war and was re- 
vived with the War of 18 12. Moreover, the old militia ranks were looked 
upon by many ambitious men as stepping-stones to political power and 
position. 

In the same year that Ephraim Webster established his little trading sta- 
tion on the bank of Onondaga Creek (1786) the militia force of Montgom- 
ery county (then including the present Onondaga county) comprised five 
regiments, which together constituted one brigade, with Frederick Fisher 
as Brigadier- General. On September 30, 1790, a new regiment was formed 
and Colonel Volkert Veeder was promoted to the command of the brigade. 
In 1 79 1 this new regiment was divided, thus creating still another. A re- 
organization was at the same time effected, still contiiiuing the whole mili- 
tia in one brigade, with Jonas Piatt as Captain of a troop of horse ; John 
Franks, Captain of artillery. On March 3d, 1792, the militia of the west- 



Memorial Histokv of Syracuse. 



ern part of Herkimer county (wliich included the present Onondaga county) 
was formed into two battalions, the first of which was officered as follows, 
by men directly connected with this history : Moses Dewitt and Asa Dan- 
forth, Majors; Hezekiah Olcott, Asa Danforth, jr., and Josiah Buck, Cap- 
tains ; Jeremiah Gould and Orris Curtis, Lieutenants. The other battalion 
embraced the region in the vicinity of Cayuga Lake. In the next year five 
new companies were added to the last mentioned battalion, and another 
battalion was formed " for the ease and comfort of the town of Steuben." 
On the 9th of October, 1793, the militia of the county was organized into 
a brigade, with Patrick Campbell as Brigadier- General. At the same time 
changes were made in the battalions of Majors Dewitt and Danforth. 
Jeremiah Gould, James Clarke, and Samuel Forman were appointed Cap- 
tains; Comfort Tyler, Samuel Jerome, James Green, John Lamb, and Eli- 
jah Phillips, Lieutenants ; Ichabod Lathrop, David Williams, Jesse Butler, 
Robert Paterson, and Benjamin Parsons, Ensigns. Most of these men were 
well known in, and directly connected with, this immediate locality. 

On the 17th of March, 1794, after the organization of Onondaga county, 
companies of light infantrj' were attached to both of the battalions men- 
tioned. The one in Danforth's and Dewitt's battalion was officered with 
Jeremiah Jackson, Captain; Jonathan Russell, Lieutenant; Sier Curtis, En- 
sign. On the 8th of April, 1795, another change was made by which the 
militia of Onondaga and Ontario counties was placed in one brigade, with 
Othniel Taylor as Brigadier-General. 

The next changes of importance occurred under date of April 1 1, 1796, 
when Jeremiah Gould was appointed Second Major in Colonel Danforth's 
regiment, in place of Asa Danforth, jr., removed. Sier Curtis was appointed 
Lieutenant in Captain Jeremiah Jackson's company, in place of Jonathan 
Russell, removed. Nehemiah Earll was commissioned Captain in place of 
Comfort Tyler, who had been appointed Sheriff, and Ephraim Webster was 
made a Lieutenant. Colonel Danforth was also removed and Daniel Minor 
appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in command of the regiment. Many of these 
early officers, it will be noted, were among the prominent pioneers of this 
section. Ephraim Webster was commissioned Captain a little later and 
held his commission through the War of 1812, during which struggle he 
rendered very valuable service to the government. While these changes 
were occurring in Danforth's regiment similar ones took place in the re- 
mainder of the brigade, but they need not all be followed here. 

In August, 1798, Colonel Edward Paine was commissioned Brigadier- 
General in place of Othniel Taylor, and Hezekiah Olcott as Lieutenant- 
Colonel in place of Lieutenant-Colonel Danforth ; a number of changes 
were also made in the minor officers of the re"iments. 



Changes in Militia Officers. 273 

In the next year (1799) after Cayuga county was set off from Onondaga, 
the militia of that county was ordered to be organized into one brigade, 
and Benjamin Ledyard was commissioned Brigadier-General in place of 
General Paine, removed. 

On the 22d of January, 1800, an order was issued directing the forma- 
tion of a brigade including all of the militia force of Onondaga county. 
Colonel Danforth was commissioned Brigadier-General in command. This 
brigade comprised four regiments, among the officers of which were many 
prominent pioneers of this locality — Elisha Alvord, (father of the Hon. 
Thomas G. Alvord), Nehemiah Earll, Gordon Needham, Levi Hiscock, 
Medad Curtis, Benjamin and James Wood, Orris Curtis, and others. 

During the succeeding two or three years no changes more important 
than promotions and minor appointments were made affecting this locality, 
until the resignation of Col. Asa Danforth, which was tendered near the 
close of 1803, and on March 2d, 1804, Col. Robert Earll was appointed to 
fill the vacancy. 

Promotions and appointments were very numerous during the next few 
years, in accordance with the general interest felt in military matters; but 
comparatively few of them have local importance. In 1807 Colonel Knapp's 
regiment, embracing chiefly what is now Cortland county, was divided and 
a part of it consolidated with the battalion under command of Major St. 
John, and the latter was commissioned Colonel of the new organization. 
In 1S08 three new companies were raised for Colonel Earll's regiment, one 
of which was a company of grenadiers. Of the latter Elisha Alvord was 
commissioned Captain ; Joshua Forman, Lieutenant; and Elijah Phillips, 
Ensign. On the 4th of February, 1809, a company of horse artillery was 
raised for this regiment, just previous to which, on the 21st of March, 1809, 
Cortland county having been set off from Onondaga in April, 1808, the brig- 
ade of militia was divided into two, which were separated by the county 
lines. Of the Onondaga brigade Lieutenant-Colonel Hall was com- 
missioned Brigadier-General, and on the 24th of May of the same year 
Robert Swarthout was appointed Brigade Inspector and Henry Seymour, 
Quartermaster. General Hall inaugurated a sweeping reorganization which 
involved innumerable changes, most of which must be passed by. From that 
time until 181 1, they were very few, but in that year the changes in 
the offices of the brigade were again numerous. 

The regimental organizations and their Colonels, from i8oi to the be- 
ginning of 1812 may be thus summarized, beginning with the formation of 
the 27th brigade from the four regiments then constituting the county mi- 
litia, which were numbered from one to four: 

First Regiment, (Colonel Gould's), Jeremiah Jackson, March 10,1802 ; 
David Williams, March 7, 1803; Thomas Olcott, March 2, 1S04; Isaac 
35 



274 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Hall, March 22, 1806; Thaddeus M. Wood, May 31, 1809. This regiment 
became the 147th, under the new system of numbering adopted in 1812. 

Second Regiment, (Colonel Phillips's). — Nehemiah Earll, March 10, 
1802; John Ellis, May 31, iSog; Jacobus DePuy, February 11, 1811; 
Christopher Clark, April i, 181 2. This regiment became the 98th. 

Third Regiment, (Colonel Earll's.) — John Ellis, May 2, 1802 ; Seba 
Brainard ; James Rathbone, March 22, 1806; Levi Lawrence, March 21, 1809; 
Warren Hecox, February 11, 18 11. This regiment became the 159th. 

Fourth Regiment, (Colonel Hopkins's). — James Knapp, March 9, 1803. 
On the 6th of April, 1807, a new regiment was formed composed of Major 
St. John's battalion and a part of Colonel Knapp's regiment. Major St. John 
being appointed Colonel. He commanded the regiment until February 11, 
1811, when Jacob Johnson was appointed his successor and held the posi- 
tion until March 22, 1816, when he wasremoved. Major St. John's battalion 
was formed March 2d, 1804. As a result of this change in his regiment. 
Colonel Knapp was promoted to the position of Brigadier-General. This 
regiment became the 62d under the new system. 

In the beginning of the year 1812 there were these four regiments and 
a fifth, which was numbered the 16th. The nucleus of this last named reg- 
iment was the company drawn from Captain Jacob Chandler's company 
in Colonel Nehemiah Earll's regiment March 10, 1802. On the 21st of 
March, 1809, a battalion was formed out of Colonel Lawrence's regiment, 
comprising the militia of the towns of Camillus, Lysander, and Hannibal. 
Captain Chandler was appointed Major, commanding. The battalion grew 
rapidly and on February 11, 1811, it was formed into a regiment with Major 
Chandler as Lieutenant-Colonel. This regiment was numbered the i6th, 
and with the four already described constituted at that time the 27th brig- 
ade. 

On the 23d of May, 18 12, a battalion of riflemen was organized for 
service in the war then impending, of which Charles Moseley was made 
Major, commanding. It was disbanded at the close of the war. 

During the next four years there was no diminution in military appoint- 
ments, promotions and other changes ; they were so numerous that it is 
impossible to record them here. Among the local names connected with 
the service at that period, and which appear on the records of the changes, 
may be mentioned those of Oliver Teall, Richard C. Johnson, Freeborn G. 
Jewett, Daniel Gott, Johnson Hall, Amos P. Granger, Christopher Buckley, 
and many others. 

In July, 1816, the i6th regiment was divided and a new one formed ; 
and at the same time a battalion was formed out of the 147th regiment, 
with Capt. John G. Forbes as Major, commanding. He was an early and 
prominent pioneer at Salina. On the 4th of March, 18 17, this battalion 



Changes in Militia Officers. 275 



was converted into a regiment and numbered the 176th, and Major Forbes 
placed in its command. 

Under date of April 24, 18 18, a new brigade was formed and numbered 
the 48th, which comprised the militia of Oswego county and a part of On- 
ondaga county. James Adams was appointed Brigadier General of the 
new organization. Under the same date changes occurred in all of the 
existing regiments— the i6th, 62d, 98th, 147th, 159th, I72d, and 176th. 
The appointments and promotions of officers who were identified with this 
immediate locality were Johnson Hall, appointed Lieutenant in the 98th ; 
Ashbel Kellogg, Paymaster of the 147th ; he served less than a year and 
on March 27, 18 19, was made Adjutant and was succeeded by Samuel R. 
Mathews. Mr. Kellogg was the first clerk of Salina village and spent the 
latter years of his life in Michigan. B. Davis Noxon, the eminent attor- 
ney, was appointed Ensign in the 159th; he did not long remain in the 
service. Amos P. Granger was appointed Major of the 176th, and Henry 
B. Bogardus, Lieutenant; he was raised to a Captaincy March 16, 1822. 
James Sisson was commissioned Captain ; he entered the service as Ensign 
in the battalion of Major John G. Forbes July 8, 18 16, was commissioned 
Lieutenant in the 176th on the 4th of March, 18 17, and promoted to Cap- 
tain April 24, 1818. He was appointed one of the First Judges of the 
county courts under the Constitution of 1821. John Grinnell was commis- 
sioned Adjutant of the 176th; he entered the service as Lieutenant in the 
147th, April 6, 1815, and finally rose to the Colonelcy of the 176th ; he was 
one of the leading Democratic politicians of the county and in 1828 was a 
rival candidate of John H. Johnson for Sheriff. Johnson was elected. 
Parley Howlett received about five hundred votes for the same office. 

On the 27th of March, 1819, among many other changes, are found the 
names of James R. Lawrence, who was appointed Lieutenant in the 
i6th regiment, having previously served as Ensign. Grove Lawrence, of 
Camillus, was commissioned Ensign, vice James R. Lawrence, and served 
until March 17, 1821, when he was promoted to Adjutant and finally rose to 
Brigadier-General June 29, 1833, which station he held until January 12, 
1839, when he resigned. 

In the 147th regiment we find that Rufus Stanton, B. Davis Noxon, 
and John Raynor were commissioned Ensigns. 

In the 176th, Adjutant Elijah Phillips was commissioned Major in place 
of A. P. Granger. Major Phillips entered the service in Captain Elisha 
Alvord's company of grenadiers June 15, 1808, was promoted to a Lieuten- 
antcy in the light infantry in March, 1817, and at the same time received 
an Adjutant's commission in the same regiment. 

On the date under consideration, Thaddeus M. Wood was commissioned 
Brigadier-General; Samuel P. Hawley, Quartermaster; he entered the ser- 



276 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

vice in Captain Pulaski King's company of lightinfantry in Colonel Wood's 
regiment February 11, 181 1. Mr. Hawley was a resident of the town of 
Onondaga and was tax Collector from iS20to 1825 inclusive. In the latter 
year he ran as an "independent" candidate for Sheriff against the regular 
Clintonian candidate, Amos P. Granger. At same time Sylvanus Tousley was 
made Paymaster. He declined his commission and was succeeded on the 1 7th 
of February, 1820, by Samuel Mott. He entered the service in Colonel 
Earll's regiment, as Ensign, June 15th, 1808, and February 4, 1809, was com- 
missioned Captain of a company of horse artillery in that regiment, which 
office he retained until made Paymaster, as stated. 

In 1820 various changes occurred in the Onondaga regiments, excepting 
the I72d. but they affected only a few men of this immediate locality. In 
the 98th regiment Johnson Hall was commissioned Captain, and in the 
176th, Lieutenant-Colonel Phelps was appointed Colonel, and Major Elijah 
Phillips, Lieutenant-Colonel. Dr. Wm. Taylor was made Surgeon in place 
of Hezekiah L. Granger, who was elected Sheriff, and Dr. Asahel Yale, 
Surgeon's Mate in place of Dr. Ansel Lull. Dr. Taylor reached a high 
position in his profession and in politics ; in 1S25 and '27 he was a nominee 
for the Assembly, and in 1832, '34 and '36 was elected to Congress by the 
Democrats. In 1840 and '41 he was elected to the Assembly, and was 
given numerous other minor offices. 

In the 147th, under this date (1S20) were several changes affecting well- 
known citizens. Major Thomas Wheeler was commissioned Lieutenant- 
Colonel in place of R. C. Johnson ; Captain Levi Ellis, Major; Dr. Jared 
W. Daniels, of Salina, Surgeon ; Dr. Samuel Healy, Surgeon's Mate. B. 
Davis Noxon and Orrin Hutchinson were commissioned Captains. Among 
the Lieutenants were John Raynor, Samuel S. Forman and others. 

In the following year in the same regiment there were numerous changes 
among minor officers, and Hezekiah Strong was appointed Paymaster. 
When Amos P. Granger was appointed Colonel of the 147th in June, 1820, 
he took the place of Salmon Thayer, cashiered and dismissed. This pro- 
ceeding caused much ill feeling, both in and out of the regiment, and on 
appeal, Thayer was restored to his command, in March, 1821. Thayer was 
a Bucktail and Granger a Clintonian ; the political conflict between those 
factions was then very warm, and both of those men were assailed by the 
organs of the respective parties with great bitterness. Gen. Granger was 
for half a century conspicuously identified with the politics of Onondaga 
county, first as a Clintonian Republican, then as a Jacksonian Democrat, 
next as a Whig and finally as a Republican. He was one of the delegates 
to the convention which nominated General Scott for the Presidency, and 
was elected to Congress in 1S54 and '56. 

On the 17th of February, Samuel Mott was appointed Paymaster of the 



Changes in Political Officers. 277 

27th brigade, in place of Sylvanus Tousley, who had declined. On the 
loth of November, Gen. Thaddeus M. Wood was promoted to Major-Gen- 
eral of the i8th division of infantry. In March, 1821, the customary 
changes were made in the regiments, only a few of the more important of 
which and those bearing a local interest can be noted here. In the i6th 
Major John Munro was promoted to the Colonelcy, Charles H. Teal!, Ma- 
jor, and Grove Lawrence, Adjutant, in place of Teall. In the 176th, Cap- 
tain James Olcott was commissioned Major, and Elijah C. Rust, Quarter- 
master. 

Down to the year 1821 the militia embraced all able-bodied men between 
the ages of eighteen and forty-five. In 1822 the infantry regiments in the 
county were the i6th, the 147th, the 62d, the gSth, the i 59th, and the 176th. 
In 1827 a new regiment was formed out of the 147th, embracing a district 
then rapidly increasing in population. Of the regiments above named, 
Van Buren, Lysander, Camillus, and Elbridge were represented in the i6th. 
Tally, Fabius, Otisco, and a part of Pompey in the 62d. La Fayette and 
part of Pompey in the 98th. Syracuse, Geddes, and parts of Marcellus, 
Skaneateles, and Spafford in the 159th. Part of Manlius in the 176th. 
Clay, Cicero, and parts of Manlius and Salina in the 228th. The 27th 
brigade, then under command of General Granger, of Syracuse, comprised 
seven regiments, with an aggregate force of 4,193 men. About one-half 
of this force could usually be got out at the general musters. About one- 
half of the rank and file were without equipments of any kind, and it was 
not unusual for a company to appear at muster in citizen's dress of all 
kinds and colors, and shouldering broomsticks, hoe-handles, or pitchforks, 
while their general behavior often corresponded with their outfit. These 
unequipped organizations were known for years as "floodwood," in distinc- 
tion from their more fortunate fellows who were armed and uniformed. 

In Mr. Agan's researches he made discovery that between the years 
1822 and 1 83 1 there are no existing records in the Adjutant-General's oiifice 
or elsewhere obtainable of the militia. What has become of these valuable 
papers no one seems able to tell. The first appointment of which rec- 
ord is found after the long interval, is that of Lewis O. Hill, November 
30, 1830, as Captain of the light infantry company of the 98th regiment. 
Following that, the records of appointments and promotions in that regi- 
ment to the time of its dissolution in 1847 ^re comp4ete, and among them 
are found those of Henry J. Sedgwick, who reached the post of Major, 
and Charles B. Sedgwick, his brother, that of Adjutant. The same is true 
of the other regiments, but space can be spared for only the names of such 
as belonged in regiments embracing this particular locality.* 

* These lists of militia officers were published by Mr. Agan in the Sunday Herald in 1884, and 
it should be the work of the Historical Society to collate them into a pamphlet, where they would 
be both safe and accessible. 



278 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Among the General officers of the i6th regiment during the period in 
question, we find that Daniel T. Jones was commissioned Colonel in place 
of James R. Lawrence on the i6th of June, 1833. From July, J839, Payne 
Bigelow held the office of Major until the regiment was disbanded. Among 
the Adjutants was Joseph J. Glass, who filled that station from May 21, 
1829, to September 9, 1833. 

In the 159th regiment Samuel C. Wheadon of Skaneateles, was com- 
missioned Colonel in August, 1833, in place of Hezekiah Earll, and held 
the office until February 18, 1839, when he was succeeded by Augustus Fow- 
ler, the last Colonel of the regiment. The last Adjutant of this regiment 
was George N. Kennedy, and Comfort Tyler was succeeded as Paymastei 
August 23, 1834, by Edward O. Gould. Dr. Lake L Teft was appointed 
Surgeon August 15, 1832. These names all awaken local interest. 

William A. Clarke was commissioned Colonel of the 62d regiment, Aug- 
ust 5, 1833, and was succeeded by Warner Abbott July 13, 1835. The lat- 
ter resigned February 2, 1836, and the vacancy was filled by the promotion 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Jones, who served to the close. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Gilmore was appointed Colonel of the 176th, 
July 29, 1833, in place of Colonel D. B. Bickford, and resigned July 13, 1835, 
to be succeeded by Emerson Kinne. Colonel Kinne was promoted August 
I, 1837, to Brigade Inspector. William M. King succeeded as Colonel and 
in turn was succeeded by Hicks Worden who was the last Colonel of the 
regiment. 

The 228th regiment was formed in 1827, its nucleus being a battalion 
organized in the previous year out of the 147th and 176th regiments, and, 
as before stated, covering parts of Manlius and Salina. Mars Nearing was 
appointed Major commanding, of the battalion. When it was converted 
into a regiment he was commissioned as its Colonel and served four years, 
when he resigned and was succeeded by Peter I. Quackenbush ; the latter 
served until July 13, 1833, when he was succeeded by William Coon, who 
continued in command until the disbandment of the regiment. Among 
the company officers of this regiment were many well known residents of 
Salina. 

We come now to the 147th regiment, which was most intimately con- 
nected with the territory of which these pages treat. On the i6th of 
March, 1832, Martin Woodruff was appointed Colonel. He had served as 
Lieutenant Colonel, and was much esteemed by his associates. He contin- 
ued at the head of the regiment until February iS, 1839, when Enos D. 
Hopping was appointed and served until the regiment disbanded. Hopping 
had advanced from the post of Major to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy, and 
when he rose to the Colonelcy was succeeded by Dennis McCarthy, who 
filled the post to the end. When Colonel Hopping was promoted from the 



Changes in Militia Officers. 279 



post of Major he was succeeded by Joel Cornish (January 6, 1832,) who 
served thus to July 13, 1835, and was succeeded by Charles J. Judd and he 
by James M. Ellis September 5, 1836. Major Ellis resigned February 18, 
1839, and George Stevens were appointed to the vacancy. 

Charles J. Judd was promoted from the post of Adjutant, when he was, 
made Major, as stated. His Adjutant's commission was dated June 3d, 1831, 
and he was suceeded by Orrin S. Boggs, September 26th, 1836. The latter 
held the place until August 15th, 1837, when Luke Alvord was appointed, to 
be suceeded by Dennis McCarthy, February 2d, 1838. The latter retained 
the position until July 29th, 1839, and was succeeded by Elijah Clark, who 
served until August 19th, 1841, when Thomas Robinson was appointed. 
He did not accept the office and one month later Porteus D. Lawrence was 
given the vacancy. On the 20th of June, 1845, T. A. E. Brown succeeded 
Lawrence and held the post to the close. 

Oliver I. West was appointed Quartermaster June 3d, 1831, but declined 
and on the 12th of July, Seth Hutchinson was appointed. He wassucceed- 
ed by Wm. Case, September 8, 1834. On the 13th of July, 1835, Orrin S. 
Boggs was appointed and held until September 26th, 1836, when he was 

succeeded by Dennis McCarthy. George succeeded February 2d, 

1838, and he was followed by Edward J. Foster July 29th, 1839. Foster 
retained the position until August 19th, 1841, and was followed by George 
C. Hopper. On the i6th of August, Spencer P. Rust was appointed and 
held the ofifice until the regiment disbanded. 

Edson Earll was appointed Paymaster June 13th, 1 831, but declined and 
Seth Hutchinson was given the post. A month later James M. Ellis suc- 
ceeded Hutchinson and held the position until July 29th, 1833, when he 
was succeeded by Orrin S. Boggs. On the 13th of July, 1835, Dennis Mc- 
Carthy was appointed to the office and was succeeded by Luke Alvord, Sep- 
tember 26th 1 836. The latter was followed by George Stevens, August i 5th, 

1837, and he was succeeded t>y Christopher Buckley, February 2d, 1838. 
Thomas Robinson followed July 29th, 1839; Porteus D. Lawrence August 
19th, 1 841 ; Charles Hutchinson September 84th, 1841 : Spencer P. Rust 
September 9th, 1843, and he was succeeded by the last incumbent, Elisha 
M. Higgins, August i6th, 1845. 

Dr. Nathan R. Tefft was appointed Surgeon of the regiment on the 4th 
of September, 1835, and was succeeded by Dr. Wm. Lovejoy August 30th, 

1838. Dr. Hiram Wiggins was appointed Surgeon's Mate September 4th, 
1835, and served to the end. 

The 147th regiment was, in point of numbers and discipline, second to 
none in the county. It at one time numbered a full thousand men, and its 
roll of ofificers, as has been shown, embraced many very distinguished 
names. But in spite of all this, it met the fate of all of the old similar or. 



28o Memorial History of Syracuse. 

ganizations ; the spirit weakened and their vitality became extinct. As an 
example of the negligent and lawless feeling that finally prevailed, the large 
company commanded by Darius Orcutt, in which were many men of note 
in Syracuse, quite a number of whom are still living, the Captain ordered 
his company out for inspection and drill, and not a soul responded. Many 
of them afterwards were court-martialed and fined. Some were exempted 
on account of their being firemen. Two of these were Philo N. Rust and 
George F. Comstock. Among those fined were Vivus W. Smith, Richard 
Woolworth, Columbus C. Bradley, and Robert Noxon. 

" Salt Point " was the nucleus of many of the so-called " Patriot " oper- 
ations for the invasion of Canada in 1837-40, and several members of the 
147th regiment, and others from the county, joined in the movement. The 
history of that foolhardy affair is well known and is further alluded to in a 
subsequent chapter of the work on the Germans of Syracuse. 

The following changes in officers occurred in this regiment during the 
period under consideration, which are of peculiar interest as showing who 
among local men have taken part in the military affairs of the county in 
years long past : The Captains of companies were John ]. Hopper vice 
Adams, June 14, 1831 ; Edson Earll, vice Lockwood, same date; Oliver I. 
West, cavalry, vice David Bonta, June 28, 1831 ; William D. Stewart, 7'ice 
Woodruff, July, 1831 ; Elijah A. Baker, vice Cormsh, February, 1832; Wil- 
liam Plumb, I'/tv Wheadon, June, 1832; Ransom Barber, vice E. Barber, 
and Elias W. Leavenworth, T'?^^ Tilden, September, 1832; Benjamin M. 
King, vice King. March, 1833 ; Horace Foot, vice Gordon, George Phillips, 
t'/c^' Foot, John \Vehh,vi^^ Earll, July, 1833; Lewis L. Peck, vice Hopper,and 
Jas. Bates, vice Church, August, 1834 ; Rhesa Griffin, vice Foot, and Hiram 
Fellows, vice Chapman, September, 1834; George O. Bevins, July, 1^35; 
George Plumb, September, 1835 ; Giles Cornish, Alonzo Ellis, Edward S. 
Rockwell, David Johnson, Darius A. Orcutt, August, 1836; Daniel Childs, 
September, 1836; George B. Cornish, Elisha D. Sabin, Oliver C. Wiswall, 
William C. Brown, August, 1837; William A. Porter, Charles Sanford, 
July, 1836; Frederick M. Gilbert, Alanson Woodford, Gideon Seeley, 
Sullivan Bowen, cavalry, John M. VanAlstine, Charles W. Mosely, August, 
1839; Jacob Pfohl, grenadiers, September, 1839; Dorrance C. Rann, Mor- 
ris D. Ainslie, September, 1841 ; Timothy H. Teall, light infantry, August, 
1843; Lsaac T. Minard, William B. Whitmore, R. Nelson Gere, John S. 
Phillips, September, 1843; John H. Owen, July, 1844; George Anderson, 
June, 1845; Horace Hitchings, rifles, Dennis M. Higgins, September, 1843. 

The following were lieutenants of companies: Henry J. Wehh, vice 
Hopper, William Plumb, vice Bonta, June, 1831 ; James Bates, vice Suther- 
land, July, 1831 ; Horace Hitchings, light infantry, vice Williams, Novem- 
ber 28, 1831 ; Elias W. Leavenworth, artillery, vice Cook, February 4, 



Changes in Militia Officers. 281 

1832; Charles Barber, February, 1832; David Chaffee, Jr., rifles, May, 
1832; George Vhimh, vice VVm. Plumb, June, 1832; Ezra Town, 1st lieu- 
tenant artillery, Abram Harris 2nd lieutenant artillery, vice Town, Septem- 
ber, 1832; Ira Barnes, March 1833 ; Alanson Woodruff, cavalry, vice West, 
John M. Smith, cavalry, vice Phillips, Clark W. Kenyon, ^uce Bronson, 
Giles N. Cornish, vice Barber, July, 1833 ; Wm. B. Whitmore and Charles 
Iloman, vice Woodruff, Edward S. Rockwell, vice Burroughs, Charles 
Sanford, T'/tv Bates, August, 1834; Havens Wilbur, vice Chaffee, Septem- 
ber, 1834; Frederick M. King, James Buckley, Severns Blackman, Lathrop 
Kenyon, first cavalry, Peter B. Whitney, second cavalry, July, 1835 ; Elisha 
D. Sabin, September, 1835 ; George B. Cornish, Leonard P. Field, Ira Bar- 
rows, John Throop, August, 1836; Charles Earll, Edwin R. Nott, Lyman 
King, September, 1836; Alanson Woodruff, Hiram Slade, Charles W. 
Mosely, John Mosher, Jr., August, 1837 ; Harrison W. McGowan, July, 
1837; George J. Gardner, Elbridge Haynes, August, 1838; Horace Hitch- 
ings, Dorrance Rann, June, 1839; Justin W. Hale, LeRoy Bowen, first 
artillery, David M. Schuyler, Coydon Covill, August, 1839; John Cook, 
grenadiers, Orlin Gibbon, Morris Ainslie, September, 1841 ; Timothy B. 
Storer, first light infantry, Charles R. West, second light infantry, George 
Stevens, first artillery, Elijah T. Hayden, second artillery, David G. Staf- 
ford, August, 1843; Thomas A. E. Brown, Galen Wilson, Wm. S. Wood, 
September, 1843; Wm. B. Olmsted, first light infantry, George Keisinger, 
second light infantry, August, 1844; Wm. Clark, June, 1845 > James Har- 
rower, August 1845 ; J. Warren Tripp, June, 1837 ; Matthias Britton, John 
L, Waterman, September, 1843. 

Ensigns were commissioned as follows : George Plumb, vice William 
Plumb, June, 1831 ; George Hughes, vice Bates, Shephard Marsh, vice 
Burgess, July, 1831 ; Alanson Woodruff, vice Foot, November, 1831 ; 
Charles Barber, ]r., vice Charles Barber, February, 1832; Wm. Cummings, 
vice Plumb, June, 1832; Hiram Clark, vice Hoyt, July, 1832; Giles N. 
Cornish, vice Barber, Joseph B. Woolsey, March, 1833; Charles Homan, 
vice Woodruff, Sanford D. Evans, Sidney Gilbert, July, 1833; Edward K. 
Nott, vice Homan, Lucien Hyde, vice Day, August, 1834; Frederick Gil- 
bert, vice Cummings, September, 1834; VVilliam Rose, July, 1835; Rich- 
ard Fay, September, 1835 ; Alanson Woodruff, Jefferson Phillips, H. W. 
McGowan, Augnst, 1836; Christian Usenbentz, September, 1S36; Giles 
N. Case, Augustus Norton, Jr., August, 1837; Edward J. Foster, July, 1836 ; 
James Barry, August, 1838; Orrin M. Wells, Wells E. Lawrence, June, 
1839; Olmsted Quick, Colonel Nichols, Mathew Sherwood, August, 1839; 
Marcus Keeler, grenadiers, September, 1839 ; David L. Robinson, Thomas 
McQueen, Jr., Thomas A. E. Brown, September, 1841 ; Demas Higgins, 
John S. Phillips, August, 1843 ; Napoleon B. Clark, Charles Pharis, Sep- 

36 



282 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

tember, 1843; S. L. Newman, June, 1845; Ambrose Black, June, 1837; 
Thomas D. Rose, Edwin Makyes, September, 1843. 



THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 

The history of the Civil War in which this country was engaged from 
1861 to 1865 has been written and rewritten, until almost every intelligent 
citizen, young and old, is familiar with its prominent details. But it is the 
duty of the local historian to preserve as far as practicable, a record of the 
deeds of those with whose lives he is directly concerned, and the general 
part taken by the inhabitants of the locality of which he is writing, in the 
great struggle which resulted in cementing the bonds of the Union stronger 
than ever before. It is manifestly impossible in a work of this character to 
follow in detail the various campaigns in which our local bodies of soldiery 
were engaged, or to trace the heroic careers of some of our great military 
officers and privates, a record of which would fill a volume. Such histori- 
cal work must of necessity be left largely to the general writer who has had 
at his command unlimited space and only the one topic to consider. On 
those pages the deeds of the various military organizations that went from 
Onondaga to the service of their country are already embalmed in eloquent 
phrases, which all may read. It remains for this work, therefore, to give 
such brief accounts of those organizations, of what they were constituted, 
sketches of their careers in the field, their losses, etc., as may be practicable 
within the brief limits to which we are confined in this work. 

When the enemies of the Union fired the first hostile gun against the 
flag of their country, a tide of patriotic enthusiasm and indignation swept 
over the entire country. The call to arms found an echo in every loyal 
heart, and thousands who loved their country sprang forward to offer their 
lives, if necessary, upon its altar. In the great brotherhood of loyal States, 
New York was among the foremost during the entire struggle in furnishing 
men and means for the Government, and Onondaga county was in no respect 
behind any of her sisters in patriotism. At the breaking out of the war, a 
Zouave company was in existence in Syracuse, comprising about forty rep- 
resentative young men of the city. With the fall of Sumter this organiz- 
ation immediately tendered its services to the Government. It became a 
part of the third New York regiment and participated in the first battle 
fought in defence of the Union. Immediately following the call of the 
President for 75,000 men in April, 1861, the old 12th regiment was re- 
cruited and sent to the front to begin its long campaign of honorable service. 
The lOist regiment followed, in which were many men from this county, 
which was mustered in in the fall of 1861. The gallant I22d regiment came 
next in the summer of 1862, and a month later was succeeded by the 



Record of Butler's Zouaves. 283 

149th regiment. In 1864 the 185th regiment went out and won for itself an 
imperishable record in less than a year of service. The 15th and the 22d 
cavalry were also raised and sent from this county, with Jenney's and 
Pettit's batteries of artillery, while a large number of military organ- 
izations from other nearby localities received large accessions from this 
county, whose deeds in the field must be left to the historians of those 
regiments of which they became members. Among these were the 3d New 
York Cavalry, mustered into service in August, 1861; the loth Cavalry, 
December, 1861 ; the 12th Cavalry, November, 1862; the 20th Cavalry, 
September, 1863; and the 24th Cavalry, January, 1864; also a part of the 
yth and i6th New York Heavy Artillery. This county and Cortland also 
furnished eight companies of the 2d regiment Ira Harris Light Cavalry, re- 
cruited in the fall of 1864. In the infantry service parts of the 44th New 
York, the 75th, and the loist, all mustered in during 1861, were from this 
county. The 193d and the 194th regiments, mustered in the spring of 1865, 
were partly from this county. After the breaking out of the war recruiting 
continued with little cessation as long as men were needed b)' the Govern- 
ment. It is estimated that Onondaga county furnished about 10,000 men 
to the armies of the Union, and exceeded her quota by about 1,000 men. 



BUTLER'S ZOUAVES. 

This company was originally composed of about forty young men from 
the best families of Syracuse, and was officered by John G. Butler, Captain; 
Samuel Thompson, First Lieutenant ; E. S. Jenney, Second Lieutenant. 
Immediately after the fall of Sumter the company offered its services to 
the Government and was at once recruited to the maximum number, J"] 
men, and was assigned as Company D, 3d regiment, N. Y. volunteers. 
Before it was mustered into service Lieutenant Jenney raised another com- 
pany in Oneida county, of which he was commissioned Captain. This was 
made Company I of the same regiment. The only Onondaga county man 
in this company besides Captain Jenney, was Second Lieutenant Leon H. 
Ballard. Captain Butler's company was organized with C. H. Burdick as 
First Lieutenant ; Jay M. Wicks, as Second Lieutenant, and was the first 
company organized in Central New York after the breaking out of the war. 

These two companies proceeded to the barracks in Albany where the reg- 
imental organization was completed in April, 1861, and thence to New 
York. After a brief period here in camp the regiment was ordered to For- 
tress Monroe and incorporated with General Butler's army. They took 
part in the first actual battle of the war at Big Bethel, June 9, 1861. Viewed 
in the light of many subsequent engagements, this was an insignificant 
affair, but to the participants, all unused to the experiences of war and con- 



284 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

fronting an enemy behind breastworks, it was momentous in its effects. 
General Magruder was well posted, with about 1800 infantry, in his breast- 
works, and after some hours of ineffectual firing by our force under General 
Pierce, an assault was ordered and Jenney's and Butler's companies were 
among the volunteers for the movement. The works being protected by a 
stream in front, were not carried, but the action of the raw troops was com- 
mendable. Major Theodore Winthrop, one of General Butler's aids, was 
shot while cheering forward his men. Captains Jenney and Butler, with 
their commands, were favorably mentioned in the reports, for gallant con- 
duct. 

After the battle of Bull Run the regiment was stationed at Fort Mc- 
Henry, Baltimore, for garrison duty. In October, 1861, Captain Jenney 
tired of this inactivity, and being authorized to raise a battery of light ar- 
tillery, left the regiment. On the 4th of February, 1863, Captain Butler 
was promoted to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the 147th regiment of New 
York volunteers, organized at Oswego in September, 1862. On the 24th 
of February, 1863, he was promoted to Colonel of the regiment, which he 
commanded with distinction until his discharge, November 5, 1863, on the 
surgeon's certificate of disability. 

Jay M. Wicks was promoted to First Lieutenant, February 26th, 1862, 
and to Captain in October of the same year. He died of wounds received 
in action, on the 27th of October, 1S64. 

Leon H. Ballard resigned in September, 1861, and Charles H. Burdick 
in February, 1862. The reginrent was mustered cut Aig.utt 181865. 



JENNEY'S BATTERY. 

The loth New York Independent Battery, popularly know as "Jenney's 
Battery," was recruited by Capt. Edwin S. Jenney in the fall of 1861. We 
have already alluded to Captain Jenney's previous service. As Captain of 
Company I, 3d regiment, N. Y. V., he had seen enough of active service in 
the field to give him a preference for the light artillery branch, and obtain- 
ing leave of absence he returned to New York and was given authority to 
raise the battery. He soon succeeded in securing the minimum number of 
recruits and his command was mustered into the United States service as 
the"ioth New York Independent Battery." The command was subse- 
■ quently attached to the 3d New York artillery as Battery F. The Lieu- 
tenants of the battery were Alexander H. Davis, Gustavus F. Merriam, 
Paul Birchmeyer, and James D. Cutwater. 

The command lay in barracks at New York for several weeks, during 
which the men were supplied with rifles and were uniformed. On the 21st of 
February, 1862, the battery proceeded to Washington, and the next day 



Movements of Jenney's Battery. 285 

with the remainder of the regiment, which it had joined, marched across 
the Potomac and occupied Fort Corcoran on Arlington Heights. 

On the 25th of March orders were received by the regiment to join 
the army of Burnside on its pending expedition. They arrived at Annapo- 
lis the next day and on the 28th took a steamer for Hatteras Inlet, where 
they joined the Burnside fleet on the 30th, and thence landed at Newbern, 
N. C, on the 2d of April, 1862. Here some time was spent in equipping 
and drilling, particularly the batteries of Captains Jenney and Morrison. 
Their armament (a mixed lot of guns) was supplied by July 1st, and by 
November ist, Battery F was equipped with a complete armament of VViard 
rifled twelve pounder guns. The summer and fall of 1 862 were chiefly spent 
in drilling and in perfecting the line of fortifications and camp duty, until 
the month of November. From the 3d to the loth of that month the 
Battery was on the march upon Tarboro, during which, though no en- 
gagement occurred, the severity of the march, the rigorous discipline, with 
frequent skirmishes, gave the command most valuable experience. 

On the nth of December, leaving a small garrison at Newbern, the 
army began its march on GoldsJDoro. This movement was in execution of 
General Halleck's order that, simultaneously with Burnside's crossing the 
Rappahannock, all of the available forces at Newbern should advance on 
Goldsboro, destroy the railroad and bridges, and as far as possible create a 
diversion in Burnside's favor. This comparatively small force fought three 
battles in three successive days, two of them very severe considering the 
number engaged, and in them all Jenney's battery behaved with great gal- 
lantry and won distinction. The battles are known as Kinston, Whitehall 
and Goldsboro. A very brief account of the engagement at Kinston is 
worthy of record here. The point of attack of the Union force was the 
bridge crossing the river and owing to the long range of its guns this bat- 
tery was at first placed upon a hill in the rear of our advancing troops, to 
fire over them and thus aid their advance. The enemy held their ground, 
however, with terrible stubborness ; an almost hand-to-hand fight raged 
for hours, when it was discovered that the enemy was being reinforced by 
troops coming to their left flank. Jenney's Battery with two infantry regi- 
ments was ordered to hastily proceed to our right and cut off such reinforce- 
ments if possible. Passing through thick woods they came into the open 
country too late to effect their object, but with the bridge and enemy full in 
view. The intermediate country had been drained by large trenches which 
seemed impassable to a battery, but after a moment's conference between 
General Hickman, who commanded the flanking brigade, and Captain 
Jenney, the order to advance was given, and the brigade in two parallel 
columns (the infantry in one and the battery in the other) moved at double 
quick and gallop through the trenches and across the fields. No halt was 



286 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

made until the battery was within canister range of the enemy. The re- 
port of the Wiard guns was well known to our army. The position of the 
field was such that this movement upon the flank was not known to our 
troops until the Wiard guns rang out in quick succession, and a new mus- 
ketry fire in the same locality told them the story. There was a momentary 
lull ; then a cheer rang along the line, and an advancing shout, and the 
enemy's lines wavered and in a moment gave away and every man sought 
his own safety in flight, while the battery turned its fire upon the bridge, 
now crowded with the retreating enemy, with fearful effect. Several hun- 
dred of the enemy sheltered themselves below the river bank and were cap- 
tured. The enemy, in retreating, for the purpose of delaying our pursuit, 
fired the bridge with turpentine, thus torturing to death many of their un- 
fortunate wounded. The work of removing their charred remains occa- 
sioned more delay than extinguishing the flames, which was quickly done 
with the artillery buckets. 

One section of the battery under command of Lieutenant Frederick 
Dennis, with the 3d New York Cavalry, followed and harassed the retreat- 
ing enemy until night, but the battery had been too badly crippled by the 
loss of men and horses to ha.stily make up more than a section for pursuit. 
At 5 o'clock the next morning, however, having brought in reserve horses 
and disposed the men with reference to the vacant places. Battery F 
marched out in the place of honor with the advance brigade. 

Conrad Ring, the bugler, bore the colors, in place of poor Dunlap whose 
horse had been shot under him and who had lost a leg the day before, while 
others filled the places of the poor fellows left behind, as well as their own ; 
yet the battery marched out elated with the honors of yesterday's battle, 
well prepared for the arduous duty still before it. 

That night the army camped within three miles of Whitehall, which 
place it was necessary to pass on the route to Goldsboro. Early next 
morning our cavalry engaged the enemy, the artillery was sent to the front, 
the cavalry and infantry being employed mainly as a support, and the bat- 
tle of Whitehall was fought. It was an artillery duel and a very spirited 
one. The enemy's guns were almost wholly disabled, when our infantry 
advanced and quickly dislodged the foe. During this engagement one of 
Captain Jenncy's guns burst from rapid firing. 

In the battle of Goldsboro, which was fought the next day, Jenney's 
battery was held in reserve, being short of horses and ammunition. The 
army reached Newbern on the 20th of the month. In recognition of the 
gallant conduct of the battery. Captain Jenney was recommended for pro- 
motion, and on the ist of January was made Major in the regiment. 

The next important movement in the army which affected this organi- 
zation, was the transfer of the i8th corps to Hilton Head in the first week 



Operations in South Carolina. 287 

of February, 1863. By this operation Battery F was divided, the guns and 
gunners, with horses enough to draw them, being taken and the remainder 
of the battery staying at Newbern until the following winter, when it re- 
joined the battery in South Carolina. Major Jenney, reluctant to surrender 
command of his battery, was permitted to accompany it, retaining his com- 
mand until in July. In South Carolina the battery was encamped at St. 
Helena Island, where it remained inactive until April 1st. On that day it 
received marching orders for Folly Island, where it was incorporated with 
Vogdes' brigade. Major Jenney becoming Chief of Artillery and Chief of 
Staff. Work was at once begun in fortifying the northern end of the island 
with the purpose of storming Morris Island, a movement that was necessary 
to the attack on Sumter and Charleston. This work was accomplished with 
great difficulty and under destructive fire from the enemy's artillery and in- 
fantry on Morris Island, only four hundred yards distant. At daybreak on 
July 9, 1^563, our artillery opened fire on Morris Island, while Strong's brig- 
ade in small boats crossed the inlet under a terrible fire and stormed and 
captured the works on the southern end of that island. To Battery F was 
assigned the duty of defending the crossing troops, and this work was so 
well done that twenty-four of the enemy were found dead in his rifle pits. 
A siege for the capture of Fort Wagner was then begun, during which 
Battery F, now commanded by Lieutenant Birchmej'er, was constantly in 
the advance until September 6th, when the fort was captured. Lieutenants 
Birchmeyer and Van Heusen were especially commended by the command- 
ing General for bravery and untiring exertion, and John Conway, Riley 
Fancher, and Matthias Thyson were presented with medals by the Govern- 
ment for bravery in the trenches. 

In April, 1864, the battery went to Beaufort, N. C, where it remained 
in camp until September 5, 1864, when it was ordered to Florida. While 
its headquarters were at Beaufort the battery enhanced its already proud 
record in the battles of John's Island and Bloody Bridge. On the 14th of 
September the battery arrived at Jacksonville, where it remained until 
November 29. Thence it again returned to South Carolina to co-operate 
with General Foster, whose force was with General Sherman, then on his 
famous march to the sea. In the campaign which followed, the battery 
won distinction in the battles of Honey Hill, Camden, Ashapo, and minor 
engagements. It followed Sherman to Raleigh and then returned to 
Charleston, where its equipments were turned over to the Government and 
in May, 1865, the battery returned to Syracuse and was mustered out. 

We have stated that in July, 1863, Major Jenney left his battery and 
assumed his duty as Major. He proceeded to regimental headquarters at 
Newbern, where he was soon made Judge Advocate and shortly afterwards 
Provost Judge of the Department. He occupied these positions until 



288 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



September, 1864, when upon recommendation of the Citizens' Committee, 
he was commissioned Colonel of the iSsth regiment, then being recruited 
in Syracuse, and immediately went to Fortress Monroe to obtain leave from 
the commanding General to accept, that post. The leave was granted and 
he was ordered to return to Newbern and turn over his office to his succes- 
sor. His return was made by way of Dismal Swamp Canal and while on a 
little steamer she was fired upon and captured by a company of Confederate 
marines. At the time the boat was fired upon she was stopped by a draw- 
bridge suddenly shot across the canal by the enemy. There were four ofifi- 
cers and ten men on the deck of the boat, without apprehension of danger, 
and not more than twenty feet from the muzzles of the rebel guns. Of the 
party ten were killed or wounded, Major Jenney being one of the fortunate 
ones. There was no opportunity for resistance, and no arms of any kind 
on the boat. The prisoners were marched about forty miles to Elizabeth 
City, where Major Jenney induced his captors to parole him. The parole 
having been signed the Major pretended to return by the same route by 
which he had come, but instead went to the river, captured a small boat, 
made his way down the stream and across the sound and reached Roanoke 
Island. He reported the circumstances of his capture and parole to the 
Government and hastened home to attend to the organization of the new 
regiment. 



THE TWELFTH REGIMENT. 

The 1 2th Regiment of New York State Volunteer Infantry was the first 
organized in Onondaga county and a large portion of the men were from 
the city of Syracuse. On Monday after the memorable Sunday, April 14, 
1 861, which heard the first gun fired on Sumter, the ranks of the regiment 
were filled and the enlistments made in the State service for two years. 
The field and staff officers were as follows: Ezra L. Walrath, Colonel ; 
James L. Graham, Lieutenant-Colonel; John Louis, Major; Silas Titus, 
Adjutant; Edmund B. Griswold, Quartermaster; R. W. I'ease, Surgeon; 
George B. Todd, Assistant Surgeon ; George H. Root, Sergeant-Major ; 
Charles Sedgwick. Quartermaster-Sergeant; Robert C. Daly, Drum-Major; 
Spencer Eaton, Fife-Major. (For the line officers of this, as well as of the 
other regiments noticed in these pages, the reader is referred to the Muster 
Rolls published by the State, and filed in the county clerk's office.) 

The 1 2th regiment left Syracuse on the 2d of May, 1861, and was there 
mustered into the United States service for three months on the 13th of 
May. After being uniformed and equipped the regiment left for Washing- 
ton, in company with the 13th, from Rochester, on the 2d of June, and 
there encamped on East Capitol Hill. On the 15th of July the troops 



The Battle of Bull Run. 289 



were ordered across Chain Bridge and the 15th was the first under fire at 
Blackburn's Ford on the iSth, preliminary to the first Bull Run engage- 
ment. Lieutenant Randall, of the 12th, with about twenty skirmishers, 
was the first to attack the enemy. George N. Cheney, a private in com- 
pany A, was the first man killed. In this engagement the 12th regiment 
lost six killed and thirteen wounded. 

In the famous Bull Run battle, the details of which are so well known, 
the 1 2th regiment behaved with commendable bravery for new troops and 
lost in proportion with the other organizations engaged. The regiment had 
been brigaded with the 1st Massachusetts and the 2d and 3d Michigan, 
under command of Col. J. D. Richardson. On ^londay, July 22d, they 
returned from Bull Run as rear guard of the retreating army and on the 
24th went into camp on Arlington Heights, and a few days later changed 
to the flats near the turnpike. On the 13th they removed to Fort Albany 
and relieved the 25th New York militia. On the 30th they occupied 
another camp south of the Arlington House and while there constructed 
Fort Craig, a part of the works for the defense of Washington. 

On the evening of August 26th, three companies of the 12th were de- 
tailed under Captain Barnum for picket duty towards Upton Hill and had a 
lively skirmish with the enemy. They were repulsed by the enemy to 
Ball's Cross Roads. Sergeant-Major Estes and Private Hitchcock were 
wounded, the latter mortally, and Fred Darby was taken prisoner. On the 
27th^ of September |a 'general advance was made to Upton Hill and the 
1 2th regiment established a permanent camp, where they remained until 
the following February. 

On the 3d of February, 1862, the regiment was consolidated with the 
1 2th New York militia, so-called, a body of 550 recruits raised by Henry A. 
Weeks. After about nine months of service the 12th regiment now found 
its numbers reduced by losses in the field and by sickness to 450 ofificers 
and men. In the consolidation the ten companies of the regiment were 
reduced to five, the New York men supplying the other five. The compa- 
nies of the 12th regiment were lettered A, G, H, I, and K, and commanded 
respectiveh' by Captains Root, Randall, Wood, Truesdell, and Combs. 
The field officers were Henry A. Weeks, (Colonel Richardson having relin- 
quished this office in order to effect the consolidation); R. M. Richardson, 
Lieutenant-Colonel; Henry A. Barnum, Major; George W. Watson, Ad- 
jutant; Porter R. Alger, Quartermaster ; A. B. Shipman, Surgeon ; George 
B. Todd, Assistant Surgeon. The officers rendered supernumerary by the 
consolidation were mustered out of the service, but many of them re-enlisted. 

In March, 1862, General McClellan organized the Army of the Potomac, 
and the I2th regiment was attached to General Butterfield's brigade, con- 
sisting of the 12th, 17th, and 44th New York, the i6th Michigan, ap^ the 
37 



290 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



83d Pennsylvania regiments. These troops accompanied the army to the 
Peninsula and took part in the siege of Yorktown, which was evacuated by 
the enemy on the 4th of May. Butterfield's brigade did not participate in 
the pursuit, but embarked for West Point and thence proceeded up the 
Pamunkey river and across to New Bridge on the Chickahominy. The 
brigade containing the 12th regiment was now in the ist division, 5th corps, 
(commanded by Gen. Fitz John Porter,) and it so remained throughout its 
service. Between the 24th and the 26th of June the regiment shared in 
the movement on Hanover Court House, in which the enemy was routed, 
with a reported loss of 2,000 killed and 730 prisoners, including wounded. 
Our loss was 53 killed and 344 wounded. 

The 5th corps returned to camp at Gaines's Mill and on the 26th of 
June was ordered up to Mechanicsville to support the Pennsylvania Re- 
serves, under General McCall. These troops had not yet been in action. 
Gen. Robert E. Lee was then in command of the Confederate army and 
had concentrated about 70,000 men on the Chickahominy. Through delay 
in the arrival of Stonewall Jackson's force, the attack was not made on our 
lines until 2 p. m. of the 26th, at which time the small force holding Me- 
chanicsville had fallen back fighting to the strong position held by the Re- 
serves and the 5th corps. This brought these troops, including the I2th, 
into action against the great body of the enemy under the two Hills and 
Longstreet, whose forces suffered terribly in an unsuccessful attempt to 
turn our left. We quote from Greeley as follows : " Night fell on a de- 
cided and animating success of our mainly green soldiers, though the fight- 
ing did not cease until after dark, and the rebels remained in force not far 
from our front. Our total loss in this affair was less than 400, while that of 
the rebels must have been many times larger; and when near the close of 
the battle, fresh troops came up to relieve the exhausted Reserves, they 
refused to give place, but, replenishing their ammunition, lay down on their 
arms to await the encounter of the morrow." 

Before daylight on the 27th, General McClellan ordered the evacuation 
of our strong position and a retreat to Gaines's Mill. Assuming that this 
retreat was necessary, it was effected in a masterly manner and the new 
position was safely occupied, with the brigade containing the 12th regiment 
forming the left of the line, resting on the Chickahominy. 

Promptly upon Jackson's arrival. Gen. A. P. Hill attacked this position 
and a terrible battle followed, involving nearly the whole of Lee's forces. 
General Porter's position was a strong one naturally, but owing chiefly to 
the fact that there were no axes at the front with which to throw out pro- 
tecting abattis, and to the non-arrival of re-enforcements at critical times, 
the battle as a whole went against the Union forces, though at fearful cost 
as well to the enemy. Just at sunset the rebels rallied all their forces, 



Battle of Malvern Hill. 291 



stormed our entrenchments and drove back the brave defenders. The 
enemy halted on the field they had so hardly won. Losses on both sides 
were heavy, that of the Union forces being from 6,000 to 8,000 killed and 
wounded. The gallant 12th suffered severely. Among the badly wounded 
were Captains Truesdell and Crombie, and Lieutenants Estes, Fisher, and 
Oliver. Lieutenant Barton was killed. In killed and prisoners the regi- 
ment lost 144. 

On the 1st of July, the regiment formed a part of the Union forces en- 
gaged in the battle of Malvern Hill. This constituted a part of McClel- 
lan's attempted grand flank movement in retreat, in which the terribly 
exhaustive march was made across White Oak Swamp. As far as the 12th 
and its immediate fellow regiments of the brigade are concerned in this 
action, the attack was made on them by D. H. Hill's force about 3 p. m., 
under orders to break our lines by a concentric fire of artillery, and then 
" charge with a yell " on our entire front. The battle raged along the 
whole line with fearful carnage, but Hill, not being properly supported, 
was thrown back with great loss. At the opening of the battle and just as 
the 12th regiment was taking position. Major Henry A. Barnum received a 
bullet through his hip, causing a dangerous wound which took him from the 
field for a long time. After the first fruitless attempt of the enemy to 
break our lines, a considerable pause ensued during which both sides were 
preparing for the main battle of the day. Sheltering woods enabled the 
rebels to form their columns of assault within a few hundred yards of our 
batteries. At about 6 o'clock p. m., they came out of the woods on a full 
run and rushed upon our lines in utter recklessness of the withering fire, 
assaulting in such desperation that Sickles's brigade of Hooker's division, 
and Meagher's brigade of Richardson's division, were ordered up to the 
support of Porter and Couch, who now held our right front, which Jackson 
was charging furiously ; but not one of our guns was temporarily captured 
or seriously imperilled during the fight. The loss of the enemy was sup- 
posed to have been treble that of our own — over 10,000 killed, wounded 
and missing. General McClellan reported the aggregate losses of his army 
in the seven days of fighting, from Mechanicsville to Harrison's Landing, 
as 1,582 killed, 7,709 wounded, and 5,958 missing. 

After the battle of Malvern Hill the I2th regiment accompanied the 
army to Harrison's Landing, where it remained until the 14th of August. 
At this time they moved down the river, halted at ■ Yorktown and 
camped on the same ground occupied by them during the siege. Porter 
was under orders to halt here, but an intercepted letter informed him that 
the enemy were concentrating to crush the force of General Pope. Porter 
therefore took the responsibility of passing on to Newport News, march- 
intf sixty miles in three days. On the 20th he embarked on transports for 



292 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Acquia Creek, went thence to Falmouth by rail, moved up the Rappahan- 
nock and on August 30, I S62, participated in the second battle of Bull 
Run. The retreat from that field began that night and General Pope's 
army was safely placed in the entrenchments covering Washington. Pope 
then resigned. In this Bull Run battle the I2th regiment lost heavily. 
Col. Henry A. Weeks, Captain Root, and Lieutenant Behan were among 
the wounded. The muster of the regiment next morning showed only 106 
men, one staff officer, and six line officers. The brigade went into the fight 
with over 1,500 men and came out with only about 600. 

On the night of September 2d, the brigade went into camp on Arling- 
ton Heights and was soon afterwards strengthened by the accession of the 
20th Maine regiment. On the 17th of September they moved over into 
Maryland and participated in the hard-fought battle of Antietam. This 
memorable struggle, in which nearly the whole Confederate army took part, 
was inaugurated in the afternoon of the i6th, but the height of the battle 
occurred the next day. The engagement cannot be described here, but it 
may be stated that Porter's corps occupied the center ; and though it re- 
mained out of the fight until late in the afternoon, it was afterwards hotly 
engaged and the 12th regiment added to its laurels already won. The loss 
was about equal and reached more than 13,000 men on each side. Greeley 
says, at the close of his account of this battle, " thus closed indecisively the 
bloodiest day America ever saw." 

On the 19th of September, the division embracing the 12th regiment 
was ordered over the river at the Shepherdstown Ford, where the enemy 
was met and the Union force was driven back, the troops taking shelter 
behind a breastwork formed by the banks of an empty canal. A short en- 
gagement followed, when the brigade was ordered to the Antietam Iron 
Works to guard the ford. The 12th was then stationed at Sharpsburg, 
where companies E and G were detailed as Provost Guard, under Lieuten- 
ant Estes as Provost Marshal. 

From Sharpsburg the 12th regiment moved to Stoneman's Switch, on 
the Fredericksburg and Acquia Creek railroad, and remained there until 
December 13, 1862, the day on which Burnside made his fatal attempt to 
cross the river and storm the heights of Fredericksburg, on which were 
waiting an enemy 80,000 strong, advantageously posted and well intrenched. 
No more bloody or hopeless attack was ever made and the slaughter in the 
Union army was frightful. About 15,000 men in killed, wounded, and 
prisoners told the story of the terrible day, with about one-third as many on 
the other side. The 12th regiment lost heavily, and lay all night following 
the battle and through the next day among the dead and wounded. On 
the retreat they were the last to reach the pontoon bridge and were still 
upon it when it was cut loose from the Fredericksburg shore by the engi- 



The One Hundred and Twenty-Second Regiment. 293 



neers. After the retreat from Fredericksburg the regiment went into its 
old camp at Stoneman's Switch, and on the 27th of April, iS63,as Hooker 
was about to advance on Chancellorsville. orders came for the regiment to 
return to Elmira for muster out of the service. This was done on the 17th 
of May, 1S63. The three years men from New York city, who had been con- 
solidated with the 1 2th, were organized into five companies, forming a sep- 
arate battalion, under Col. Henry A. Weeks, and remained in the service. 
The old 1 2th, battle-scarred and their numbers dwindled to a mere handful, 
reached Syracuse and made a short parade of the streets, where the tat- 
tered banner and its bullet-studded staff attracted the deepest interest. 
The regiment still holds annual reunions, but its number is small and rap- 
idly diminishing. 



THE ONE hundred AND TWENTY-SECOND REGIMENT. 

This was one of the regiments organized under the call of the President 
for 300,000 men in the summer of 1862. The war was then beginning to 
develop its great proportions and it was clearly foreseen that the struggle for 
Union was to be a bloody one and one that would demand all of the resources 
of the country. The result of the peninsular campaign was then in doubt 
and a feeling of anxiety pervaded the North. On the day following the 
President's call. Governor Morgan issued a proclamation, from which the 
following is an extract. 

" This appeal is to the State of New York ; it is to each citizen. Let it 
come to every fireside. Let the glorious example of the Revolutionary pe- 
riod be our emulation. Let each feel that the Commonwealth now counts 
upon his individual strength and influence to meet the demands of the 
Government. The period has come when all must aid. New York has 
not thus stood back. Ready and more than willing, she has met every 
summons to duty. Let not her history be falsified nor her position be 
lowered." 

The call and the proclamation were not in vain as far as Onondaga 
county was concerned. Three days after the issue of the Governor's proc- 
lamation, there came from the office of the Adjutant-General of the State, 
a circular directing the division of the State into regimental districts cor- 
responding with the Senatorial districts, with a rendezvous camp in each. 
A committee was also appointed by the same authority for each district, 
called the Senatorial War Committee, to whom was entrusted the general 
charge of military affairs. In Onondaga county (composing the 22d dis- 
trict) the following persons constituted the committee: Hon. Charles An- 



294 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



drews, Hon. Grove Lawrence, Hon. Dennis McCarthy, Hon. Elias \V. 
Leavenworth, Hamilton White, Hon. Austin Myers, Hon. Thomas G. Al- 
vord, L. \V. Hall, Hon. Thomas T. Davis, and Col. J. Dean Hawley. 

On the 15th of July, 1862, this committee met and organized by elect- 
ing Hon. Charles Andrews, president, and L. W. Hall, secretary. A reso- 
lution was adopted requesting the citizens of the several towns to appoint a 
committee of three in each town to act in conjunction with the Senatorial 
Committee. Another resolution requested the Governor to call an extra 
session of the Legislature for the purpose of securing uniform action in 
relation to bounties. 

At this time the failure of the operations against Richmond and the 
peril of Pope's army as it was being pressed back to the Washington de- 
fenses, rendered it uncertain whether our armies in the field could hold out 
without great risk, until reinforcements under the last call could reach the 
front. This was the situation under which the call was made, the first re- 
sponse to which was the I22d regiment — a body of soldiery whose place on 
the roll of fame is high among those who fought for the Union. The 
regiment was raised in one month. Companies D, E, I, and K were wholly 
or partly composed of Syracuse men, the remainder of the regiment being 
from the towns of the county. The regiment was mustered into the 
United States service at Syracuse August 28, 1862, with the following field 
and staff officers: Silas Titus, Colonel; Augustus H. Dwight, Lieutenant- 
Colonel ; Joshua B. Davis, Major ; Andrew J. Smith, Adjutant ; Frank 
Lester, Quartermaster; Nathan R. Tefft, Surgeon ; John O. Slocum, As- 
sistant Surgeon ; Edwin A. Knapp, 2d Assistant Surgeon ; L. M. Nicker- 
son, Chaplain ; O. V. Tracy, Sergeant-Major; T. L. Poole, Quartermaster 
Sergeant; Guy J. Goetches, Commissary Sergeant; A. W. Handcock, 
Hospital Steward. 

The regiment left Syracuse on Sunday morning, reaching New York the 
same night, and the following day received their equipments. At 4:30 the 
next day they took steamer for PertH Amboy and thence on the same day 
proceeded by rail to Baltimore. That night was passed in the depot beside 
a. train loaded with wounded soldiers from the battlefields of Virginia. It 
was an experience more severe on the nerves of raw recruits than an actual 
battle would have been. On the following day the regiment proceeded to 
Washington and passed the night in barracks near the station. Here in- 
formation was received of Pope's defeat at Chantilly and Lee's crossing 
into Maryland. One more day and night were spent in Washington, when 
the regiment marched back through Georgetown to near the Chain Bridge 
and on the following day joined the column marching to the front. 

The I22d, with the 65th and 67th New York and the 23d, S2d and 61 st 
Pennsylvania regiments were constituted a brigade of Couch's division 
under command of Brigadier General John Cochrane. 



The Battle ok Antietam. 



295 



The campaign of the next three weeks and up to the battle of Antietam, 
while not calling for heavy sacrifices on the battle field, was peculiarly try- 
ing to new recruits. They participated in the severe marching of McClel- 
lan's troops in their active operations, and reached Crampton's Gap just 
in time to witness Slocum's splendid charge up the heights of South Moun- 
tain, but not in time to participate in the battle. This occurred on the 14th 
of September. On the 15th the I22d passed through the Gap and about 
four miles beyond, where it lay all day, and there received the news of the 
surrender of Harper's Ferry by General Miles. The advance of our forces 
from South Mountain to Antietam began on the morning of the 15th of 
September and on the 16th and 17th was fought the bloody battle which 
has gone into history as one of the most desperate engagements of the war. 
During this engagement the I22d was not direetly employed in the fighting, 
the division having been ordered far to the left to oppose a supposed flank- 
ing movement of the enemy. They returned to the field on the night of 
the 17th, where they remained during the iSth and 19th, and on the 20th 
the division marched to Williamsport. There, after some skirmishing, they 
drove off Stewart's cavalry, which had crossed the Potomac at that point. 
Here Private Hunn, of Company A, the first man wounded in the regiment, 
received a bullet in his leg. Most of the ne.xt two months were passed 
chiefly in drilling, interspersed with one or two marches of some prominence. 
On the 3d of November they acted as wagon guard, crossing the Potomac 
into Virginia at Berlin^ 

On the 8th of November, 1862, General Burnside superseded General 
McClellan in command of the Army of the Potomac, and at once planned 
his disastrous campaign for reaching Richmond by way of Fredericksburg. 
The regiment was now in the left Grand Division of the Army of the 
Potomac, (Franklin's), First Brigade, (General John Cochrane's), Third Di- 
vision, (^Gen. D. A. Couch's), Sixth Corps, (Sedgwick's,) then commanded 
by Gen. W. S. Smith, and joined the march towards Fredericksburg No- 
vember 10, halting until the 15th at New Baltimore, thence in two days to 
Stafford Court House, and in four days to Belle Plain, and thence to Fred- 
ericksburg. 

The details of the memorable struggle at this stronghold need not be 
repeated here. The storming of the Fredericksburg heights on the 13th 
of December was one of the most hopeless and bloodiest assaults of mod- 
ern warfare. In this engagement the I22d supported the Pennsylvania 
Reserves and were four hours under artillery fire, but their loss was light, 
only four men being wounded. 

The regiment participated in the famous "mud campaign," another 
wholly fruitless movement. General Hooker assumed command of the 
Army of the Potomac February 16, 1863. and during the two succeeding 



296 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

months, while the army was being reorganized and drilled, the I22d was 
most of the time on picket duty. 

When Hooker's army was in readiness he dispatched General Stoneman 
with most of his cavalry up the north side of the Rappahannock, with in- 
structions to cross at discretion above the Orange & Alexandria railroad, 
strike Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry near Culpepper Court House, capture Gor- 
donsville and then fall on the Fredericksburg & Richmond railroad near Sax- 
ton Junction, cutting telegraphs and destroying railroads on his way, and 
thence on towards Richmond. This order was issued April 13. The rains 
and swollen river delayed the army and caused the recall of the cavalry, 
which had crossed the Rappahannock. The main army did not move 
until the morning of the 25th, the i22d regiment marching in the 6th 
corps, carrying pontoons to Franklin's crossing two miles below Fredericks- 
burg. The regiment was engaged all night laying the pontoons, and before 
daylight Brooks's division had crossed in boats and drove off the rebel 
pickets. General Wadsworth, commanding the advance of Reynolds's 
division and Sickles's corps (Third), being now ready to cross in force, the 
3d corps was ordered to move silently and rapidly to the United States 
ford and thence to Chancellorsville, while a part of the pontoons were 
taken to Banks's ford. Reynolds, after making as great a display as possi- 
ble, followed on the 2d of May, raising Hooker's force at and near Chan- 
cellorsville to 70,000 men. The 6th corps, with the I22d regiment, re- 
mained at Franklin's crossing, covering the withdrawal of Sickles's corps 
and Reynolds's division, until Saturday, May 2. On that night, 
under orders for the 6th corps to cross the Rappahannock and join Hooker 
at Chancellorsville, the regiment crossed the river and after skirmishing up 
through Fredericksburg, found themselves at 3 o'clock Sunday morning in 
front of Marye's Heights, before the fatal stone wall where fell so many 
brave men on the memorable 12th of December, 1862. In the desperate 
engagement that followed, the I22d was conspicuous and in carrying the 
rebel front line Captain Church was wounded. The I22d was in the sup- 
porting column and passing over the hill, turned to the right and soon 
came in front of a fortified hill occupied by a force of the enemy and two 
guns, which the regiment was ordered to carry. The order was promptly 
executed, and the less in the regiment was nine killed and wounded. 

After carrying these height.s, Sedgwick's troops, including the I22d, 
moved out about four miles to Salem Church, and the fortifitd position of 
the enemy were attacked, but unsuccessfully. The battle continued for 
about two hours, and as night approached and the firing lulled, the I22d 
was thrown to the extreme right front of our position, which they held 
through the night. 

The next morning it was evident to Sedgwick that his position was be- 
coming critical. The enemy were in heavy force in his front and feeling 



In Front of Frederickshukc;. 297 



his left back towards the heights of Fredericksburg. The situation was a 
grave one. At one p. m. the enemy moved in force, striking Sedgwick in 
flank and crowding him down towards the river, and during the night he 
was forced to cross the river at Banks's ford, with a loss of nearly 5,000 
men. In the crossing of the river the I22d held the head of the bridge in 
the face of the enemy until 3 o'clock in the morning, and were the last to 
cross. On the 8th the regiment occupied a new camp in pine woods, far- 
ther east and nearer the river than the old one. 

On the 6th of June, Howe's division, with the i22d, was thrown across 
the Rappahannock, to develop the force of the enemy still remaining on 
that side. Hill was still there with a strong force, and in the skirmishing 
that followed, the I22d had three men wounded, and withdrew again to the 
north side of the river on the 13th. The 14th to the i8th of June were 
occupied in marching to P'airfax Court House. On the 25th the regiment 
went on picket duty at the front on the old Bull Run battle field. On the 
26th they marched to near Drainsville, crossed the Potomac at Edwards's 
Ferry the next day, after a march of eighteen miles, and on the 28th moved 
forward again toward Frederick City. The march continued through the 
29th and on the 30th they reached Manchester, Maryland. 

Late in the afternoon of July i, 1863, the movement began which took 
the i22d to the battle field of Gettysburg, thirt)--five miles away. "At in- 
tervals during the day," says Major Poole's diary, from which we shall 
make liberal cjuotations, " we had heard the boom of artillery and knew 
that Gen. John F. Reynolds, who commanded the 1st corps, had been killed, 
and that our Division Commander, Gen. John Newton, had been ordered to 
proceed to Gettysburg at all speed to take command of the 1st corps, and 
that Brigadier-General Frank Wheaton had been promoted to command 
our division. The night race of the 6th corps for Gettysburg was one of 
the most remarkable marches of the war. Over the fields and cross-roads 
until the pike leading from Baltimore to Gettysburg was reached, we 
marched. All night was the race kept up and, although tired and foot-sore, 
there was but little straggling. Gen. John Sedgwick led the way and every 
soldier in the column knew that ' Uncle John' would not have hurried us 
unless there was great necessity for the 6th corps, and there was no mur- 
muring. Every hour we had a short halt, when the tired boys would lie 
down by the roadside and generally instantly fall asleep. Soon the order, 
" fall in," would come down the line, and half awake and half asleep, the 
men would press on. About daylight the head of the column reached the 
dividing line between the loyal North and the disloyal South. General 
Sedgwick had given orders that as each regiment passed the State line, 
which was occupied by an old tavern, the colors of each regiment should 
be unfurled to the breeze and the bands play patriotic airs. The drum corps 
of the I22d had been somewhat scattered, but there were enough of them 
3S 



298 Memorial Histukv ok Syracuse. 

so that when our regiment reached the desired point, the strains of Yankee 
Doodle rent the air, soon to be drowned by the cheers of the boys as our 
flag-bearer. Uncle Amasa Chase, (who, although almost sixty years of age, 
kept his place with the younger men) waved our flag as we passed out of 
the hated surroundings of slavery and felt that once more we were breathing 
the free air of the North. Every man in the corps felt that the battle 
before us must be of great importance. The enemy had invaded the 
North and if we were defeated in the coming struggle, all might be 
lost and the Union destroyed. The 2d of July was intensely hot and the 
regiment suffered severely from heat and want of rest ; but with occasional 
resting-spells we kept on. The sound of artillery to the North indicated 
our approach to the battle field, and before noon we met wounded men who 
had great tales to tell of the slaughter that had already taken place. At 
two o'clock the column reached the south side of Rock creek, where a halt 
of two hours very much refreshed the regiment. About 4 o'clock the 
corps was again moved, crossing Rock creek at McAllister's mill and were 
upon the battle field of Gettysburg, and about opposite the center of the 
line of battle as it existed at that time. Our brigade, under General Shalcr, 
was rapidly marched by way of Povvers's Hill, to the rear of the famous 
Little Round Top, where we halted near the Taneytown pike." 

A severe battle was being fought in our front and to the right of Round 
Top, opposite the Cemetery Ridge, but the I22d was not actively engaged 
that day. Our line of battle faced to the North, while our right on Gulp's 
Hill, faced almost to the east. No attempt will be made here to describe 
the great battle fought at this place on those first three days of July, 1S63, 
but we will simply follow the flag of the i22d as far as possible. The 
night of July 2d was a night of rest to the regiment, who slept soundly 
notwithstanding the presence of an enemy likely at any moment to make 
an attack upon our lines that would call us to arms. Long before daylight 
of the 3rd, orders were passed along the line to fall in, expecting possibly 
some attack upon the left. All was quiet in our immediate front and the 
boys had a chance to make cofTee and fill canteens, that proved so useful 
during the eventful day. At 7 o'clock orders came for the brigade to move, 
this time to the extreme right at Gulp's Hill, where the battle was already 
in progress. General H. W. Slocum was in command on the right and to 
him General Shaler reported his brigade for duty, who ordered them to a 
position near Spangler's woods. The I22d was on the right of the brigade 
and was soon ordered forward. The six right companies, under command 
of Lieutenant-Colonel A. W. Dwight, were double-quicked over the crest 
of Gulp's Hill, to reinforce Green's brigade of the 12th corps. As they 
ran over the hill to the line of breastworks on the crest they were not only 
met by a storm of rebel bullets, but by cheering of the regiment on the 



Battle of Gkttysburc;. 299 

left, which proved to be our own 149th, N. Y., who recognized their friends 
in the I22d, as the two regiments came together for the first time since their 
organization. 

Side by side the two regiments from Onondaga fought that day upon 
the bloody battle field of Gettysburg. Desperate efforts were made by 
the rebel army to turn the Union right at Gulp's Hill, but at 1 i o'clock it 
was discovered that they had already commenced massing their troops in 
front of our center at Cemetery Ridge, and the attack upon Gulp's Hill 
was practically abandoned. The I22d having rejoined the brigade which, 
in the meantime, had been all actively engaged upon our Hank, were moved 
over to the rear of the center, where they were held as a reserve ready to 
move to any portion of the line directly in their front where they might need 
their help. Then followed the terrible cannonade, closing with the cele- 
brated charge by Pickett, which ended disastrously for the rebels, and vir- 
tually closed this great battle. The regiment took no further active part in 
the events of the day. Early in the morning Major J. B. Davis was badly 
wounded in the face, from which he never fully recovered. Lieutenant 
Larue was also wounded in the leg, rendering him permanently lame and 
unfit for further service. The regiment lost ten men killed and thirty-four 
wounded, a number of whom so severely that they died within a few 
days after the battle. 

The following day was spent on the battle field, in caring for the 
wounded. When the rebels retreated our brigade followed to Middletown, 
and thence across the mountain to Funkstown, where they arrived on the 
14th, and found the enemy strongly posted behind breastworks and shel- 
tered by woods, so that artillery could not reach them. About ninety men 
of the brigade volunteered to cut down these woods in face of the enenij- 
and the work began ; but during the night the rebels left their position. The 
Union forces followed to Williamsport, capturing the rear guard, recrossed 
the Potomac and arrived at Warrenton on the 24th of July. They re- 
mained here until September 15, when they marched to White Sulphur 
Springs, remaining there until October i, when they marched in a heavy 
rain to Gatlett's Station, reaching there on the 3rd of August. The brig- 
ade remained here ten days. 

From this time until early in November the troops, with which was the 
I22d, were operating about Warrenton Junction, Genterville and Gaines- 
ville, but no events of great importance occurred which demand attention 
here. From the 20th of October the regiment was in camp near Warren- 
ton until November 7. 

The enemy having retired south of the Rappahannock, after having pur- 
sued our army almost up to W'ashington, our command of the ford was 
complete and during that night Lee fell back to Culpepper and across the 
Rappahannock the next day. 



300 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Our troops moved to Brandy Station on the loth and from that date 
until January 3d, 1864, the I22d was engaged in several marches in that 
vicinity, and more or less fighting, but without important results. On the 
3d of January the brigade containing the I22d broke camp and started for 
Sandusky, Ohio, where they arrived on the 13th and were quartered in the 
town. They remained here just three months as part of the guard over 
rebel prisoners, and on the 13th of April started again for Old Virginia, 
reaching their old camp at Brandy Station, with three regiments of the 
brigade on the 19th. 

On the 24th of February, General Grant took command of the Union 
forces and reached Washington from the west early in March to receive his 
commission. The remainder of that month and nearly the whole of April 
were devoted to improving the army and preparations for the coming cam- 
paign. The army was completely reorganized in which operation the old 
3d division was broken up and divided between the 1st and 2d divisions, 
the brigade containing the I22d regiment being attached to the 1st divi- 
sion as the 4th brigade, and the 3d division of the 3d corps transferred to 
our corps as the 3d division of the 6th corps; the I22d regiment thus be- 
longed to the 4th brigade, 1st division, 6th corps. 

From the 4th of May, 1864, to' about the ist of June, during the Wil- 
derness campaign, the operations of the I22d and the forces with which it 
was immediately connected may be best detailed by extracts from the diary 
which was kept by Major Theodore L. Poole, and personal recollections of 
Col. J. M. Gere, who was then a Captain in the regiment. The notes of 
Major Poole's diary, made at the front and often on the field of battle, are 
wonderfully vivid and interesting: 

May 4, 1S64.— Left camp near Brandy Station at daylight. Our brig.ade is re.ar guard and is 
with the wagons of the corps. .Vt about 11 p.m. marclied eastward and went into camp at (lold 
Mine ford. At the ford we found the entire wagon trains of tlie army, and they were then crossing 
the Rapidan. We spread our blankets on the ground and slept till daylight. 

May 5.— Did not cross the river until late in the afternoon, when we marched about two miles 
and encamped, still being the wagon guard. A battle was in progress all day in front of us, con- 
tinuing until late at night. It is impossible to learn anything definite. 

May 6.— We were awakened at midnight and, leaving the wagons behind us, marched several 
miles to the right and took up line of battle. Crossed over a portion of the battle ground of yester- 
day, and saw many of the dead. The battle began at daylight, but at this hour ((> a. m.) we h.ave 
taken no part. Word has come that we shall soon make a bayonet charge. .\t 2 o'clock p. m., at- 
tempted the charge and failed. We advanced twenty rods and halted, took what cover we could 
and opened fire. Continued firing about twenty minutes, when both sides ceased ; our skirmishers, 
however, kept up firing during the d.ay. Our losses up to this time in the regiment are one man 
killed and 41 officers and men wounded. Besides these, 15 are missing, and we have reason to sup- 
pose some of them are killed or wounded. My company (I) lost Captain Dwight, wounded in the 
left leg below the knee, not supposed to be serious; privates Howard and Brooks, both wounded 
severely; Lieutenant Wilson, of Company A, wounded in the shoulder (proved fatal) ; Lieutenant 
C B. Clark, wounded in the leg ; Captain Dwight, wounded early in the morning at 8 o'clock, and 
I have since been in command of the company. Corporal Isaac Looniis, of my company, is missing. 



Extracts From Major Poolk's Diarv. 301 



and 1 suppose him killed ; (he was killed.) Corporal !•'. Patterson, of Company 1), is also wounded. 
The I2f>th Ohio re};iment are now building breastworks a few rods in our rear ; and so matters re- 
main at present. 2 p. m. At 6:30 p. m., the rebels made an attack upon our works, in front, right 
flank, and rear, the attack being made by Cordon's division. Our regiment and the entire brigade 
were driven back in great confusion and with heavy loss, many of our regiment being killed and 
wounded and others falling and being taken prisoners. The extreme right, consisting of our di- 
vision, was driven back and completely broken to pieces, being left in fragments in the woods. We 
retreated nearly two miles, seeking to rally the men, but the panic was such that we found it impos- 
sible. Captain Clapp and myself finally got half a dozen of our regiment together, and as we had 
our regimental flag it gave us a rallying point, and with our little band we started back to the front. 
Other small sijuads were found, and we soon had quite a force together. I only had three men 
in my own company out of thirty. Our force went back a quarter of a mile or so, gathering 
strength as we went. Here we were joined by l.ieutenant-Colonel Dwight, Captain Walpole, 
Lieutenants Hoyt and Wells and five or si.\ more of our men. Colonel Upton, of the I2ist New 
York, took command of our division (what was left of it) and soon formed a line of battle. We 
and the 1st Long Island regiment (67th N. Y.) consisting of about forty men, were made the second 
line. .\t II p. ni. we were attacked in force, but we drove the enemy back easily. At about I 
o'clock p. m., we moved to the right again and lay down behind a battery and rifle pits. I have no 
idea what the loss of our regiment is, but it is very great. Captain Piatt, Lieutenant Ostrander, 
and Lieutenant Luther are wounded. Captain J. M. Cere and Lieutenant Hall are missing and are 
probably in the hands of the rebels, and 1 presume Luther and Ostrander are both prisoners. (This 
proved true.) I think our entire loss so far will be nearly or quite 2,(XX). Out of nine sergeants 
and corporals belonging to my color-guard, only one is with me. 

M.w 7. — Soon after daylight the rebels attacked us once more, but we drove them back, our 
battery doing us great service. Adjutant Tracy is missing and is supposeil to be wounded and 
a prisoner. Colonel Hwight has detailed me as Adjutant and Lieutenant Wilkins has taken my 
company. Lieutenant Hall and a squad of men have just come in. At S a. m., moved again to 
the right about two miles and occupied rifle pits, where we lay quietly all day. At 9:30 p. m., fell 
in, moving towards the left and marching all night. 

M.^v 8. — Passed through Chancellorsville and took the road to Spottsylvania Court House. 
About noon our ailvance met the enemy and engaged them During the afternoon we supported a 
battery, and at 5 o'clock moved into some breastworks, together with the 6th Maine and iiyth Penn- 
sylvania. Here lost one man. At Q p. m., were attacked, but there had been no general engage- 
ment during the day. Our entire loss up to this time has been 130 — less than 30 of them prisoners. 
Cen. A. Shaler and Cen. Seymour are among the latter. The Chasseurs (fijth N. Y.) and 1st Long 
Island (67th N. Y.) have lost very heavily. Captain Tracy, and Captain Cooper, of the Long 
Island, are both killed, and a number of officers are wounded in both regiments. 

May 9. — Moved at daylight to the line and lay upon an open plain supporting a battery. Cen. 
lohn Sedgwick, commanding the 6th corps, was killed this morning by sharpshooters. During the 
afternoon we were exposed to the enemy's shells and sharpshooters, but met with no loss. I'p to 
this time ofticers and men have behaved splendidly : but all are worn down with fatigue, hard 
marches, continued fighting, and loss of sleep. During Monday night we were attacked three dif- 
ferent times by the enemy. We have about 200 men left for duty and eight officers besides the Col- 
onel and myself. Some of the best men of our regiment are gone, but 1 hardly have time to think 
about them. 

May 10. — f Jrders came at 2 o'clock this morning that we, in conjunction with our entire force 
in front, would advance upon the enemy at daylight. Daylight came, however and we did not move. 
1 )uring the afternoon Colonel Dwight was sent back to the hospital sick and worn out. and Captain 
Walpole took command of the regiment. The battle began early in the morning and up to this time 
(4 p. m.) has raged with terrible fury. Fortunately for us we have not suffered much along our por- 
tion of the line and our brigade has not been harmed. Orders have come. The Chasseurs have 
taken knapsacks and h.avcrsacks anil started forward. The Long Islands and our regiment have 
moved into some rifle pits to the left. The charge occurred at about 6 o'clock and lasted some forty 



302 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



minutes. We could hear, but could not see, what was Kohig on. Directly in our front the charge 
was successful, but we were t'lnally driven back with heavy loss. The charging column consisted of 
the 5th and f)th Maine, the 6th Wisconsin and the 14th and 56th New York regiments. They took 
1,500 prisoners and a battery of four guns ; the guns, however, they were compelled to leave. 

May II. — Our regiment went out on picket to the left. Sharp picket firing all day. Lost five 
men wounded ; also Captain W'alpole, supposed to have been taken prisoner. He had given me 
orders in the morning to advance the left wing, which I had charge of, and at the same time directed 
the right wing to advance. We drew upon us a heavy lire and W'alpole has not been seen since. He 
was either shot or went through the lines and was captured. (Was taken prisoner, and made his es- 
cape from Columbia prison. South Carolina.) The right wing of our regiment was relieved at night, 
Captain Clapp now assumed command and sent for me to report to him, sending Lieut. Wells to 
take command of the left wing. We returned to the place we had started from in the morning and 
remained till daylight. 

May 12. — Our brigade fell in at daylight and marched off to the left. Karly this morning, Oen. 
Hancock, with his (2d) corps, made a grand charge on the enemy's lines and was successful, captur- 
ing 5,000 prisoners, including three Major Generals and about twenty cannon. In going through a 
piece of woods, our regiment, which was in the rear, was cut off by another column. We were ex- 
posed to a heavy musketry fire, and also to rain which lasted all day. We coidd find nothing of our 
brigade, and as we were near the front, our little band of 100 decided to go in, and accordingly, at- 
tached ourselves to the 2d corps, and went forward into some breastworks which had been taken 
by Hancock this morning. Here we remained till late in the afternoon, fighting hard all day. 
The rebels made desperate attempts to drive us out of our works and partially succeeded. We lost 
but few men ourselves, but the carnage around us was fearful. About four o'clock we were relieved, 
and as night set in found the rest of our brigade. 

May 13. Our brigade moved and occupied the same rifle-pits we had occupied the day 
before. The rebels during the night had fallen back, leaving their dead and wounded in our 
hands. Our skirmishers were sent out immediately, .and soon reached the skirmish line of the 
enemy. Col. Dwight rejoined us this morning from the hospital and Captain Cossitt from the sick- 
leave. (Jen. Meade published an order this morning which I read to the regiment, announcing that 
so far we had been successful, capturing 18 cannon, 22 colors, and 8,000 prisoners. We remained 
in these pits all day and until two o'clock at night, when we fell in again and marched to the left 
to the support of (.!en. Burnside. 

May 14. — Crossing the Po River and skirmishing. No battle, .\fter crossing the stream, 
threw up breastworks, and our regiment, detailed for picket duty, immediately went out. Heavy 
rains for three days, impeding the progress of the armj'. 

May 16. — Our regiment relieved from picket duty. 

May 17. — A false alarm brought us all to the rillc-iiits, but nothing came of it. .Soon after 
dark we fell in quietly and took uji t.nir line of march io the extreme right of the army, where we 
arrived about daylight. 

May 18. — Kound that our corps formed a line of battle, column-by-divisions, appearances indi- 
cating that a charge in that form was contemplated. Our brigade was sent to the extreme right and 
flank, as a guard against a flank movement by the rebels. The Chasseur's and Long Island regiments 
are on picket and we on reserve. .So matters stand at 9 o'clock a. m. The charge was attempted 
and failed, and in the afternoon we were marched back to our former position. Here we remained 
till daylight. 

May 19. — Early in the morning moved to a new position still further on the left, where we were 
busy all day building breastworks. An attack was made near night upon our right flank and rear, 
the object being the capture of our wagon trains. Moved about 1 1 o'clock, p. m., to the support of 
the 2d corps, which was engaged with the enemy. The battle was over before we reached the 
ground, and we encamped for the remainder of the night. 

May 20. — Engaged in building breastworks. Portions of the army engaged with the enemy. 

May 21. — About 9 a. m,, marched oft' to the extreme left. Kound the entire army moving in 
the same direction. Halted near the position occupied on the 20th, and half of our regiment sent 



Extracts From Major Poole's Diakv. 303 

back on picket to the rear. About dark the rebels made an attack a little to the right of us, which 
was easily repulsed. Our position is strongly posted with sL^cteen pieces of artillery. .\t II p. m., 
ordered to fall in and marched again to the left, marching all night. Halted at Ilolladay's for 
breakfast ; thence to (Juinea's, a station of the Fredericksburg & Richmond railroad, distant from 
the latter place about forty-live miles. We can hear cannonading in the direction of Howling (Ircen, 
towards which our advance is making. Remained here in camp at the farm on which is the negro 
hut in which Stonewall Jackson is said to have died after his wound at C'hancellorsvillc. At p. m., 
moved again, marching about five miles, when we encamped and remained till y o'clock a. m.. .Mon- 
day, May 23. 

M.w 23 and 24. — Marching all day. Our division occupied on the 25th in tearing up the (ior- 
donsville railroad, which was effectually liestroyed for about a mile ; and on the 2()th marched all 
night and until 2 o'clock p. m. of the 27th, when we crossed the I'anuinkey river at Ilanoverton, 
less than twenty miles from Richmond. 

May 29. — Our division marched several miles bearing to the north, and finally halteil about a 
mile south of Hanover Court House. At this point the rear of the column was attacked by rebel 
cavalry. The 67th New York and four companies of the I22d were deployed as skirmishers and re- 
mained here all night undisturbed. The column counter-marched, and taking the direct road to- 
wards Richmond, marched about two miles and then halted. Marched again in the afternoon, tak- 
ing another road towards Richmond, formed a line of battle in a dense woods and rested for the 
night. 

May 31. — A brisk skirmish fire was kept up all day and in the afternoon we were shelled. 
About midnight we left our station and moved to the left, marching till noon, June i.st, and arrived 
at Cold Harbor. Here we met our cavalry which had been engaged in a severe battle the clay before, 
and skirmishing was still going on. Our corps immediately formed in line of battle and relieved the 
cavalry, which moved to our left. We are less than ten miles from Richmond and about two miles 
from Savage's Station. About two o'clock p. m., the enemy opened on us with artillery, to which 
we replied with three batteries. The enemy had a good range and killed and wounded a large num- 
ber. Captain Clapp and 20 men of our regiment were on picket duty. During the artillery duel the 
6th and iSth corps were formed in line of battle four lines deep, the I22d being placed in the 
fourth line. The three front lines were composed of the 2d Connecticut heavy artillery, a regiment 
which never till now had been under fire. At 6:30 p. m. orders came to attack the enemy. We 
passed over an open field a few rods, then through a pine grove about 20 rods, and the balance of 
the way over open fields, the entire distance being less than half a mile. As we emerged from the 
woods the rebels opened fire and our men commenced dropping. The enemy's fire being too severe 
for the 2d Connecticut, they broke up in great confusion, retreating through our lines, so that we 
became the front line. The loss of the 2d Connecticut was over 400, including the Colonel, who 
was a brave ofVicer and fell at the head of his regiment riddled with rebel bullets. Our line con- 
tinued to advance in good order until we had reached within thirty rods of the rebel works, when an 
order came to fall back to a small ravine in the rear, but before the order could be obeyed the rebels 
had discharged their heaviest fire fearfully thinning our ranks. Out of 140 men, 75 were killed and 
wounded. Lieutenant Wooster, of Company (j killed ; Lieutenant T. L. Poole, wounded in the 
side and left arm and shoulder, resulting in the loss of his arm. The regiment returned to the ra- 
vine and threw up breastworks on the crest of a small ridge. During the night the rest of the army 
arrived at Cold Harbor. 

The slaughter in the Cold Harbor engagement in the army at large was 
frightful, footing up in killed, wounded and missing, 13,153 of whom a little 
over 1,700 were killed. 

General Grant now established his headquarters at City Point, where he 
invested the city of Petersburg, destroyed the Weldon railroad and gradu- 
ally drew his cordon around the perplexed rebels. The I22d regiment re- 
mained in front of Petersburg until sent with the 6th corps in August, 1864, 



304 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



to Fort Stevens, at Washington, and thence with Sheridan on the famous 
Shenandoali Valley campaign. There the battle of Winchester was fought 
on the 19th of August, in wiiich the rout of the enemy was complete, the 
capture of prisoners and munitions being very large. Early fell back to 
Fisher's Hill, eight miles south of Winchester, and Sheridan followed him 
closely, two days only intervening between the first and the second victories. 
The 6th corps led the advance on the front, and the i22d regiment was the 
first in the enemy's works, where the vigorous attack broke the rebel center 
and rendered the victory even more decisive than that at Winchester, or 
Opequan.as it is more commonly called. Here our army took 1,100 prison- 
ers and 16 guns. 

At Cedar Creek (October iS) the I22d was at the turning-point of the 
battle, first pushing the enemy back as Sheridan, on his famous ride, came 
up behind their line. In this engagement we lost about 3,000, the rebel 
loss being much heavier. Our forces were afterwards returned to Peters- 
burg. 

In the closing campaign of the war; the I22d regiment bore the same 
honorable share that had characterized it since it took the field. In the en- 
gagement at Squirrel Level road on the 25th of March. 1S65, the regiment 
was involved and there the brave Colonel Dwight was killed by a shell. On 
the morning of April 2d they were in the brigade which shared in storming 
Lee's lines, forcing him back upon Petersburg, and also took part in the 
active operations which resulted in cutting off the Southside railroad and 
forcing the evacuation of Richmond. They followed in pursuit of Lee's 
army to its surrender at Appomattox Court House, and after two days' rest 
had a lively march to Burksville, where they remained a week, and then 
marched in four and one-half days to Danville to stop the last gap on 
Johnston's army, now in the clutches of Sherman. After a month in Dan- 
ville they returned to Richmond, were reviewed through its streets by Gen- 
eral Halleck and sent thence to Washington, where the 6th corps was sepa- 
rately reviewed by the I'resident. Receiving orders for muster out, the 
regiment started on the 23d of June for home, and were finally discharged 
on the 27th of June, 1865. 



THE ONK IIUNDKKI) .\M) 1-OKlV-MNTII KKM.M FXT. 

This regiment was organized in Syracuse and mustered into the I'nited 
States service on the 18th of September, 1862. It was almost wholly 
made up of Onondaga county men. Following is a list of the field officers 
of the regiment at the time of its muster: Henry A. Barnum, (formerly 



Organization of the Regimknt. 305 



Major of the I2th regiment,) Colonel : John M. Strong, Lieutenant-Col- 
onel; Abel G. Cook, Major; Walter M. Dallman, Adjutant; Moses Sum- 
mers, Quartermaster; James V. Kendall, Surgeon; Horace Nims, and 
Albert W. Phillips, Assistant Surgeons; Rev. ArvineC. Bowdish, Chaplain. 
At the time of the organization of the regiment, Col. Barnum was pros- 
trated at homo with the wound he had received, which has already been 
alluded to in the history of the 12th regiment. He joined the 149th at 
Fairfax Station, in January, 1863, but was afterwards compelled, during 
the major part of 1863 and the fore part of 1864, to relinquish the com- 
mand toother officers, on account of severe illness from his unhealed wound. 
The following account of the principal marches and battles in which 
this noble regiment shared, was largely prepared by the late Colonel Moses 
Summers, who was Quartermaster of the regiment, and it is given in nearly 
the form in which he left it. 

On the 23d of September, 1862, the 149th left " Camp White " at Syra 
cuse en route for the rendezvous at the National Capital, whence it was or 
dered to Harper's Ferry, via Frederick City and occupied a camp in Pleas- 
ant Valley until about the 28th of October. No incident of importance 
occurred while here, except an expedition a few miles down the river to 
Knoxville. On the 28th of October it was ordered to Loudon Valley, 
where it remained long enough to commence the construction of comfort- 
able quarters, but was not permitted to enjoy them, being soon ordered to 
Bolivar Heights at Harper's Ferry, where it remained until December 10th, 
relieving the monotony of camp life by two raids, one to Charlestown and 
the other to Winchester, and taking its first lessons in those foraging ex- 
peditions for which the regiment subsequently became famous. 

In the absence of Colonel Barnum, Lieutenant-Colonel Strong had com- 
mand of the regiment to Pleasant Valley ; but here he was taken sick and 
went home and was compelled to resign in consequence of his dangerous 
illness, and the command devolved upon Major A. G. Cook. The regiment 
was attached to General Geary's division, and when army corps adopted 
badges, by order of General Hooker, this division assumed the white star 
as its emblem. On the lOth of December, in the depth of a Virginia winter, 
this regiment, as apart of the 12th corps, broke camp at Bolivar Heights 
and marched to Fairfax Station. The Quartermaster alludes to two or 
three expeditions from this point towards Dumfries, and speaks of Dum- 
fries as a locality which calls up vivid recollections of "an ocean of mud 
and the hardest kind of fare." After spending a dismal Christmas and 
New Year's at Fairfax Station, the regiment broke camp on the 14th of Jan- 
uary and marched through the memorable Dumfries mud to Acquia Creek, 
where it was comfortably (]uartered in an old camp just vacated by a Ger- 
mxn regiment of engineers. The camp was beautifully located and a little 
labor sufficed to make it a model of neatness and taste. But the place was 

39 



3o6 Memokiai. Histcjkv of Syracuse. 



unhealthy ; fever soon broke out in camp and the ranks were rapidly 
thinned by its ravages. On the 14th of February the regiment moved to 
a more healthy location at Brooks's Station, where it remained until the 
stirring events of Chancellorsville called it from camp life and idleness to 
meet the enemy on a field which, though hotly contested, was disastrous to 
the regiment and the Union cause. The regiment broke camp and marched 
towards Chancellorsville on the 27th of April, 1863. The battles in and 
about Chancellorsville were fought on May 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th, the heav- 
iest engagement being on Sunday, May 3d. The Union forces met with a 
severe defeat, and the 149th suffered its share of the disaster. 

On Sunday, May 3d, in the great battle in which Slocum's corps (12th) 
was engaged, nearly 4,000 of Hooker's men were disabled, including three 
of his division commanders; Berry and Whipple killed; and General Mott, 
of the New Jersey brigade, wounded. Says Greeley, " the ground was lost 
by misfortune or bad generalship, not by lack of valor or endurance in our 
soldiers." 

The day was probably lost to the Union army because General Hooker 
could not send aid to Slocum, he having been stunned by a rebel shot .strik- 
ing the " Chancellorsville House," against which he had been leaning, so 
that when the message came to him from General Slocum he was uncon- 
scious and could not attend to it. So testified Slocum before the Com- 
mittee on the Conduct of the War. 

On Monday, the 4th of May, in the forced retreat of Sedgwick's divis- 
ion, about 5,000 men were lost. Hooker gives the total loss in the series 
of battles while across the Rappahannock at no less than 17,197 men, as 
follows: Sedgwick's Corps, 4,601; Slocum's, 2,883 ; Couch's, 2,025; Rey- 
nolds', 292 ; Sickles', 4,039; Howard's, 2,508; Meade's, 699; Cavalry, etc., 
150. The rebel loss was 18,000; General Paxton killed, General Heath 
wounded, and General Jackson mortally wounded. 

In these battles the 149th participated, receiving its first baptism of 
blood, and meeting with very severe losses, which consecrated it to the 
national cause thenceforth to the close of the war. Major Cook was severe- 
ly wounded in the foot and the command devolved upon Captain May, who 
had recently been transferred to the 149th from the old 12th regiment. He 
was a gallant officer, and assuming command in an emergency, proved him- 
self fully competent. 

The regiment returned to near its old camp at Acquia Creek. It soon 
received orders to remove to a position near Falmouth, but the order was 
immediately changed to a lively pursuit of Lee, who, meantime, had in- 
vaded Maryland and Pennsylvania. Marching over the old track through 
Dumfries, Fairfax, Leesburg, Frederick City, and other well known locali- 
ties, the regiment at length encountered the enemy at Gettysburg, on the 
borders of Pennsylvania, where one of the most sanguinary battles of the 
war was fought. 



Batti.k of Gettysburg. 307 



The engagements began on tlic ist of July and lasted until the close of 
the 3d. General Buford, with a division, arrived first at Gettysburg June 
30, and encountered the van of the rebel army, under General Hcth, of 
Hill's corps on the morning of the 1st ; the rebels were driven back on the 
division, and in turn drove our forces. At this moment the advance divis- 
ion of Reynolds' (ist) corps, under Gen. J. S. Wadsworth, coming in from 
Emmittsburg, at the familiar sound of the volleys, quickened its pace and 
rushed through the village, drove back the rebel van, seizing and occupying 
the ridge that overlooks the place on the northwest. Gen. John F. Rey- 
nolds came on the field with 10,089 men of the ist corps, and while he was 
forming his advance, went forward to reconnoitre and was shot by a rebel 
sharp-shooter. General Uoubleday, commanding the 3d division, then as- 
sumed command, falling back and occupying Seminary Ridge, west of the 
village, where the first corps was soon drawn up in line of battle. Howard 
afterwards came on the field with the iith corps and ranking Doubleday, 
assumed command and assigned the i ith corps to Schurz, who immediately 
commenced deploying it north of the village of Gettysburg on a line nearly 
at right angles to that occupied by the 1st corps. Before Schurz had fairly- 
got his men in line Ewell's corps came rapidly into the struggle, striking hard 
on the right flank of the i ith corps, while Rhodes' division attacked it in front. 
The corps was outnumbered and put to rout, falling back in disorder to 
Gettysburg, under a heavy fire. The routed troops of the i ith corps which 
a short time before marched proudly through the streets, now fell back 
with scarcely half their number to Cemetery Hill, leaving their dead and 
wounded on the field, and leaving the remnant of the ist corps to stay the 
onslaught of the victorious enemy, and cover the withdrawal of the artil- 
lery, and then its own retirement to Cemetery Ridge, which it did in com- 
parative good order. Thus ended the first day's fight, the rebels not seek- 
ing to renew the contest. 

During this part of the engagement Meade was at Tancytown ten miles 
away and did not hear of the battle or the death of General Reynolds 
until I p. m. He immediately sent General Hancock to command, order- 
ing him to turn over his (2d) corps to General Gibbon. Hancock arrived 
on the field just as the broken i ith corps and the remnant of the 1st corps 
were retiring through the village, the former somewhat in disorder. 

The i49th, in Geary's division of Slocum's (12th) corps, reached Gettys- 
burg in the afternoon of the 1st, soon after General Hancock. Slocum, 
ranking Hancock, assumed chief command. 

During the night our arm)- was all concentrated before Gettysburg, ex- 
cepting Sedgwick's (6th) corps which was at Manchester, thirty miles dis- 
tant. Meade, in view of this fact, and because the rebels were in full force, 
resolved on fighting onl)- on the defensive. The line was drawn up in the 



3o8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

following order: The I2th corps (General Slocum's) held our extreme 
right, facing Johnson's division of Ewell's corps, which had been strength- 
ened by Lockwood's Marylanders, 2,500 strong, raising it to a little over 
10,000 men ; Sickles' (3d) corps held the left opposite Longstreet, sup- 
ported by the 5th (Sykes's) with Hancock's (2d) in our centre, touching 
Doubleday's division of the 1st on its right; what was left of Howard's 
(nth) corps held the face of Cemetery Hill, looking towards Gettysburg 
and Early's division, but was menaced also by Johnson's division on the 
right and by Hill's corps on the left. 

Howard's right was protected by Wadsworth's division of the ist corps, 
occupying the north face of Gulp's Hill, and to the right of Wadsworth was 
Slocum's (12th) corps on a line at right angles to it in rear, running 
along the east face of Gulp's Hill. The whole line was somewhat in shape 
of a fish hook, Slocum's corps occupying a position from the point of the 
hook towards the shank. General Lee's plan of battle was to attack the 
two flanks of the Union lines simultaneously, while a feint was made on its 
right centre, occupied by Howard. 

The battle of the 2d day was brought on in the afternoon by the tem- 
erity of General Sickles, who, in his eagerness, had thrown forward his 
corps from half to three quarters of a mile in the immediate presence of 
half the rebel army. Meade remonstrated, but before the mistake could be 
remedied, Lee seeing his advantage, ordered Longstreet to attack Sickles 
with determination, while Ewell assailed Slocum, and Hill, facing the apex 
of our position, should only menace, unless our troops should be with- 
drawn to reinforce either the left or the right, in which case he should 
charge through our lines. The position which Sickles had taken was com- 
manded by the rebel batteries posted on Seminary Ridge in front and 
scarcely half a mile distant. At the order to attack, a line of battle a mile 
and a half long swept to his front and left flank, crushing him back with 
heavy loss, and struggling desperately to sieze Round Top, a hill to his left, 
which Meade regarded as vital to the situation. A fierce and bloody strug- 
gle followed. Sickles' right under Humphrey was attacked in front and 
flank and beaten back with great loss. Other troops were thrown in on 
the enemy's front, but in the end were repulsed with heavy loss, falling back 
to the original position occupied by Sickles before making his advance and 
leaving our line at night on the left as Meade had originally intended to 
place it. 

For some reason the contemplated attack on the right did not take 
place until Sickles had been severely handled by Longstreet and he was 
calling for help. An order was received by General Slocum to send the 
12th corps to succor Sickles, but he subsequently received a modification of 
the order, so far as to permit the 3d brigade of the 2d division to remain. 



Batti.e of Gettysburg. 309 

This brigade, composed of the 60th, -Sth, I02d, 137th and 149th New York, 
was commanded by Brig. Gen. Goo. S. Green, and occupied a hne of rifle 
pits joining General Wadsworth and running at right angles to him in rear. 
About dark this brigade was attacked by Joiinson's division in a most fu- 
rious manner, but by the aid of the works which it had built during the day, 
it resisted all attempts to break through the position held by it. About II 
o'clock at night the enemy succeeded in reaching the works vacated by the 
balance of the corps on the right of the brigade, which were unoccupied, 
but were unable in the darkness to appreciate the advantage they had 
obtained. This ended the battle for that day, both sides resting on their 
arms during the night. At an early hour in the morning on the 3d of July, 
the 1 2th corps returned to its old position and made preparation to drive 
the enemy from his works, which it did early in the day. The attack of the 
enemy, however, was not stayed until about noon, and was kept up during 
the afternoon by skirmishers. The character of the service performed by 
the 149th regiment during this engagement of the 2d and 3d of July is 
well attested by the statement that during its continuance its men each on 
an average expended 300 rounds of cartridge ; that its flag received over 
four score bullets in its silken folds, and its staff was twice shot in twain 
and mended on the battle field by its gallant color-bearer, William C. 
Lilly, as can be seen by any one who chooses to visit the clerk's ofifice of 
Onondaga county, where it is now deposited. The losses of the regiment (63) 
are not so severe as those of some other regiments, owing to the greater care 
exercised by the officers in protecting the men yet the record of this regi- 
ment at Gettysburg is as honorable as that of any which fought upon that field, 
as will be attested by any one who shall visit it and study the work of Green's 
brigade at Gulp's Hill. Lieutenant-Colonel Randall, who commanded the 
regiment in this engagement, was severely wounded, and was succeeded by 
Captain Grumbach. 

On the 2d of July, night closed with the rebels encouraged and confi- 
dent. Of the seven corps composing our army, three had been severely 
handled. At least half of their effective strength had been demolished. 
Reynolds, commanding the ist, and Brigadier-General Zook, of Sickles' 
corps had been killed. Our total losses up to this hour were scarcely less 
than 20,000 men, and none were arriving to replace them. 

The battle opened on the 3d on our right. The divisions sent to relieve 
Sickles' corps having returned, Slocum pushed forward to retake his lost 
rifle pits and accomplished it after a sharp conflict, as above described. 

The fight known as Pickett's charge was commenced by one of the most 
brilliant artillery duels known to modern warfare. The rebels had massed a 
battery of 1 1 5 guns on the hill in front of the center of their line, and on Cem- 
etery Hill in front of Meade's headquarters, the Union artillery comprising 



310 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



about lOO guns, was stationed. There was a pause of anxious expectation 
fitfully broken by spurts of firing here and there, while the rebels were fin- 
ishing their preparations for the supreme effort which was to decide this 
momentous contest. At i p. m. the signal was given and the rebel bat- 
teries opened their fire. For nearly two hours the hill, just over the crest 
in front of Meade's headquarters, was gashed and seamed by bursting 
shells, while a hundred guns on our side replied with equal vigor. General 
Doubleday said in his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of 
the War : " They had our exact range and the destruction was fearful. 
Horses were killed in every direction, ■• * and quite a number of cai.s- 
sons were blown up." Many of the shot and shell fell among the ranks of 
the 149th men, tearing the limbs off the trees over their heads. This can- 
nonading was the prelude for a grand infantry charge. Our side was ready 
for it. Our infantry crouched behind every projection and lay in every 
hollow awaiting the onset, to spring up at the right moment to meet the 
advancing columns of the enemy. The signal was given and from behind 
the rebel batteries emerged columns of infantry in line of battle three or 
four miles in length, preceded by skirmishers and supported by lines of 
reserves. On they came to the charge, directing their main force against 
Hancock's center and in the direction of our batteries, and upon the entire 
front from Cemetery Hill on the north towards Round Top on the South. 

The charge was made in three lines with additional lines called wings, 
the object of which was to prevent the main force from being flanked. They 
came with such resistless sweep that in some places they seemed to lift up 
and push back our lines. Hancock was wounded. Gibbon succeeding to 
the command. As the tempest of fire approached its height, Hancock 
walked along the line and renewed his orders to his men to reserve their fire. 
The rebels, three lines deep, came steadily up. They were in point blank range. 
At last the order came. From thrice six thousand guns there came a sheet 
of smoky flame, a crash, a rush of leaden death. The line literally melted 
away, but there came the second, resistless still. The instant was too brief 
to allow our men to gather themselves for a second effort, and on came the 
sweeping torrent. Up to the rifle pits, across them, over the barricades, the 
momentum of the charge, the mere machine-like strength of their combined 
action swept them on. They were upon the guns, were bayoneting the 
gunners, were waving their flags above our pieces. But they had pene- 
trated to the fatal point. A stcim of grape and canister tore its way from 
man to man, and maikcd its track with corses straight down their line. 
They had exposed themselves to the enfilading fire of the guns on the 
western slope of Cemetery Ridge and that exposure sealed their fate. The 
line reeled back, disjointed, and in an instant was in fragments. Our men 
were just behind the guns. They leaped forward upon the disordered 



To THE AUAfV OF THE CUMBERLAND. 3II 



mass ; but there was little need for fightinrj now. A regiment threw down 
its arms, and, with colors at its head, rushed over and surrendered. All 
along the field smaller detachments did the same. Webb's brigade brought 
in Soo, taken in as little time as it requires to write this sentence. Gibbon's 
old division took 15 stand of colors. The battle was over. On the field of 
Gettysburg was crushed the first and last great attempt of the rebels to 
gain a decisive victory on the soil of the North. The 149th had the proud 
consciousness, under their brave officers, and a gallant son of Onondaga, 
General Slocum, as chief commander of the first day's engagement and 
commander of the right wing during the battle, of contributing their share 
towards the grand victory. 

!\Ieade states our losses in this series of battles at 2,834 killed, 13,709 
wounded, and 6,643 niissing, mainly prisoners; total, 23,186. The Confed- 
erate loss was about 18,000 killed and wounded. About 1,200 of the Con- 
federate dead were buried in front of the position occupied by the 3d brig- 
ade of the 2d division of the i Jth corps, very largely killed by members of 
that corps. 

Returning in pursuit of the rebel army, the chase led the 149th for the 
fourth time through Frederick City. It reached the Rappahannock at 
Ellis Ford on the 1st of August and remained in camp several weeks. On 
the i6th of September it was at Raccoon Ford, and on the iSth the 
division was ordered out to witness the e.vecution of two deserters — the 
last of its experience in the Army of the Potomac. From Raccoon 
Ford, on the Rapidan, the iith and 12th corps, under command of General 
Hooker, were transferred to the Army of the Cumberland. On the 2Sth 
of September, 1863, the 149th started from Bealton Station by rail for the 
southwest, and via Nashville reached Murfreesboro on the 7th of October, 
just in time to be ordered into the intrenchments to repel an attack of rebel 
cavalry. On the 23d of October it started for the front, reaching the 
Wauhatchie Valley on the evening of the 28th of October. Here the regi- 
ment and divison e.xperienced one of the very few night attacks of the war, 
and a short but bloody and decisive battle was fought about midnight of 
the first night of their occupation of the valley. The Union forces were 
victorious, but the 149th suffered severely. Among the killed was the 
brave and gallant Color-liearer, W'illiani C. I.ill>', who was fatally wounded 
in the battle and died at liridgeport, .Alabama, a few days afterwards. This 
victory was one of the most important events of the war, as it effected an 
entrance for our army into the valley and finally enabled us, by the capture 
of Lookout Mountain, to open communication with the Union forces at 
Chattanooga, who were suffering for want of supplies and would soon have 
been forced to retreat. A lodgment being effected in the valley, the regi- 
ment and division remained encamped in the vicinity of Kelley's I'ord near 
the Tennesee river and under the frowning shadow of Lookout Mountain. 



312 MENfORiAL History of Syracuse. 



On the 24th of November occurred the celebrated " Battle above the 
Clouds." The advance was led by the 2d and 3d brigades of the 2d di- 
vision, in the latter being the 149th, which added to its already well-estab- 
lished fame by the capture of four stand of rebel colors, and a number of 
prisoners, arms and ammunition, but suffering severe losses. 

The following letter, written on the spot, is a truthful and graphic 
description of the battle and of the position of the 149th: 

" The advance was led by the troops of General Geary's division of the 12th corps. The men 
commenced ascending the mountain over three miles from the front, and, regardless of the rebel 
picket fire, a line was formed leading from the base of an almost perpendicular ledge of rocks, on 
the right to about three-fourths of the distance down the mountain. Three lines were formed, the 
2d division leading the advance and the 149th occupying the left of the first line. When the order 
to advance was given, our men started forward with a cheer over the rugged sides of the mountain, 
totally regardless of any obstacle in their way and almost ignoring the sharp (ire of the rebel infantry 
who attempted to stop their progress. With an enthusiasm which knew no bounds, they rushed over 
hills and through gorges, climbing towering rocks, dashing through brushwood and fallen timber, 
and scarcely stopping even to take prisioners. They swept over the side of the mountain and around 
its frowning front with the rapidity and force of the whirlwind, completely overcoming and coni|uer- 
ing every obstacle, both n>ilural and artificial, which attempted to impede their progress. 

" No military achievement of this or any other war. e.\ceeded for dash and daring, personal brav- 
ery, contempt of extraordinary obstacles and complete and perfect success, this charge of the 2d 
division around the point of Lookout Mountain. The rebel forces were literally swept from the 
mountain side, driven from fastnesses and intrenchments they had considered impregnable, captured 
in their strongholds, and every vestige of their power swept before us like leaves before the autumn 
gale." 

The battle of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge -the following 
day, and in which the 149th also took an honorable part, was followed by 
an iinmediate advance of the whole army. On the 27th of November, 
another severe fight took place at Ringgold, in which the 149th partici- 
pated and met with severe losses. This engagement resulted in the 
capture of the village of Ringgold and its occupancy by the Union forces, 
with an ofiicer of the 149th as Provost Marshal of the captured town. The 
campaign ending with the battle of Ringgold, our men fell back to their old 
camping ground at the base of Lookout Mountain, where they remaitied 
till after New Year's, 1864, enduring severe hardships and almost starvation, 
in consequence of the impossibility of fordwarding supplies. During this 
period the 149th was complimented by a public delivery of their captured 
rebel flags to General Hooker; and after being almost reduced to starvation 
were removed to Stevenson and remained till spring in preparation for the 
ne.xt cainpaign. The stay here was a season of comparative ease and festiv- 
ity ; rations plenty, supplies abundant and labor light. The few inhabi- 
tants treated them kitidly. Capt. Park Wheeler was detailed to " keep ho- 
tel," and proved himself no unworthy landlord of the "Soldiers' Home." 
Among the attractions which rendered the stay in Stevenson pleasant to 
many of the 149th was the presence of ladies, the wives of several of the 
officers, who, during this quiet, visited their husbands and friends at camp 



Operations Around Atlanta. 313 



—Mrs. Colonel Ireland, Mrs. Surgeon Kendall, Mrs. Captain Wheeler, and 
others — whose presence lent a charm to camp life. 

During the month of April, 1864, the ilth and 12th corps were consoli- 
dated, forming the 20th, commanded by General Hooker, General Howard, 
of the I ith, being transferred to the 4th corps, and General Slocum, of the 
1 2th, assigned to duty as department commander on the Mississippi River. 
Whatever feeling the men of the nth corps had on the subject of the con- 
solidation, we cannot say, but the men of the 12th, to a man, regretted the 
change, for they had an honest pride in the name and history of that corps. 
The adoption of the 12th corps badge, a five pointed star, as the insignia of 
the new corps, however, reconciled them in part to the change. The new 
corps had three divisions, the first of which was commanded by General 
Williams, the second by General Geary, and the third by General Butter- 
lield. The istand 2d divisions were substantially the 1st and 2d divisions 
of the 1 2th corps, and retained their old badge and color, for which they 
were grateful. 

May 2, 1864, began the movement of the troops in the famous Atlanta 
campaign with General Sherman. Their progress was first interrupted at 
Resaca where the rebel force under Johnston was concentrated. Howard 
had entered Dalton on the heels of Johnston's force and pressed him down 
to Resaca. Sherman at once set on foot a flanking movement to drive him 
out. Johnston made a counter movement by attacking Hooker and Scho- 
field on his front and right. He was defeated in the bloody contest which 
followed. Hooker driving the enemy from several hills, taking four guns and 
many prisoners. The rebels retreated across the Oostenaula during the 
night, and our army entered Resaca in triumph next morning. From this 
time to the final triumphal entrance into Atlanta was a constant series of 
skirmishes, battles, and active military operations. For nearly one hun- 
dred days and nights our men were constantly under fire, passing through 
the battles of Villanow Mill Church, Nickajack Creek, Burnt Hickory, Cal- 
houn, Dallas, New Hope Church, Cassville, Kingston, Pumpkin Vine 
Creek, Paices' Ferry, Chattahoochee River, Ackworth, Marietta, Big Shanty 
Pine, and Kenesaw Mountains. The most severe and disastrous of the 
campaign, in which the 149th were engaged, was at Peach Tree Creek on 
the 20th of July, 1864, where a partial surprise was effected, and almost in 
an instant of time the regiment lost 19 brave and generous soldiers, among 
whom were Lieutenant-Colonel C. B. Randall and Captain D. J. Lindsay, 
both gallant officers. Colonel Randall had commanded the regiment in each 
engagement after Chancellorsville to this time, and the men had great con- 
fidence in him and felt his loss keenly. No more gallant officers ever com- 
manded a regiment. 

During this campaign. General Hooker resigned his position at the head 
of the corps, and General Slocum, who had commanded the 12th, was ap- 
40 



314 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



pointed in his place, arriving just in time to accompany it in the triumphal 
entry into Atlanta, on the 2d of September. The losses of the 149th dur- 
ing the campaign amounted to 34 men killed, 138 wounded and 10 missing. 
But the objective point was gained and the regiment was one of the first to 
enter Atlanta and hoist the stars and stripes upon the public hall. Colonel 
Ireland, who commanded the 3d brigade, died shortly after entering Atlanta, 
and the command devolved upon Colonel Barnum, afterwards promoted 
to the brevet rank of Brigadier-General, at Savannah, leaving the 149th 
under the command of Major Grumbach, afterwards promoted to the col- 
onelcy, June 7, 1865. 

After refitting the troops and sending the sick and lame to the rear, the 
commissary wagons were loaded with hard-tack, coffee and sugar, and trust- 
ing to its own energy and perseverance to subsist upon the country, on the 
15th of November the army left Atlanta, to plunge out of sight and hear- 
ing into the heart of the rebel Confederacy. The famous "march to the 
sea" had been determined upon. Experience proved that Sherman had 
not overestimated the abundance of supplies in the country through which 
the army was to pass, nor miscalculated the capacity of his men to obtain 
a full share of the necessaries of life. The marching of an army composed 
of 60,000 infantry and 5,500 cavalry through an interior country of such ex- 
tent was a scene probably never witnessed before, and must have been an 
astonishing spectacle to the people of the country through which it passed. 
Thousands of negroes, sometimes in torchlight processions, followed the 
army "on the road to freedom." 

The 149th was with Slocum's wing, which advanced by Covington, Mad- 
ison and Eatonton, concentrating on Milledgeville, which was entered with- 
out opposition. Sherman thus far accompanied the 14th corps. Slocum 
moved out of Milledgeville simultaneously with Howard's advance from 
Gordon, and concentrated at Sandersville, driving out a small party of 
Wheeler's cavalry ; thence he followed the Central railroad, breaking it up 
to the Ogeechee, which he crossed at Louisville, and thence kept southeast, 
striking for the Savannah river. 

The 20th army corps, (General William's), including the 149th, was the 
first to reach Savannah. It passed Morgan's and Carlin's divisions en- 
camped about ten miles out, and hastened on to the city. On the loth of 
December, 1864, Savannah was completely beleaguered, and Fort McAllister 
was on the 13th carried by storm. Hardee, with 15,000 men, evacuated 
the city on the night of the 20th, escaping across the Savannah river on a 
pontoon bridge. He was unobserved by our pickets, as the night was dark 
and windy. Under cover of fire which he had kept up the day previous, 
he had destroyed the navy yard and two iron clads. Our troops now took 
possession, the 149th being in advance and raising its flag on the dome of 



With Sherman's Army. 



the city hall. The 149th was stationed as provost guard in the southern por- 
tion of the conquered city, and in this capacity had a season of relaxation 
and rest from the fatigues of the campaign, mingling in the social life of the 
city and enjoying balls and other pastimes. A loyal newspaper was printed 
and edited by Moses Summers, formerly Quartermaster of the 149th, during 
the stay in Savannah. After being supplied with provisions and clothing, 
and lea\ing the city in charge of a portion of the 19th corps, Slocum's com- 
mand was again on the march towards Sister's Ferry. After some deten- 
tion the 149th regiment crossed the Savannah river on pontoons and en- 
tered the state of South Carolina. Along the route the enemy had buried 
torpedoes which exploded and several of Slocum's men were severely 
wounded. The march through South Carolina involved unusual hardships, 
the weather having become exceedingly wet, the swamps flooded and the 
rivers high and swift. 

Fayetteville, North Carolina, was reached on the I2th of March, 1865. 
Here the army halted three days, completely destroying the United States 
arsenal and the costly machinery which had been brought from Harper's 
Ferry at the time of its capture by the rebels in 1S61. 

Sherman's movements from this point were very cautiously made. An 
immense army was concentrating in his front ; Hardee from Savannah and 
Charleston, Beauregard from Columbia, Cheatham from the Tennessee, 
with considerable force drawn from North Carolina and her seaward de- 
fences under Bragg and Hoke, with Wheeler's and Hampton's cavalry, 
making up a force of not less than 40,000 men, mostly veterans, under the 
command of the able and wary Joe Johnston. It would no longer answer 
to move as hitherto; our columns must be kept close up, the corps within 
easy supporting distance, on peril of surprise and disaster. True to his 
favorite policy, Sherman, on the 15th of March, pushed four divisions of 
his left wing, covered by Kilpatrick's cavalry, directly northward to Averys- 
boro, as a feint on Raleigh ; while Slocum's trains under escort of two di- 
visions, and the right wing, moved by various roads nearly east, towards 
Goldsboro, his destination. Sherman was on the left with Slocum, but 
after the battle of Averj'sboro, had ridden across to the right wing, intent 
on reaching Goldsboro and meeting General Schofield, when the sound of 
guns on the left again challenged his attention. Slocum, approaching 
Bentonville, had been assailed by Johnston with his entire rebel army. 

The divisions of the right wing were ordered at once to move on rapidly 
to the assistance of the outnumbered left. Slocum had first encountered 
Dibbrell's cavalry, which he was driving, when he ran headlong upon the 
whole Confederate force; the two leading brigades of Carlin's division be- 
ing hurled back upon the main body, with a loss of three guns and their 
caissons. Slocum thereupon very properly stood on the defensive, show- 



;i6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



ing a front of four divisions, and throwing up slight barricades, while Kil- 
patrick came into action upon the left. Here our left withstood six assaults 
from Johnston's army, inflicting heavy loss with our artillery, the enemy 
having brought up little or none. Johnston had hurried to this point by 
night from Smithfield, expecting to crush Slocum before he could be sup- 
ported, but was mistaken. Night fell without giving him any ground, and 
before morning Slocum got up three or four brigades from his wagon 
trains, among which was the 149th, while Hazen's division of the 15th 
(Logan's) corps, came up on the right, rendering his position secure. The 
enemy not risking further attacks, Slocum awaited the arrival of Howard 
with the entire right wing. In the night Johnston retreated on Smithfield 
and Raleigh, so precipitately as to leave his pickets and his severely 
wounded behind. 

Our total loss here was 191 killed, i,io8 wounded, and 344 missing, and 
capturing in all 1,625 prisoners, many of them wounded. 

No further resistance being made, our army moved on to Goldsboro, 
where it rested and was reclothed, much to the satisfaction of our 149th, 
after having passed through the tar regions of North Carolina and burned 
a number of rosin manufactories. 

From Goldsboro the troops, including the 149th, were marched to 
Raleigh, where they arrived on the 13th of April. At Smithfield on the 
morning of the 12th, came the news of the surrender of Lee, which caused 
tumultuous rejoicing. At Raleigh, on the 29th of April, after the surren- 
der of Johnston, the order, "On to Richmond," — now more easily executed 
than earlier in the war— was heard and the army moved forward, reaching 
the rebel capital on the lOth of May, the 20th corps passing through the 
principal streets on the nth. Thence the march was continued through 
the Chickahominy swamps, the 20th corps crossing the Rappahannock at 
United States Ford, and thence by way of VVarrenton, through Fairfax 
Station to Alexandria. Soon afterward the 149th, as a part of Sherman's 
army, participated in the Grand Review at Washington, and was mustered 
out of the service at Bladensburg, a few miles north of the Capitol, on the 
I2th of June, 1865. 

The remnant of the 149th returned home and received a warm welcome 
from a grateful community who had watched the career of the regiment 
with pride and satisfaction. It is not too much to say, that it had as varied 
an experience, and made for itself a record in the war for the Union, as 
honorable as any regiment in the service. Its losses during the war were 
about 535 killed, wounded, and missing in action, and about 65 deaths from 
other causes, making a total of 600. Nearly all the prisoners taken were 
captured at Chancellorsville, and a large share of those were taken in the 
dense woods on the picket and skirmish line, where they were left when the 
main body retired. 



Organization of the Last Regiment. 317 



THE ONE IIUNDREU AND EIGIITV-FI FTII REGIMENT. 

This regiment was organized in Onondaga and Cortland counties, and 
was mustered into service on the 22d and 23d of September, 1864. Com- 
panies A, B, C, D, H, I, and K were from Onondaga county, and the other 
three, E, F, and G, from Cortland county. The field and staff offlccrs 
were, Edwin S. Jenney, Colonel ; Gustavus Sniper, Lieutenant-Colonel ; 
John Leo, Major; Byron Mudge, Adjutant; William Gilbert, Quartermas- 
ter; Charles VV. Crary, Surgeon ; Gilbert L. Newcomb and William Brad- 
ford, Assistant Surgeons; Chester W. Hawley, Chaplain. 

Although this regiment was in the field less than a year, it performed 
effective and honorable service, its ranks being decimated in several bloody 
engagements. Previous to its departure for the front it was encamped for 
a few days in Syracuse, and left for City Point via Fortress Monroe on the 
23d of September, arriving there on the 30th. The regiment was immedi- 
ately ordered into the front line of breastworks before Petersburg, near 
Warren Station on the City Point railroad. 

On the 4th of October the 185th was assigned to the 1st brigade, ist 
division, 5th corps, then under command of General Warren. The division 
was commanded by Gen. Charles Grififin and the brigade, which included 
the 198th Pennsylvania, by Gen. John L. Chamberlain. The regiment was 
encamped near Poplar Grove Church until the i6th of October. While in 
camp a rebel spy was captured on the picket line of the 185th. He 
proved to be a prisoner of importance, an engineer, and bearing on his per- 
son a map of the Union lines and defenses from City Point to the extreme 
left. Offers of money for his release were of course refused, and he was 
afterwards tried, found guilty and shot. 

On the i6th the division was moved up to the Squirrel Level road, 
where a winter camp was established. On the 27th, a movement was made 
against the Southside railroad, in which an engagement occurred, the 185th 
taking an honorable part; three of its men were wounded. The same 
camp was again occupied after the return and nothing occurred to disturb 
the routine of camp life in the regiment until the "th day of December, 
when a demonstration was made against the Weldon railroad, which was an 
important line of communication over which supplies were transported to 
Lee's army. The expedition consisted of Warren's (5th) corps, Mott's di- 
vision of the 2d corps, and Gregg's mounted division. The railroad was 
destroyed for about twenty miles and a large quantity of rebel supplies cap- 
tured. In this expedition the 185th bore a conspicuous part. 

The regiment returned and went into camp near Park Station, where 



3i8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



comfortable winter quarters were soon built from the pine forest wherein 
the camp was situated. A commodious log church was built and covered 
with tent cloth supplied by the benevolent Christian Commission. Here 
the regiment remained until the 5th of February, 1865. 

On the 4th of Februar\', orders were received to be in readiness to 
march at a moment's notice and the next morning, (a Sabbath) before day- 
light, the division was ordered to take up the march towards Hatcher's 
Run. In the afternoon of that day occurred what is known as the second 
battle of Hatcher's Run, in which the iS^th did noble service and suffered 
severely. During the early part of the engagement, the 185th was held in 
reserve ; but about the middle of the afternoon the brigade was ordered for- 
ward to relieve the 2d division of the 5th corps. This division occupied a 
position in front of a piece of woods. Beyond it was an open field upon 
the opposite side of which were some buildings and a sudden declivity, 
which was occupied by the enemy, serving as an intrenchment. General 
Ayres' division had here suffered terribly. 

As the 1st brigade marched for nearly half a mile along the road through 
the woods, it was met by the wounded fresh from the bloody carnage, some 
with wounds hastily bandaged and others )et untouched b}' the surgeon or 
in the jaws of death. This experience was a trying one to the men of the 
regiment — more so, perhaps, than the shock of battle itself; but the brave 
men, many of them with blanched cheek and tightly-closed lips, pressed 
forward. The regiment had scarcely formed a line when a teriffic fire was 
opened by the enemy. Colonel Sickel was one of the first wounded and 
turned the command over to Colonel Jenney. He, realizing the hazard of 
attempting to hold his exposed position against the enemy in his covered 
attitude, ordered the brigade forward. The order was obeyed in excellent 
form, through a galling fire. The field was won, though at considerable 
sacrifice. Among the wounded was Capt. John Listman, whose leg was 
afterwards amputated at the hip. Adjutant Mudge was also wounded here 
and never returned to the field. 

The advanced position was held until darkness, when the brigade retired 
to the main line. After the engagement Colonel Jenney sent Major Bush 
to establish a line of pickets on the right flank. While performing this duty, 
and when scarcely out of speaking distance of his regiment, the Major and 
a squad of men were captured. Major Bush was sent to Libby Prison and 
the regiment lo.st his valuable services. The brigade was warmly com- 
mended by General Griffin for its gallant service; and the praise was fairly 
earned. 

The regiment again went into camp and the second day after the battle 
Colonel Jenney left the organization on account of the following circum- 
stances : When he was commissioned as Colonel of the 185th he was Major 



Batti.k at Hatcher's Run. 319 



of the 3d New York artillery and acting as Provost-Judge of North Carolina, 
stationed at New Berne. After receiving his promotion, he had been taken 
prisoner by the enemy and paroled ; with this status he was mustered as 
Colonel and took the iSsth to the front, expecting to obtain an immediate 
exchange. But while he regarded himself as bound by his parole, the War 
Department held the opinion that the officer who had captured him had no 
authority to parole him, and that Colonel Jenney was therefore to be re- 
garded as an "escaped "and not a "paroled" prisoner. In this situation 
he remained during his period of service with the regiment. After endeav- 
oring in vain to induce the Secretary of War to relieve him from the re- 
sponsibility of his unfortunate position by an order declaring that he was 
not properly paroled and sending him on duty, he was forced to seek re- 
lief by resignation. This resignation, sent in about the middle of January, 
had been accepted and an order honorably discharging him had been re- 
ceived by General Griffin just previous to the Hatcher's Run engagement; 
but at Colonel Jenney's request it was retained by the General until after 
the advance was made, when it was turned over to him. Lieut.-Col. Gus- 
tavus Sniper was at once promoted and bravely commanded the regiment 
during the remainder of its term of service. 

On the 25th of March the division was ordered out before daylight to 
oppose an attack of the rebels on Fort Steadman, then occupied by the 
14th New York artillery, and forming a portion of the lines encircling Pe- 
tersburg. The enemy made a determined assault with the purpose of sev- 
ering the lines at that point ; but the attempt failed and the rebels were 
driven back with heavy losses in killed and wounded, and about 2,000 pris- 
oners. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon an attack was made on the extreme 
left, involving the 185th, in which the Union arms were victorious. 

The regiment returned to camp at Hatcher's Run and remained there 
until the 29th, at which date Grant had determined upon an advance of the 
left wing of his army. Marching orders were received on the 28th, the 
movement to begin at 3 o'clock the next morning. The 5th and 2d corps 
moved out southward until they crossed the Run, and then turned north- 
ward towards the enemy's right. The 2d corps crossed the Run at the 
Vaughn road, while Warren with the 5th corps crossed four miles below, 
where the stream unites with Gravelly Run and becomes Rowanty Creek, 
and then moved u]) along Quaker Road towards the Boydtown plank road, 
the 185th in the advance. At 2 o'clock Warren's corps reached Lewis's 
Farm, where the enemy was met and an engagement followed. This was 
the first assault in the four days battle which resulted in the destruction of 
Lee's army. The battle was a memorable one in the history of the regi- 
ment. Coming suddenly upon the rifle pits of the enemy, the contest was 
at close quarters. The Color-Bjarer, Sergeant B. II. Wilson, was twice 



320 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

wounded. The Sergeant of the color-company, William H. Tyler, in 
whose hands the colors were then placed, was killed. Herman Reiss, one 
of the color-guard, then seized the colors, but was immediately shot in the 
hand. Captain D. N. Lathrop, of Company D, next grasped the flag, but 
was severely wounded in the foot. At this juncture Colonel Sniper seized 
the colors, shouted to his men to follow him, and the final charge was made. 
For his personal bravery Colonel Sniper was brevetted Brigadier-General 
and the ist brigade was praised on all sides. In the short period of this 
engagement the regiment lost at least twenty-five per cent, of its available 
material. The killed numbered 30 and the wounded 180, about 10 of the 
latter mortally. The dead were buried on the spot. The survivors look 
back upon this sudden, sharp " fight of the saw-dust pile," as it was pop- 
ularly denominated, as to a horrible dream. The regiment stood its ground 
valiantly, and only fell back when ordered to re-form its line. The men 
were thenceforth veterans in earnest. 

During the 30th and 31st important events transpired, resulting in se- 
vere fighting for the possession of the White Oak road, during which the 
enemy was repulsed, losing heavily in prisoners, and Sheridan's forward 
movement to Five Forks, after much hard fighting. The battle of Five 
Forks, one of the most prominent engagements that were instrumental in ter- 
minating the rebellion, was fought on Saturday, April 1st, beginning in the 
afternoon and continuing until nearly daylight the next morning. In this 
engagement the 5th corps was on the right and in the hottest of the con- 
flict. Several officers and many privates of the 185th were killed or 
wounded, and the regiment added to its already e.xalted reputation for 
bravery and heroism. The victory won in this battle was a most decisive 
one, and told clearly that the rebellion, as far as it was represented by Lee's 
army, was substantially crushed. 

As darkness approached on the 1st, the batteries along the entire line in 
front of Petersburg, opened a bombardment which filled the heavens with 
thunder and lighted up the night with its glare. The rebel works were 
vigorously assaulted on Sunday morning, the 2d, and the outer lines carried 
while the 6th corps, with two divisions of Ord's, drove everything before 
them up the Boydtown road at dawn ; then wheeled to the left and swept 
down in rear of the rebel works, capturing guns and thousands of prisoners. 
Other equally important successes were achieved at other points along the 
lines, that were rapidly drawing in toward Petersburg and Richmond, and 
admonishing General Lee that his doom was at hand. So evident had this 
fact become to him that he telegraphed Jefferson Davis, in Richmond at 
10 o'clock a. m. on Sunday : " My lines are broken in three places. Rich- 
mond must be evacuated this evening." 

Richmond was evacuated that night. Before noon of the next day the 
fall of the capital of the Confederacy, that had cost so many lives, was 
flashed to all parts of the world. 



The Surrender of Lek. 321 



The concluding operations of the campaign, ending at Appomattox on 
the 9th of April, need not be detailed here. Griffin and Ord, with the 5th, 
24th, and one division of the 25th corps, by extraordinary marching, 
reached Appomattox on the morning of the 8th. Since the evacuation of 
Richmond and Petersburg, the 185th had performed some of the severest 
marching of the war, interspersed with skirmishing and fighting, often with- 
out food and with very little rest. 

A correspondence had begun between Generals Grant and Lee on the 
7th, and the capitulation was completed at Appomatto.x on the 9th. The 
position of the two confronting armies on the morning of surrender is thus 
graphically described in Greeley's history of the rebellion : 

"Sheridan was with his cavalry near the Court house, when the army of 
Virginia made its last charge. By his order his troopers, who were in line 
of battle, dismounted, giving ground gradually while showing a steady 
front, so as to allow our weary infantry time to form and take position. 
This effected, the horsemen moved swiftly to the right and mounted, re- 
vealing lines of solid infantry in battle array, before whose wall of gleam- 
ing bayonets the astonished enemy recoiled in blank despair, as Sheridan 
and his troopers, passing briskly around the rebel left, prepared to charge 
the confused reeling mass. A white flag was now raised by the enemy and 
advanced in front of the 185th regiment. Information was then received 
from the enemy offering to surrender. Riding over to Appomattox Court 
House, General Sheridan was met by General Gordon, who requested a sus- 
pension of hostilities, with the assurance that negotiations were then pend- 
ing between Generals Grant and Lee for a capitulation." 

Lieutenant Hiram Clark, of company G, in the 185th, was the last man 
killed in the army of Virginia.* He was in command of the skirmish line at 
Appomatto.x and while the flag of truce was being shown, was struck by a 
rebel shell, which nearly cut him in twain. He was buried under a cherry 
tree near the Court House. After the surrender, the 185th was detailed 
with some other regiments to take charge of the rebel prisoners and look 
after the captured arms and munitions ; this duty occupied several days. 
The arms and ammunition were sent to Burkesville. 

The 185th remained three days in camp, and were then ordered to Wil- 
son Station, on the Southside railroad, where they remained until May 1st, 
marching thence to Manchester, across the James river from Richmond. 
On the 5th of May orders were received to march to Alexandria ; starting 
on the 6th they crossed the Pamunkey river on pontoons, marched through 
Bowling Green, crossing the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, and arrived 

* It has been often stated and printed that Lieutenant Clark was the last man killed in the 
war of the rebellion. This cannot, of course, be true, as fighting in the southwest was continued 
some time after Lee's surrender. The killing of the last man in the war occurred in Texas. 
41 



322 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



at Arlington Heights on the 13th, after marching nearly all night. After 
participating in the grand review of the army by the President in Washing- 
ton on the 23d of May, the regiment returned to camp and was mustered 
out of service on the 30th. On the following day at 3 o'clock p. m., they 
left Arlington for home, arriving in Syracuse on the 3d day of June, where 
they received a generous welcome. The regiment was paid off at Camp 
White on the loth of June by Major Littlefield and was finally disbanded 
the next day. 



THE FIFTEENTH CAVALRY. 

This cavalry regiment was raised in the counties of Onondaga, Ontario, 
Orange, Oneida, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Genesee, Erie, and Tompkins. 
It was mustered into the service for three years from August 8, 1863. It 
was consohdated with the 6th New York cavalry June 17, 1865, and the 
new organization was designated the 2d New York Provisional Cavalry. 
The regiment was an important one to Onondaga county and the city of 
Syracuse, it having removed the necessity of a draft in 1863. Its organiza- 
tion proceeded slowly, but late in the year Colonel Robert M. Richardson 
succeeded in securing an order from the War Department granting a bounty 
of $300 to each enlisted man, which gave an impetus to enlistments. 

The following officers in the regiment were from Onondaga county : 
Robert M. Richardson, Colonel ; Augustus J. Root, Lieutenant-Colonel; 
Michael Auer, Captain Co. A, promoted to Major; J. H. Wood, Major; 
F. Mann, Adjutant; Edward R. Trull, Quartermaster; Isaac O. Fillmore, 
Chaplain. Captains Thomas G. Putnam, JefTerson C. Bigelow, George 
M. EUicott, John F. Moshell. First Lieutenants George N. Truesdell, Wil- 
liam P. Shearer, Joseph Herron, Joseph LaBeff. Second Lieutenants Or- 
son R. Colgrove, Charles G. Hampton, Burritt N. Hurd, William Stanton, 
Edgar L. Miller, Edward Pointer, Lorenzo Hatch, James Holahan, John 
W. Frazer, John Gallagher, Levi Kraft, Peter Boehm, Anthony Dever, and 
Emory Ormsby; the latter two were not commissioned. Cortland Clark, 
Commissary, was also from Onondaga county. 

The history of an honorable and active cavalry regiment cannot be 
written in a limited space. For this reason, and because a large part of its 
strength was from other localities, this organization must be accorded only 
brief mention here. The regiment participated in the following battles 
and engagements : Lynchburg, (Hunter's raid) 1864 ; New Market, (under 
Sigel) 1864; Winchester, July 10, 1864; Piedmont, (near Stanton); cap- 
ture of Martinsburg, and the series of battles about Petersburg, resulting 
in the capture of Lee's army. 



The Fiftv-First Re(;imknt. 323 



MILITIA.— TIIK FIFTY-FIRST RFfUMENT. 

In 1S43 the village of Syracuse was without a military organization and 
there was great consternation in October of that year, as ex-President John 
Quincy Adams was expected to pass through the place on his way east. 
Ex-President Adams was escorted from Auburn by the Auburn Guard and 
Syracuse was jealous of its sister village's possession of so fine a body of men, 
as well as ashamed of its own lack of the .soldier element. As a conse- 
quence, a few of the public spirited villagers interested them.selves on Sep- 
tember 4, 1843. The "Citizens" Corps" was organized and attached to the 
147th regiment of infantry, with Isaac T. Minard as Captain and Elijah T. 
Hayden as Lieutenant. The company was attached as a flank company of 
artillery, but by permission of the Commander-in-Chief was permitted to 
act as infantry. The order read as follows : 

State of New York, Headquarters, Albany, September 4, 1843. 
General Orders: — ^The Commander-in-Chief hereby directs that a 
new company of artillery be organized and attached to the 147th regiment 
of infantry. Py order of the Commander-in-Chief. 

A. C. NlVEN, Adjutant-General. 
As the State supplied only muskets at that time, it was necessary that 
funds should be procured for the armament by subscription and so far as 
could be correctly ascertained the following men each gave $25 toward the 
fund: Gen. Amos P. Granger, Philo N. Rust, John Wilkinson, Lewis H. 
Redfield, Horace White, Hamilton White, Thomas T. Davis, Samuel 
Larned, Harvey Loomis, Horace Parmlee, Philo D. Mickles, Thomas B. 
Fitch, Charles B. Sedgwick, Sylvester F. Pierce and Edward B. Wicks. 

The names of the men on the original roll were signed to the following 
agreement : 

" We, the undersigned, do hereby agree to organize ourselves as a mili- 
tary company in the village of Syracuse, as soon as forty men sign the 
agreement :" 

Syracuse, July 31, 1843. 
Isaac T. Minard, John W. Phillips, \V. L. Davis. W. Johnson, J. S. 
Smith, J. Starin, Jr., D. S. Raymond, J. W. Vale, Charles Leonard, J. C. 
Eaton, S. Groff, T. O'Reilly, W. S. Wood, John R. Robertson, Henry 
Agnew, H. Cole, J. G. Willard, Joseph Galvin, W. H. Perry, John A. Hillis, 
J. Baldwin, M. M. Hoye, J. Tripp, A. H. Squires, Simon DeGraiT, S. E. 
Kingsley, F. T. Hayden, Jas. R. Lawrence, Jr., J. S. Hoyt, R. B. Williams, 
John Ames, F. H. Williams, David S. Geer, P. M. Bromley, Samuel P. 
Geer, R. S. Blossom, Garret Putnam, Hiram Tyler, J. I. Bradley, Wm. D. 



I 



324 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Lewis, Edward J. Foster, Robert D. Phillips, James Noxon, D. D. Denton. 

On October 14, 1843, the Germans met and organized a company under 
the name of the Syracuse LaFayette Grenadier Guard, of which Sergt. 
John Graff was the originator. Jacob Pfohl was elected Captain, Adam 
Listman, First Lieutenant, and Daniel Gilcher, Second Lieutenant. 

On March i, 1849, commissions were issued to Lewis Springer, Captain ; 
Adam Oot, First Lieutenant ; Lawrence Roesell, Second Lieutenant, of 
the Washington Artillerj'. 

In August, 1849, 3. company was organized in Liverpool, comprising 
about forty men ; but they were never uniformed and soon disbanded. 

The National Guard, an Irish company, was next organized on July 25, 
1850, with Edwin R. Prendergast, Captain ; William S. Thompson, First 
Lieutenant ; Nicholas Downs, Second Lieutenant. 

These companies, aside from the Liverpool company and one in Pom- 
pey, were well equipped and uniformed and were the pride of Syracuse for 
a number of years. The companies in Liverpool and Pompey, with these 
other four, constituted the regimental organization. Up to this time there 
had been no regimental formation and the first record of such to be found 
is a communication from Robert H. Morris, A. A. G., enclosing circulars 
containing directions for commandants of company districts, and remarking 
that the 51st regiment did not appear to be fully organized. May 14, 1851, 
Major Wm. C. Brown, commanding this district by appointment, re- 
ceived another communication referring to the " unorganized state of the 
regiment" and stating that no record of the boundaries of the 51st regi- 
ment was to be found, and that on the arrival of the Inspector-General and 
Commander-in-Chief the matter would be adjusted. 

On July 29, 1851, the 51st regiment was formed and commissions were 
issued to Origen Vandenburg, Colonel; Charles C. Richardson, Lieutenant- 
Colonel; Henry P. Adams, Major. The regiment consisted of Co, A, Citi- 
zen's Corps, Captain Isaac T. Minard; Co. B, Lafayette Grenadier Guard, 
Captain Jacob Pfohl ; Co. C, National Guard, Captain Edwin R. Prender- 
gast ; and Co. L, Washington Artillery, Captain Lewis Springer. 

The law then required the organization of ten uniformed companies in 
each regimental district and an enrollment of all persons liable to military 
duty. Those who performed the duty received an allowance per day ; 
those who did not were required to pay an annual tax of 75c. up to January 
I, 1853, and after that date 50c., to constitute a fund for paj'ment of those 
doing duty. This regimental district was divided into company districts 
August 21, 185 I. Each ward of the city formed a company district; the 
towns of DeWitt and Manlius, district No. 5 ; Pompey and LaFayette, dis- 
trict No. 6; Onondaga and Marcellus, district No. 7; Geddes and Van- 
Buren, district No. 8. The division was made by Origen V^andenburg, as 



The Fifty-First Regiment. 325 

Colonel of the 51st. Kellogg's Sax Horn Band furnished the military 
music in those days. 

On November 14, 1851, the 24th brigade boundary was changed so that 
the town of Lysander was included in this regimental district. On the 18th 
of October a Captain's commission was issued to James Washburn, of Man- 
lius, and on December 6, William Henderson received a commission as 
Captain of a company in Otisco, but no record exists that either Captain 
ever commanded a company, and no such companies ever participated in 
the parades of the 51st regiment. 

During the year 1852 military affairs were active. On January 5, Mat- 
thias Britton, of Onondaga, was commissioned Captain of a company that 
was never uniformed and whose paper existence simply served as a count 
in the regimental district. On the 9th of January, the Onondaga Light 
Guard was organized, with Charles L. Chandler as Captain ; Francis P. 
Minier, First Lieutenant ; George W. Reisinger, Second Lieutenant. In 
July, Captain Chandler resigned in favor of Lieutenant Minier, who held 
command four years, when he resigned and removed west. 

April 3d, a meeting was called to consider the question of organizing a 
cavalry company, and on the 7th of the month the company was formed, 
with Alfred Hovey, Captain ; Henry D. Hatch, First Lieutenant; James 
L. Graham, Second Lieutenant. The company was known as the Syracuse 
Light Dragoons. At this time, military organizations were compelled to 
furnish their own armories, and the Syracuse Common Council refused to 
make any appropriation for that purpose; but the military companies soon 
found an opportunity to retaliate. Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, visited 
Syracuse, and the city authorities requested the military to participate in a 
reception to the distinguished guest. The request was promptly refused ; 
but the various companies finally turned out on their own account. The 
arms for the Cavalry were received in July and a vacant lot between East 
Water and Washington streets, east of Grape street, was selected for a 
drill and parade ground. 

On July 16, the 51st was provided with field ofificers as follows: Col- 
onel, Origen Vandenburg; Lieutenant-Colonel, Charles C. Richardson; 
Major, Henry P. Adams ; Adjutant, J. Dean Hawley ; Engineer, J. I-"orman 
Wilkinson ; Surgeon, Dr. Joshua G. Bigelow. The law at that time re- 
quired the militia to drill regularly and they met for this purpose in the 
Shelden block, Maj. John J. Peck, U. S. A., acting as drill master. 

On August 2, commissions were issued to Harry W. Adams, as Cap- 
tain ; Truman Peck, First Lieutenant : Wm. WinchiU, Second Lieutenant 
of a company in Lysander. The commissions form the only matter on 
record pertaining to the company. 

The first regular encampment of the 51st was held in the first week of 
October on the grounds of Captain Welch, near the Messina Springs road, 



326 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



back of the present dwelling of C. H. Sedgwick, and was named Camp 
Peck in honor of Major Peck. October i6, General Scott was a guest of 
the city and the regiment turned out in his honor. 

In 1853 Colonel Vandenburg resigned and Lieut.-Col. Charles C. Rich- 
ardson was elected to the vacancy. Capt. Isaac T. Minard, of the Citizens' 
Corps, was elected Lieutenant-Colonel and Capt. Jacob Pfohl, of the Gren- 
adier Guard, was elected Major. 

July II, the Citizens' Corps, Co. A, elected E. L. Walrath as Cap- 
tain, vice Minard. In accordance with a brigade order an encampment 
was held from September 22 until September 26, at which time the 51st 
was officered as follows: Colonel, Charles C. Richardson; Lieutenant- 
Colonel, Isaac T. Minard; Major, Henry P. Adams; Adjutant, J. Dean 
Hawley ; Engineer, J. Forman Wilkinson; Surgeon, Joshua G. Bigelow; 
Chaplain, W. Bliss Ashley; Paymaster, Thomas B. Heermans; Sergt.- 
Major, James McMath. 

The companies were commanded as follows : Co. A, Citizens' Corps, 
Captain Walrath; Lieutenants Harrington and Brower ; Co. B, Gren- 
adier Guard, Captain Listman ; Lieutenants Ohneth and Gilcher; Co. C, 
National Guard, Captain Prendergast ; Lieutenants Downs and Booth ; 
Co. D, Onondaga Light Guard, Captain Minier; Lieutenants Tuttle and 
Lawrence ; Co. L, Washington Artillery, Captain Roesell ; Lieutenants 
Zimmerman and Schmeer; Co. R, Light Dragoons, Captain Hovey ; Lieu- 
tenants Hatch and Graham. 

Camp Onondaga was located on what was then known as the Colonel 
Johnson farm, embracing some forty acres of ground, which has since been 
divided into that handsome portion of the city north of West Onondaga 
street and now known as the Kellogg tract. The troops present were, aside 
from the 51st regiment, the Oswego Guard, Bruce Guard, Cleveland 
(Ohio) Light Artillery, Rochester City Dragoons, Rochester Union Grays, 
Rochester Union Guard, Rochester Grenadiers, Rochester Citizens' Corps, 
Canaseraga Light Infantry, Truxton Light Guard, Virgil Guard and the 
Utica Citizens' Corps. Governor Horatio Seymour was present and re- 
viewed the troops. 

During the fall a company from Canastota belonging to the 42d regi- 
ment was transferred to the 51st, entering as Co. G, Bruce Guard, Cap- 
tain, Joseph C. Irish. 

Early in the spring of 1854 Col. Charles C. Richardson resigned and 
Lieut.-Col. Isaac T. Minard was elected to the vacancy and Robert M. 
Richardson was elected Lieutenant-Colonel, vice Minard. 

In the fall a small encampment was held at Baldwinsville at which dis- 
cipline was strictly maintained, as this was the first thorough working en- 
campment held. 



The Fifty-First Regiment. 327 

Tlie year 1855 was unimportant save in regimental changes. In Au- 
gust Adjutant J. Dean Hawley was promoted to Major, and Roger W. 
Pease was appointed Adjutant. Capt Nicholas Downs, of Co. C, Na- 
tional Guard, resigned and John Radigan was elected to the vacancy. 
On the i6th of the month Lieut-Col Robert M. Richardson was appointed 
Brigadier-General and in September Morris H. Church was appointed 
Quartermaster. On September I I a new company was formed at Pompey 
Hill, with Matthias Berry as Captain. This company was fully armed and 
equipped and attached to the Fifty-first as Co. F. 

In January, 1856, Major J. Dean Hawley was commissioned Lieutenant- 
Colonel, vice R. M. Richardson, promoted, and F. B Curtis, Major, vice 
J. Dean Hawley. In August the Light Guard changed its name to the 
Syracuse Grays. 

In February, 1857, Roger \V. Pease was elected First Lieutenant of the 
Grays Adam Listman resigned as Captain of the Grenadier Guard and 
Jacob Brand was elected to the vacancy. Adam Gilcher, First Lieutenant, 
and Jacob Grassman, Second Lieutenant. In June a new company was 
formed with Peter Ohneth as Captain and John Listman, F"irst Lieutenant. 
This company was composed entirely of Germans and attached to the Fifty- 
first as Co. H, Hawley Guard. This same month Lieut. R. W. Pease, of 
the Grays, resigned and George F. Chapman was elected in his place. 
July 9 Co. R, Light Dragoons, elected James L Graham, Captain; Silas 
Titus, First Lieutenant; and John E. Moschell, Second Lieutenant. In Oc- 
tober Captain Walrath of Co. A, Citizens' Corps, resigned, and J. Mosher 
Brower was elected Captain. In November Colonel Minard resigned com 
mand of the Fifty-first, and in December Reuben Wood was elected First 
Lieutenant of Co A, Citizens' Corps. 

A public meeting was held on the 15th of February, 1858, to consider 
the erection of an armory, for which a certain sum had been granted from 
the surplus of the funds belonging to the State Arsenal in New York city. 
The first appropriation to Syracuse was $4,000, which was afterwards in- 
creased $1,000; to this the city added $400 toward the erection of a build- 
'"g. $25 for grading the park, and presented the ground to the State. 
Many citizens also contributed to the fund, raising the aggregate sum to 
$8,275. The archithct of the building was H. N. White; the master ma- 
son was David Wilcox; and Abraham Austin did the carpenter work. 
Gen. B. F. Bruce, Chairman of the Armory Commission, supervised the 
letting and construction. 

On the 19th of April Joseph E. Masters was elected First Lieutenant, 
and Milo W. Locke, Second Lieutenant of Co. D, Syracuse Grays. Cap- 
tain Radigan resigned from Co. C, and a regular promotion resulted in 
making Dennis Driscoll, Captain ; Martin Hogan, First Lieutenant; Mi- 



328 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

chael Giblin, Second Lieutenant. Captain Sclinauber, of the Washington 
Artillery, resigned in April, and at an election on May 7 John Louis was 
chosen. On the 2Sth of the same month Adjutant R. W. Pease resigned 
and Morris H. Church was appointed. In July I'v. W. Talbot was elected 
Captain of Co. F, Pompey Guard, vice Berry, and in August E. R. Gris- 
wold was appointed Adjutant, vice Church, and David l-^. Barr, Chaplain, 
vice W. Bliss Ashley. September 9th the regiment went into camp at On- 
ondaga Valley. November 20 Colonel Hawley resigned and Lieutenant- 
Colonel Walrath was made Colonel. Morris H. Church became Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel, and George A. Ostrander was appointed Adjutant. 

On the 5th of January, 1859, Micliael Giblin was elected First Lieuten- 
ant of Co. C, vice Hogan resigned, and on the 15th Martin McCarthy was 
elected Second Lieutenant, vice Giblin. On the same day the Washington 
Artillery elected Francis Mahler, Captain, vice Louis proniotid to Major of 
the regiment. R. W. Pease, Surgeon, resigned, and Alonzo R. Morgan was 
appointed to the vacancy in March. Captain Chandler, Co. D, resigned, 
and John Schnauber was elected in April. First Lieutenant Zimmerman, 
of Co. L, resigned, and Jacob Schnieer was elected. Harney Becker, Pay- 
master of the regiment, resigned, and on May I Alonzo B. Caldwell was 
appointed ; and Thomas S. Truair received the appnintment of Surgeon's 
Mate. May 20th Second Lieutenant Bradley, Co. G, Bruce Guard, re- 
sio^ned and Charles Grunow was elected. On the ist of June H. A. Bar- 
num was appointed Engineer of the regiment, vice E. B. Griswold. June 3d 
Silas H. Chesebrough was elected Second Lieutenant of Co. R, Light Dra- 
goons. In the same month H. A. Barnum was ekcted Second Lieutenant 
Co. D. On the i6tli uf September the new Armor)- was dedicated, Col. I. T. 
Minard delivering an address. A review and inspection of the regiment 
was held by Gen. R. M. Richardson, the evening closing with a grand ball 
in the Armory. 

In i860 the regimental changes were as follows: In January, First 
Lieut. Joseph E. Masters, Co. D, Syracuse Grays, resigned, and Second 
Lieut. H. A. Barnum was promoted, while John G. Butler was elected to 
the Second Lieutenancy. E. B. Griswold resigned as Quartermaster of 
th° 51st, and Daniel J. Halstead was appointed. May 2d First Lieut. 
Charles E Grunow was elected Captain of Co. G, Bruce Guard, 7'tce Cap- 
tain Irish resigned, and Ephraim Richardson was elected Second Lieuten- 
ant. In September the company at Central Square (E), Central Square 
Guard, Captain Diefendorf, transferred from the S2d Regiment to the 51st, 
was disbanded, and the lOth of the month a new company was formed, with 
Gustavus Sniper as Captain, Hiram H. Henderson as F^irst Lieutentant, and 
J. M. Christian, Second Lieutenant. This was attached to the 51st as Co. 
E, and in honor of Allen Munroe called themselves the Munore Cadets. 



Officers of the Fittv-First Rkcimf.nt. 329 



Captain Brower, of the Citizens' Corps, was succeeded by Morris H. 
Church: First Lieut. Reuben Wood by Augustus W. Field, who was suc- 
ceeded by Abel G. Cook, and Third Lieut. R. M. Beecher. by James E. 
Doran ; Ira Wood was made Orderly Sergeant, vice C. B. Randall. On the 
24th the Zouaves, the third name borne by Co. D, appeared in Zouave 
uniform. In December, long range muskets were substituted for the form- 
er arms. Captain Mahler, Co. L, Washington Artillery, was succeeded by 
John Kirsch, and Xavier Zett elected Second Lieutenant. Chaplain D. E. 
Barr removed from the district and was succeeded by John B. King. 

No sooner had the rebellion broken out in 1861 than the 51st offered its 
services (April 15) to aid in the war for the Union, but the act of April 16 
prevented its acceptance. This circumstance was influential in the organi- 
zation of the Old Twelfth, the first regiment sent from this county to aid in 
putting down the rebellion. A very large number of the 51st joined that 
organization, an account of which is given on a former page of this work. 
This depleted the 51st to such a degree that efforts were immediately 
made to fill the ranks of the regiment, and the changes in the personelle of 
the officers during the year resulted as follows : 

Co. A, Citizens' Corps, Orrin Welch, Captain ; A. W. Field, First Lieu- 
tenant ; Abel G. Cook, Second Lieutenant. 

Co. D, Zouaves, (Davis Light Guard,) Horatio N. White, Captain ; 
Charles H. George, First Lieutenant; D. N. Lathrop, Second Lieutenant. 

Co. G, Bruce Guard. Charles E. Grunow, First Lieutenant; J. H. Mor- 
rison, Second Lieutenant. 

Co. B, Grenadier Guard, Abraham Gilcher, Captain ; Jacob Grassman, 
First Lieutenant ; Charles Simon, Second Lieutenant. 

Co. C, National Guard, Michael Giblin, Captain. 

In July the regiment's field officers were: J. Dean Hawley, Colonel, 
elected for the second time ; John Schnauber, Lieutenant-Colonel ; Peter 
Ohneth, Major; Alfred Wilkinson, Engineer; Daniel O'Hara, Quarter- 
master; Edward C. Fellows, Paymaster. 

The officers of Co. H, Hawley Guard, were John Listman, Captain; 
Frederick Schug, First Lieutenant; Henry Brown, Second Lieutenant. 

On the 1 2th of August, a new company— Co. F, Light Infantry — was 
organized in Pompey, with Earl Chapin as Captain ; Thomas E. Vischer, 
First Lieutenant ; Austin B. F^rench, Second Lieutenant. In September, 
Co. C, James E. Doran was made Captain. A little later he joined the 
army and Timothy Sullivan was elected Captain. Co. D changed its name 
to the Davis Light Guard. 

Subsequent changes in the officers of the regiment are summarized as 
follows ; 

1862. — Charles E. Crouse, of Canastota, was elected Captain of Co. G ; 
James Randall, First Lieutenant Co. C ; Nicholas Grumbach, Captain Co. 
42 



330 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



E, vice Gustavus Sniper ; E. L. Walrath, Major, vice Ohneth, resigned ; 
Benedict Haberle, Captain Co. B ; Peter Knaul, First Lieutenant; Charles 
Simon, Second Lieutenant. Seymour H. Stone, Second Lieutenant Co. A, 
vice Abel G. Cook, resigned. John Zankel, Captain Co. E ; F. H. Bremen, 
First Lieutenant ; Peter Pfohl, Second Lieutenant. 

1863. — Co. E, Gustavus Sniper, Captain, vice John Zankel. May 27 
Gustavus Sniper was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, and 
Edward C. Fellows, Major. 

In June a change was made in the regimental district. The 24th brigade 
was reorganized and John A. Green, jr., was made Brigadier-General. The 
organization confined the territory of the 24th brigade to Oswego and On- 
ondaga counties, thus throwing out of the regiment Co. G, of Canastota. 
The other changes for this year were as follows : Co. D, Henry C. 
Thompson, Captain ; D. N. Lathrop, First Lieutenant ; Theodore RL 
Barber, Second Lieutenant. Co. E, Michael Auer, Captain ; George Pfohl, 
Second Lieutenant. In July four new companies were attached to the 5 1st : 
The Union Guard, Capt. J. C. Bennett; Woodrufif Zouaves, Capt. C. W. 
Jordan ; Alvord Corps, (First Ward) Captain Patterson ; Seymour Guard, 
Capt. John F. Pease. 

July 14, 1863, during the New York draft riot. Colonel Hawley was 
ordered to hold the regiment in readiness to march at an hour's notice. 
On the 17th the regiment proceeded to Binghamton, but were ordered back 
to Syracuse on the 18th. Co. B elected officers in September and Peter 
Knaul was made Captain ; Charles Simon, First Lieutenant. Co. E elected 
Henry C. AUewelt Captain in December. 

1864. — At an election in February, Co. C chose James Randall, Captain ; 
John Connelly, First Lieutenant ; Jeremiah Leamy, Second Lieutenant. 
Co. D, D. N. Lathrop, Captain ; T. M. Barber, First Lieutenant ; Chauncey 
Hamilton, Second Lieutenant. Co. G elected Byron Gilbert, Captain ; 
Fred Gaynor, First Lieutenant ; Adelbert D. Hills, Second Lieutenant. 
Co. I, Andrew H. Green, Captain; Michael Foley, Second Lieutenant. 
Co. A, John W. Sherman, First Lieutenant, vice A. W. F"ield ; D'Estaine 
Remington, Second Lieutenant, vice S. H. Stone. Co. B, Charles Simon, 
Captain ; Peter Pfohl, First Lieutenant. Co. G, Garrett Doyle, Captain, 
vice Gilbert. Co. D, Chauncey Hamilton, Captain ; Frank Rosenbush, 
First Lieutenant; John T. Bon, Second Lieutenant. Co. F, Peter Smith, 
Captain; Fred Rose, Second Lieutenant. Co. E, Joseph Sniper, Captain. 
Co. F, Woodruff Zouaves, changed their name to Westcott Zouaves, in 
honor of Mayor Westcott. The Alvord Corps, (Patterson Guard) became 
the Salina Guard, and the Grenadiers became the Comstock Guard. Co. 
E, Henry Wane, Second Lieutenant. Co. H, Fred Schug, Captain; 
William Volmer, First Lieutenant. On the 15th of October E. C. Fellows 



Oi-KiciAL Changes in the Fifty-First Regiment. 331 



was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, and Orrin Welch was elected Major 
of the re<^iment. The appointments were vStiles M. Rust, Engineer; H. D. 
Didama, Surgeon ; C. W. Snow, Assistant Surgeon ; G. W. Carpenter, 
Quartermaster. 

1865.— In January, Co. A elected J. W. Sherman, Captain, and C. C. 
Lott, First Lieutenant. Co. G, William S. Patterson, Captain, for the 
second time, as he was the first Captain of the company. Co. D, Elisha B. 
George, First Lieutenant : Norman W. Smith, Second Lieutenant. Co. K, 
Asa C. Jones, Captain. Co. I, Lester Caldwell, Captain. 

1866.— Co. L W. H. Hamilton, First Lieutenant; John McDonald, 
Second Lieutenant. On the 3d of May Charles W. Jordan was elected 
Major of the regiment. Co. G, John Harvey, Captain; Charles Pierce, 
Second Lieutenant. Co. F, Peter Smith, Captain ; Frederick Woese, First 
Lieutenant. Co. H, William Volmer, Captain. Co. D, Norman W. 
Smith, Second Lieutenant. Co. E, Frederick Miller, First Lieutenant; 
John Mower, Second Lieutenant. Co. R, Peter Reilley, Second Lieuten- 
ant. On the 1st day of July, John W. Yale was appointed Quartermaster ; 
Valentine G. Edwards, Commissary of Subsistence. Co. H elected Frank 
Becker, Second Lieutenant, and later elected Phillip Schug to the same 
office, vice Becker, resigned. 

1868. — On the 15th of June, Gustavus Sniper was elected Colonel of 
the 51st, vice ]. D. Hawley resigned, and Capt. James Randall was made 
Lieutenant-Colonel. Co. A elected John P. Phillips First Lieutenant, vice 
C. C. Lott, resigned, and Judson B. Crow, Second Lieutenant, vice D'Es- 
taine Remington, resigned. Co. C, John Connolly, Captain ; Jeremiah 
Leamy, First Lieutenant; John Muldoon, Second Lieutenant. On July 
22d, William Stone was appointed Adjutant, vice G. A. Ostrander; and 
J. Otis Burt was appointed Surgeon. Co. A elected Lieut. Theodore M. 
Barber, Captain. In October this company reorganized with the following 
civil officers : President, Orrin Welch ; Vice-President, D'Estaine Rem- 
ington ; Recording Secretary, John H. Horton; Financial Secretary, 
Edward L. Gifford ; Treasurer, Sidney B. Gifford ; Executive Committee, 
F. E. Carroll, E. B. Griswold, James Griffin. Co. B elected Henry Lentz, 
Captain. The Citizens' Corps was now made to include two companies, Co. 
A and Co. D, by consolidation in December. 

1869.— In August, Co. R elected Meredith Moore First Lieutenant, 77^,? 
Herron, resigned. Co. I elected Gutncy Williams Second Lieutenant, vice 
John McDonald, resigned. Co. D, First Lieutenant Elisha B. George re- 
signed and was succeeded by Norman W. Smith ; Joseph Van Slyke was 
elected Second Lieutenant. 

18-0. — Co. R, Union Guard, changed its name to Bennett Guard. In 
February, Quartermaster J. W. Yale resigned and was succeeded by John 



332 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Dunn. L. L. Thurwachter was made Commissary of Subsistence, and Mi- 
chael Foley was elected Captain of Co. K, Fred Miller of Co. E, and Jere- 
miah Leamy of Co. C. On September 12, Henry C. AUewelt was elected 
Major of the sist, vice C. W. Jordan, resigned, and James Randall was 
made Lieutenant-Colonel. In December, John F. Moschell was elected 
Major, and William A. Stone was appointed Adjutant. The strength of 
the regiment at the close of the year was 599. 

1 87 1. — Co. B, the old LaFayette Grenadier Guard, which had changed 
its name to the Comstock Guard, resumed its former title this year. No- 
vember 24th, Colonel Sniper resigned and on the i6th of December, James 
Randall was elected to the vacancy, with Henry C. Allewelt as Lieutenant- 
Colonel; Herman Michaels, Major, and Ami Marquisee, Adjutant. John 
A. Haberer was elected Captain of Co. B. 

1872. — Dr. Gregory Doyle was appointed Surgeon of the regiment. Co. 
I elected A. C. Jones Captain, and Co. K elected Daniel Gere First Lieu- 
tenant. On the 1st of December, Lieutenant-Colonel Allewelt was elected 
Colonel. Co. H elected Jacob Goettel First Lieutenant, vice Lindenmeyer 
resigned, and Philip Yaeckel was promoted to the Second Lieutenantcy. 

1873. — A Company which had been formed in Liverpool in 1871, received 
arms and equipments in February and became Co. G of the 51st, under the 
name of Cornue Guard. On the 26th of May, John C. Bennett was elected 
Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment; Rhesa Griffin, Adjutant; William 
Cooper, jr.. Quartermaster; Joseph Sniper, Commissary of Subsistence; 
Bernhard Pick, Chaplain. John Muldoon was elected Captain of Co. C ; 
Frank A. Becker, Captain of Co. H; Jacob Goettel, Captain of Co. E; Jo- 
seph Hecker, Captain of Co. A ; Daniel Gere, Captain of Co. L 

On the 24th of May, the armory was burned, with a loss of from $15,000 
to $20,000. The military records were destroyed. The rink, standing near 
the armory, was used temporarily by the regiment. Steps were soon taken 
to rebuild the armory and the fine structure as it now stands, was dedicated 
on the 20th of February, 1876. 

,874.— Co. I elected Rhesa Griffin Captain ; Welcome B. Randall was 
appointed Adjutant of the regiment, and James S. Goodrich was elected 
Lieutenant-Colonel. July 26th, Captain Griffin was elected Major of the 
regiment. Co E elected First Lieutenant Yaeckel as Captain. Co. I, H. 
W. Clarke, Captain. At the close of this year there was no Co. D in the 
regiment, and companies G, E and K were without Captains, while the en- 
tire strength of the regiment was only 410. 

1875. — On March 4th, Nicholas Grumbach was elected Colonel; G. W. 
Edwards was appointed Quartermaster. Co. B elected Jacob Winter, Cap- 
tain, ?'?Vf Captain Haberle; John A. Nichols was made Inspector of Rifle 
Practice. Co. E elected G. Schattle, Second Lieutenant. Co. A, Frederick 



OiiiciAL Chances in the Fifty-First Regiment. 333 



Miller, First Lieutenant, vice J. L. Miles. Co. K, John B. Moran, Second 
Lieutenant. Co. I elected W. A. Butler, First Lieutenant, vice Adolph 
Schwartz, resigned, and George W. Chatterton, Second Lieutenant. 

1876.— Co. H elected Fred Schug, Captain, vice Frank Becker, resigned. 
On April 19th, Major Griffin was elected Lieutenant-Colonel, JvVr Goodrich^ 
resigned. Co. E elected VVilliain Michaels, Captain. 

1877. — On February 8, J. W. Yale was elected Colonel of the regiment, 
vice Grumbach, resigned, and the Rev. H. R. Lockwood was made Chap- 
lain. At this time a movement was inaugurated towards a thorough reor- 
ganization of the 51st. Co. D was organized and named the Nichols 
Sharpshooters, with John A. Nichols as Captain. The following appoint- 
ments and elections were also made: Riley V. Miller, Quartermaster; 
Robert iM. Beecher, Captain, Co. H. G. W. Chase, First Lieutenant; E. 
O. Farrar, Second Lieutenant, Co. D. In Co. B, Thomas Kuhn was made 
First Lieutenant and Anthony Chryst, Second Lieutenant. D. H. Bruce 
was made Inspector of Rifle Practice. Co. G, Theodore M. Barber, Cap- 
tain, with Frank Raymond, First Lieutenant, and L. J. Elder, Second 
Lieutenant. Co. H, Robert M. Beecher, Captain ; George A. Cool, Second 
Lieutenant. At the close of this year there were 22 commissioned officers ; 
86 non-commissioned officers; 270 privates and 25 musicians in the regi- 
ment. 

1878. — On January 8, John A. Nichols was elected Major, and W. B- 
Randall, Captain of Co. D. J. F. Draime was appointed Adjutant. Co. B 
elected Anthony Chryst as Captain, vjcc Orson R. Patterson, resigned. Co. 
G. elected George B. Wood, Second Lieutenant, vice L. J. Elder, resigned. 
Co. I elected Nathan Schwartz Second Lieutenant. Co. G, Mark J. 
Blakeley, Second Lieutenant. In April a company was formed in Fayette- 
ville, with Henry J. Knapp as Captain; Thomas J. Timmons, First Lieu- 
tenant ; Robert VV. Eaton, Second Lieutenant. Co. G promoted Second 
Lieutenant Blakeley to First Lieutenant, vice G. W. Chase, resigned. Co. 
I, Washington Guard, changed its name to Price Cadets. Co. G promoted 
Second Lieutenant Wood to First Lieutenant and Simon Dolphin was elec- 
ted, t7Vf Wood. In September Louis Windholz was commissioned Com- 
missary of Subsistence. Charles Gould was elected Second Lieutenant of 
Co. H. In October Rhesa Grififin was appointed Adjutant, vice Draime, 
resigned. Co. B elected Albert R. Webb First Lieutenant, and L. A. 
Wilkinson Second Lieutenant. Co. I promoted George W. Chatterton to 
First Lieutenant, vice W. A. Butler, promoted to the brigade staff. 

In 1S65 a battalion of cavalry had been organized and attached to the 
24th brigade. The troops of this organization were consolidated in 1876, 
under command of Michael Auer. In 1882 Separate Troop C, cavalry, under 
Major Auer, was reorganized into a battery of artillery as Battery A. It is 



334 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



still in existence under the same command. In 1867 an artillery company 
was organized and also attached to the brigade, with Jacob Brand in com- 
mand. This was made up of two batteries, A and B, with Captains John 
Demong and Xavier Zett. Frederick Auer was made Adjutant. Battery 
H (known as Birchmeyer's Battery) was organized in June, 1870, and mus- 
tered out January, 1881. 

In 1879, John D. Gray was elected Lieutenant-Colonel, and H. W. 
Clarke, Major of the 51st. Co. I elected George F. Chatterton as Captain. 
John D. Gray resigned and soon afterward William Allen Butler was 
elected Lieutenant-Colonel; a little later Colonel J. W. Yale resigned and 
W. A. Butler took command. 

General J. Dean Hawley resigned the command of the 7th brigade, and 
Colonel D. H. Bruce was elected Brigadier-General to succeed him, and 
continued in command until 1884, when he resigned. The command em- 
braced ten counties. 

Interest in military matters was on the wane and on December 17, 1881, 
orders were issued for the disbandment of the 51st regiment, and on Janu- 
ary 23, 1882, the organization was formally mustered out. From the wreck 
of the 51st were formed as Separate Companies, the Fortieth, formerly Co. 
B, with Edson J. Stearns as Captain ; the Forty-first, Co. D, W. B. Ran- 
dall as Captain ; and the Forty-second, Co. G, with T. M. Barber as Captain. 
Captain Barber resigned from the National Guard May 28, 1888, after con- 
tinuous service in the Guard and at the front in the late war since 1851. 

On February 15, 1883, the Forty-second Separate Company was dis- 
banded, at expiration of term of service. At the present time the force at 
the armory comprises the other two Separate Companies, mentioned above, 
and a Battery of Artillery, Major Michael Auer in command. 



INDEPENDENT MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 

The city has had, besides the National Guard, several military organiza- 
tions of an independent character— the Syracuse Cadets. Greenway Guard, 
the Central City Veterans, and the Sumner Corps. The f^rst two have 
always remained independent. The Sumner Coprs at the reorganization of 
the 5 1st regiment, entered the regiment with the understanding that they be 
privileged to retain their independent existence in the National Guard. 

The Syk.\clse Cadets.— In 1843, at the time of the organization of 
the well known Citizen's Corps, there existed a division in local military 



Independent Militakv Organizations. 335 



sentiment and another company was organized and named the Syracuse 
Cadets. They made their first parade in November, 1S43, when they 
escorted the speal<er on Thanksgiving Day to the First Methodist church 
where services were held. The officers were Timothy Teall, Captain ; W. 
B. Olmsted, First Lieutenant ; George Reisinger, Second Lieutenant ; G. 
V. Luce, Sergeant. 

This company had the honor of being called out to suppress the riot in 
Cook's Coffee House, which is described on an earlier page of this work. 

Greenwav Guard. — In i,S68, during the presidential campaign, the 
employees in the wood-working establishment of Sanford & Bon organ- 
ized a social club from which, in the spring of 1869, was organized the 
Independent Rifle Company, which in July of that year was named 
the Price Independent Rifle Company; in March 1870, the Indepen- 
dent Zouaves; and on August 20, 1870, the Greenway Guard, which name 
the company still bears. The first commanding officers were Albert Bur- 
gess, Captain ; Andrew Mahl, First Lieutenant ; Geo. Neff, Second Lieu- 
tenant. From that time to the present the commanding officers have 
been as follows: Andrew Mahl, Herman Poole, James Jordan, Martin 
L. Yann, Jacob Glaster, John P. Klotz, and Fred Sembach, the latter now 
in command. This company have recently established themselves in a new 
armory and are in a prosperous condition. 

Central City Veterans. — This organization was originally formed 
of Grand Army men from Lilly Post, and was organized in 1873 by General 
Gu.stavus Sniper; but the company was not equipped until 1S76. They 
were, however, under instruction from the date of the organization. The 
first officers were: Gustavus Sniper, Commander; Thomas Ryan, I'irst 
Vice-Commander; Henry Lenz, Second Vice-Commander; Nicholas 
Grumbach, Adjutant ; Joseph Stadler, Color-Bearer ; Thomas baile, Drum 
Major. 

The aim of the organization, composed, as it is, of veterans of the war, 
is " to keep the memory of the old drill and discipline of days gone by." 
General Sniper still commands the company, which position he has held 
from the first. The uniform is the old Continental. 

The Sumner Corps. — The Sumner Corps, which received its name in 
honor of the late General Sumner, was organized on the 7th of August, 
1871, with Theodore M. Barber as Captain; George W. Chase, First Lieu- 
tenant ; Charles J. Jefferey, Second Lieutenant; Samuel Duncan, Third 
Lieutenant. It was an outgrowth of the famous old Citizens' Corps, or- 
ganized in 1843. This company joined the 51st regiment on the i6th of 
October, 1877, as company G, and at the disbanding i,f the regiment was re- 
tained as the 42d Separate Comp.my, where it remained until the expira- 
tion of the term of service, when it was mustered out. The civil organiza- 



336 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



tion of the company is, however, still in existence, retaining the name and 
having an armory of their own. The Corps was conspicuous during its 
earlier existence by the brilliancy of its entertainments, and has always 
been composed of excellent material. T. M. Barber has been the only 
Captain of the organization. 



CHAPTER XXn. 
THE GERMAN ELEMENT IX SYRACUSE. 

German Topulation in Cities— Their Chief Characteristics— Their Clannishness— Proportion 
of Germans in Syracuse— Where they Came From— The first Germans of Syracuse — Where they 
Settled— The Beginning of Larger Immigration— Prominent German Settlers and Their Occupa- 
tions — The German Press — German Medical and Other Societies. 

IT is a generally acknowledged fact that of the various nationalities of 
immigrants to this country, none surpass the Germans in all of the 
essential qualities of good citizenship. The principal characteristics of the 
German immigrants which have conspired to render them welcome in Amer- 
ica, are their industry, frugality, honesty, and sobriety. These qualities are 
conspicuous in the race from the Fatherland, and have been cultivated and 
broadened under the benign influence of our customs and institutions. The 
Germans are a race of workers; nearly all of them are economical, and a 
large majority eventually own homes and become independent and useful 
citizens. They adapt themselves readily to the laws and customs of their 
adopted country and gain intelligent ideas of its public and private institu- 
tions. In politics, while they have become a power that exert a broad and 
constantly extending influence, they seldom use that power to the serious 
detriment of any community. In inost large cities, especially in the eastern, 
northern and middle parts of the country, the Germans constitute from one- 
quarter to one-half the population and seldom, as a class, fall below the 
average in intelligence and wealth. These facts apply to Syracuse, in com- 
mon with all the large cities and villages along the Mohawk valley and the 
line of the New York Central railroad. At the present time, out of a pop- 
ulation of nearly 90,000 in Syracuse, it is probable that at least 2S,ooo are 
German, of whom about 20,000 were born in this country. 

As in all large cities of this country, the Germans of Syracuse are clan- 
nish, residing chiefly in the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh and Ninth 
wards. Fully 99 per cent, of the population of the Second ward (between 



.The First German Settlers. 337 



lo.oooand ii,ooo)isof German origin. With only two e.xceptions'since 
1852, viz : 1853 and 1858, this ward has elected a German alderman, Har- 
mon Ackerman having been elected in the former year ;; he was the first 
Gorman Aldermm in the city. Amos L. Mason, (1877), was the only Su- 
pervisor not a German elected from this ward since 1854. In the Fourth 
ward, the ofTRces of Alderman and Supervisor have been held alternately 
by a German since 1865, with only one exception, in 1S74, when the Re- 
publican candidate for Alderman, a German, was defeated. 

What is true of the earlier German settlers elsewhere in this country, is 
true in Syracuse — they came largely from Alsace, then a jjart of France, 
and from southern Germany, namely : Wurtemberg, Bavaria, Baden, and 
Hesse-Darmstadt. This can be accounted for by the fact that those sec- 
tions were devastated by the Napoleonic and other wars, and afterwards 
were ruled despotically and with extravagance ; while Prussia and northern 
Germany, also under despotic rule, were more humane and liberal and the 
peasants were made to feel a strong confidence in the stability of their gov- 
ernment and contentment with their position. The arrivals from northern 
Germany as a rule came later. 

The first German settlers within the bounds of what is now the city of 
Syracuse, were John Jacob Mang, Christian Usenbents, and Henry Philip 
Bentz, who together settled in the village of Salinain the year 1804. They 
originally located in Baltimore, Md., and came from that part of the king- 
dom of Wurtemberg called "Swabia ;" Mang came about 1797 and Usenbents 
and Bentz in the year 1800. Mang was a physician in Wurtemberg, but 
never practiced medicine as a profession after he settled in Salina, although 
he frequently prescribed for his countrymen who came' later. For some 
irregularities he fled from his native country and with his daughter, Eva 
Regina, then eight years of age, emigrated to America and settled at Balti- 
more. He was followed three years later by his wife, who was accompanied 
by her niece, Maria Agnes Bentz, and her nephew, Henry Philip Bentz, then 
aged sixteen years. While on the voyage Miss Bentz_ became acquainted 
with Christian Usenbents, a fellow-passenger, also from Wurtemberg. 
Their acquaintance resulted in marriage in Baltimore shortly after their ar- 
rival. Mang, with the others mentioned, removed from Baltimore to Con- 
stantia, Oswego county, where, hearing of the salt discoveries in this region, 
Mang made a caldron kettle, the first in this section, as claimed by Chris- 
tian Usenbents, a son of the pioneer, who is still living in the city at the age 
of eighty-two years. This statement is disputed by earlier writers. There 
was then only a foot-path through the vast forest between Salina and Con- 
stantia, and the three men, Mang, Usenbents, and Bentz, with an Indian 
guide, carried the heavy kettle on their shoulders, arriving in Salina in the 
summer of 1804, their wives following a few months later. 

43 



338 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Mang and Usenbents at once began the manufacture of salt, Mang as 
the scientist and experimenter, and Usenbentz as the business man. This 
resulted in Usenbentz becoming an extensive salt manufacturer, owning 
four blocks in 1812; while Mang, after a few years, gave up the business 
and settled on sixty acres of land lying in the swamp between the village 
of Salina and Greenpoint. Of these lands, to wit : " Lots Nos. 4, 12, 13, 
and 22 of the fifteen acres marsh lots in the Onondaga Salt Springs Reser- 
vation," he procured in January, 1825, patents of DeWitt Clinton, then 
Governor of this State. On the dry portion of these lands he planted a 
fruit garden and surrounded it by a high, tight board fence, to prevent the 
depredations of our forefathers, who were then boys. This garden, which 
Mang jealously guarded, was situated on the present site of E. E. Chap- 
man's lumber yard at the foot of Carbon street. Mang's house stood on 
North Salina street just west of Wolf street, and there he made wine, cider 
and bitters, which he sold to his neighbors. The Germans, who arrived in 
large numbers between 1830 and 1840, made his place their rendezvous, 
usually gathering there on Sundays and holidays to discuss the topics of the 
day. A German was always welcomed at Mang's place, regardless of his 
money, and his counsel was eagerly sought by them. He died in this city 
December 16, 1842, aged eighty-four years. His wife died two years earlier. 
Of his two children, Eva Regina became the wife of Asahel Alvord, uncle 
of ex-Lieutenant-Governor Thomas G. Alvord ; and Christiana F., the wife 
of Thomas Wheeler. Mang was eccentric, of irritable temperament and a 
great lover of books. He left at his death a large library of valuable works, 
mainly medical and scientific, some of which are still in existence in this 
city. It is said of him that while the Erie canal was being dug, the engi- 
neers met great difficulties in draining some of the swamps along its course. 
While discussing the matter one evening at the old Syracuse House, in 
presence of the proprietor, Mang was sent for and came, bringing an old 
German scientific work, and demonstrated the manner in which the work 
could be readily done. His plan was tried and proved successful. One of 
the engineers secretly undertook to procure a patent on the process, which 
came to Mang's knowledge and was prevented. 

Of Usenbents little is now known by the Germans. He died January 12, 
1832, aged sixty-five years. He was a successful salt manufacturer and was 
greatly respected in the then growing community. His son, Christian 
Usenbents, born November 13, 1808, was the first child born of German 
parents in what is now Syracuse. He now resides at No. 1306 Park street, 
with his daughter Belle, who is a teacher in Salina school. Mr. Usenbents 
is also the oldest native-born Syracusan known to be alive at this time. 

Henry P. Hentz was engaged with his brother-in-law in the salt business 
until 18 13, when he enlisted in the American army and served through the 



German Immigration to America. 339 

last war with Great Britain ; he then returned to Salina and until his death 
lived with the Usenbents's. He died September ii,i86S, aged 84 years. 
He never married. Usenbentz and Bentz were both naturalized in this 
county on the 26th day of May, 1814, while there is no record of Mang's 
citizenship. No German was naturalized in this county before that date. 

German immigration to this country, as a rule, did not begin until about 
the year 1821, when only 2,200 came, and until 1830 there was only one 
season when it amounted to 15,000. In 1832 it arose to 24,000; in 1837 to 
33,000, but fell in 1843 to 23,000. In 1844, Germany sent out in round 
numbers, 44,000 emigrants to this country ; in 1845,67,000; in 1848-49, the 
years of the revolution, from 80,000 to 90,000, and in 1S50, something more 
than 113,000. It is estimated that up to the last named year, these immi- 
grants brought to our shores capital to the value of $80,000,000. 

The average increase of German settlers in this section can be estimated 
by the above figures. Of those who came before 1821, the majority settled 
in Manlius and other parts of the county. Of these there are the Bush's, 
who settled at Pompey either during or just after the Revolutionary war; 
while at Manlius village John A. Shaeffer kept an inn as early as 1792. Of 
the other German settlers in Manlius, Jacob, John, and Rudolph Houser, 
Adam and Christian Real settled during the first decade of the present cen- 
tury ; the Smiths, Fesenmeyers, Uths, Ebs, Suiters, Schneider, Herbeners, 
Schepps, Buchers, Hillers, Stemmers, and Heifers — all familiar names in 
that town to the present day — settled during the ne.xt two decades. Cicero, 
Salina, and Otisco also had their share of early German settlers. 

While a few came to Salina and vicinity after the \'ear 1S04, none re- 
mained until the year 1826, when John Graff, the father of the late John 
Graff, came with his family from Alsace. He remained about four )-ears 
and then remo\ed to Lancaster, I'lrie county. Young John Graff, who was 
only four years of age when his father came here, went with the family, but 
returned to Syracuse in 1834, where he resided until his death, which oc- 
curred about five years ago. He held several public offices of trust, includ- 
ing that of Alderman of the Second ward. His son, John Graff, is now an 
honored resident of that ward. In 1828, Nicholas Grumbach, father 
of Col. Nicholas Grumbach, came from Alsace. Colonel Grumbach has 
won an honorable military record, some account of which is given in the 
preceding chapter. 

Mention must also be made of Jacob Hausenfrats, who had charge of and 
tilled a portion of the lands of the "Syracuse Company." Although born 
in New York city, he moved with his father, Peter Hausenfrats, an Alsa- 
tian, to South Onondaga about 1785, and shortly after the forma- 
tion of the Syracuse Companj', moved to Syracuse and occupied a farm 
house which stood near the center of the block in rear of the present Price 



340 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

homestead, corner of South Salina and Jefferson streets. In 1829, Joseph 
Drumma, who for many years (up to the abolition of the office), was 
Overseer of the Poor in and for the First ward, together with Martin 
Bahrle, both from Alsace, settled in Salina. Frederick Schneider, who 
up to the time of his death, which occurred a few years since, was univer- 
sally known as" Schneider " Schneider, came from Wurtemberg in 1829 and 
resided here until his death. John M. Werner came from Baden during 
the same year. Blasi Schemel, also from Baden, came in 1831. During 
the same year. Christian Rupprecht, Joseph Flick, and George Ruscher 
and families, all from Alsace, settled here. Henry Herberner, a Prussian, 
also came about this year and being a music teacher, for many years fur- 
nished music for the German sociables and gatherings. 

In 1833, a colony, originally from Hesse- Darmstadt, came from Cape 
Vincent, Jefferson county, and settled here. Among the number were 
Ernst Hoecher, Frederick Schnauber, John Miller, and George Lupp and 
their families. Mr. Hoecher's name was Anglicized by his neighbors to 
"Hier;" by which name his descendants were called and always known. 
His eldest son, George P. Hier, was Mayor of this city in 1875 — the first 
German elected to that ofifice. His other son, John P. Hier, is the popular 
and extensive cigar manufacturer of North Salina street. From 1833, 
Germans settled so rapidly, by reason of the development of the salt 
works, that by 1840 there were somewhat over one thousand of them here; 
thus it will be seen that it is not possible to name them all. Of these, 
we can only name such as have descendants living in the city, among whom 
were the following Alsatians: Nicholas Shafer, Gabriel Blumer, Capt. Jacob 
Pfohl, John Henesberger, John Bauer, John Buch, Jacob Klein, Lorenz 
Becker, Theobald Schnevelin, Caspar Schneider, Theobald Kieffer. John 
Briggs, George Salladin, I'hilip G. Kuester, Joseph Schneider, Philip Daus- 
man, Christian Putsch, Andrew Lienhardt, George and Jacob Meier, Ignatz 
Fiesinger, and Philip Rapp ; the following Bavarians: John Oertel, Anton 
Zimmcr, Philip Schaefer, William Ruebbel, Peter Miller, Fred. Hess, Peter 
Fisselbrandt, George Koening ; the following Prussians: Michael Meizer, 
Joseph Afferdick, Nicholas .Sharrer, John Schwareen, Jacob Weiland ; the 
following from Baden ; Francis Bios, Andrew Bodemer, George Rein- 
schmidt, Andrew Fiesenmeyer, (1836), Charles Webber, Joseph Hakelin, 
Charles and Jacob Meebold, Jacob Miller; and the following from other 
parts of Germany : Adam Listman, Ludwig Pollman, Henry Lammert, Fran- 
cis Middendorf, Louis and John Yehling, Philip Zahn, Frederick Strange- 
man, John and George Koehnlein, Jacob Heagle, John Kagi and John J. 
Lucksinger, the latter two being German Swis.s. All of the foregoing set- 
tled here prior to 1 838 and all of their names are still well known and frequent- 
ly spoken in our midst, the descendants of a majority of them being promi- 
nent citizens of our present city; and while most of the foregoing ances- 



The S()-Cali,kd "Patriot" War. 341 

tors were salt workers and day laborers and had but little wealth, they con- 
tributed in no small degree to the prosperity, wealth and growth of Syracuse. 
Not a few of their descendants have held public offices of great trust. 

Among the thirty-five persons from this count)-, who joined the so-called 
" Patriots," in their final efforts to invade and free Canada, in the fall of 
1838, nine were Germans who resided here, the leader, Cien. S. VonSchultz 
being one of them. As is well known, this last expedition, which com- 
prised about two hundred and fifty men, like all the preceding ones, was 
based on the principle of a combined movement, but as not a man joined 
them when thej- crossed the St. Lawrence River, they were soon overpow- 
ered and captured. VonSchultz, being the leader, was the first tried by 
court-martial and executed at Kingston, Canada, December 8, 1838. Mar- 
tin Woodruff and Chris. Buckley, two subordinate of^cers, were also tried 
and executed, the former December 19, 1838; the latter January 4, 1839. 
Among the remaining eight who were executed at the time was Leman 
Leech, of Liverpool, who was executed February 11, 1839. VonSchultz 
was well known in this vicinity, where he resided for two years prior to the 
above exploit, and was respected and welcomed alike by not only the Ger- 
mans, of whom he was considered one, but the other nationalities. He was 
highly educated and about forty years of age, and at the time of starting 
out on his dangerous expedition was engaged to be married to a F"irst ward 
lady. He displayed great bravery at the battle of the "Windmill," and re- 
fused to leave his men when a chance for escape was offered him. At his 
trial he was defended by the Right Hon. Sir. John A. Macdonald, the pres- 
ent premier of Canada. Although considered a German, VonSchultz was 
a Swede by descent, one of his paternal ancestors having been Governor 
of Finland while that grand duchj- was a part of Sweden ; on his mother's 
side, he was descended from Vice-Admiral Gripenburg, of the Swedish 
navy. L'pon Finland being conquered by Russia, the \^on Schultz family 
moved to Cracow. General \'on Schultz's father was killed on the field of 
battle while fighting for the cause of Poland, as Major of a Cracow regi- 
ment, and his son was selected by the corps on the field as his father's suc- 
cessor. After various adventures in Europe, he found his way to America 
and went first to Virginia, where he took out a patent for the preparation 
of salt, and it was this patent which brought him to Salina, where he en- 
gaged in the salt business. 

Some of the Onondaga county bo}-s, including three or four Salina 
Germans, were sent into exile to Van Dieman's land, where they were re- 
leased under the general amnesty act of 1H49. The others, beincr 
youths under age, were pardoned by the Canadian authorities and permitted 
to return home after remaining in the Kingston prison about four months. 

Although the earlier German settlers left the Fatherland to avoid a mil- 
itary despotism, they were the first to discern the necessity of a well-regu- 



342 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

lated militia in Syracuse. On Washington's birthday, February 22d, 1843, 
they organized the first miHtary company in this city, under the name of 
the Syracuse LaFayette Grenadier Guard. John Graff, who was elected 
one of the sergeants of the companj', was the originator. Jacob Pfohl was 
elected Captain ; Adam Listman, First Lieutenant ; Daniel Gilcher, Second 
Lieutenant, and Peter Ohneth, Color-Bearer. The Guard was beautifully 
uniformed and equipped in 1844. The dark blue uniforms, which were 
made by Ludwig Pollman, father of William Pollman, was the same as 
worn by the French Grenadiers, consisting of a dress coat and trousers 
with red trimmings. The head covering was a tall bear skin cap, orna- 
mented with a silver grenade on a brass shield, with white cord draped 
about the front, caught up at the sides and drooping gracefully under the 
chin, and above all this a white feather with a red top. Adam Listman 
became Captain during the latter part of the company's existence under the 
foregoing name. The Grenadiers reckoned among their guests many of the 
great men of the times and are chronicled in golden letters in the military 
history of New York State. They were known during the latter years of 
their e.xistence as Co. B, 51st regiment. Although they were organized in 
February, 1843, they were not mustered into the State service until some- 
time in October of that year, in which regard they were preceded by the 
Syracuse Citizens' Corps, who, although organized later, were mustered in 
first. The Germans also organized the first artillery company of Syracuse, 
the Washington Riflemen, in 1849, with Lorenzo Roessel as commander, 
and George Zimmerman, First Lieutenant, and Jacob Schmeer, Second 
Lieutenant. Aside from these, several of the companies of the 51st regi- 
ment were composed of Germans, notably the Comstock Guard, (Co. H) 
of which Peter Knaul was Captain ; Monroe Cadets, (Co. E) of which 
Gustavus Sniper and Henry C. Allewelt, both , late Colonels of the regi- 
ment were Captains, and the Hawley Guards, (Co. H) of which John 
Listman was Captain. Other but independent companies were the Hier 
Light Guard, who were in existence about the years 1870-71, and 
the Greenway Guard, both of which were composed chiefly of young 
Germans. The last named company was organized in 1S67, under 
the name of the Independent Zouaves, which was changed in 1869 to 
the Price Rifles, and in 1S70 to the present name. The following 
have been Captains of the Guard : Andrew Mahl, Herman Pool, Charles 
W. Jordan, Martin Vann, Jacob Galster, and John P. Klotz. The company 
is and always has been a credit to the city. Frederick Sembach, Captain ; 
J. George Warner, First Lieutenant; Frederick W. Woese, Second Lieu- 
tenant, are the officers at the present time. In this connection it will not 
be out of place to mention the old volunteer fire department of Syracuse ; 
it stood, perhaps, second to none in the State. The companies which were 



German Musical Societies. 343 

composed of Germans were old No. 3 and No. 4. Peter Conrad and Peter 
Ohneth were the respective Captains of these companies, both of which 
were organized in about 1850. Philip Eckel, late Chief of the Department, 
who was killed in 1886, was First Assistant of No. 4 at the time of its or- 
ganization. No. 3's engine house was situated on West Willow street, on 
the east side of the alley in rear of the old County Clerk's office, and No. 
4's house was located at the present No. 2's house on Division street. A 
friendly rivalry existed between these two companies, resulting in both 
being neatly uniformed and ecpiipped, and also well disciplined. Both 
companies disbanded on the formation of the present fire department. 

At the time of Louis Kossuth's visit to this city, May 31, 1852, the Ger- 
man population numbered about 6,000, among whom were several revolu- 
tionary exiles of 1848. They made preparations for the great Hungarian's 
entertainment ; but it seems their efforts were not duly appreciated by the 
orator, which made him unpopular with the Germans of Syracuse. A sere- 
nade was tendered him at his hotel in the evening, by Samsel's brass band 
accompanied by a large concourse of citizens, who were disappointed by 
Kossuth's refusal to appear, he having retired for the night. Counselor D. D. 
Hillis addressed the serenaders instead. The next morning the Germans 
assembled at the city hall, in pursuance to an announcement, but Kossuth 
again disappointed them by not appearing. 

The Germans here, as elsewhere, have contributed largely to sustain the 
reputation of the German nation as a musical, fraternal and social people. 
As early as 1848, a band was formed among them, known as the, " German 
Brass Band." Jacob Samsel was conductor and leader. The following 
were the members : Daniel Samsel, Philip Gross, Peter Samsel, William 
Gehm, Caspar Miller, Francis Miller, M. Rauch, William Blum, John Bier- 
hardt and Peter Koehler. The band existed for many years, being known 
later on, as Samsel's brass band. In 1853, Miller's brass band was 
organized with Casper Miller leader and conductor and the following mem- 
bers : Philip Miller, Max Schott, Francis Baumer, Joseph Watley, Mathew 
Rauch, Philip Maurer, and J. Pope. Since then, numerous bands have 
been organized, some of which are still in existence, chief among which is 
Maurer's band. In 1851 a German Musical Institute was organized, with 
George Saul as leader. Among the members were Anthony Drcscher, 
Charles Trauman. Christoph Becker, Philip Miller, John Winter, and Cas- 
par Miller. They met Tuesdays and Saturdays at rooms in the Noxon 
block on North Salina street. 

At present there are, in addition to the regularly organized singing so- 
cieties, numberless quartettes and the like, which cannot properly be classed 
as societies. The first singing society, proper, in Syracuse was the old S;un- 
gerbund, which was organized by the late George Saul as Director, in 1852, 



344 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

and met at Alpeter's hall, which stood on the east side of North Salina 
street near its intersection with Prospect avenue. The Siungerbund had 
about twenty membsrs and was the outgrowth of a quartette which con- 
sisted of Max Schott, Lorenz and John Herkomer, and Charles Schaefer. 
The Herkomers were elder brothers of the famous London artist, Hubert 
Herkomer, who at that time was four years of age and lived with his broth- 
ers in Syracuse. Of the members of the society, Max Schott, Charles 
Schaefer, Henry Olrich, and Jacob Miller are still living here. William K. 
Hensler and E. Heinrich were subsequent Directors. The society existed 
only two years. A few months after the Sa;ngerbund was organized, a 
society called the Miunnerchor came into existence and met in the third 
story of the Warner building, just north of the old County Clerk's office. 
Christian Freeoff and August Becker were the organizers ; the society con- 
sisted of about fifteen members, with Mr. Becker as Director. " After 
being in existence about one year," Mr. Freeoff says, " we were convinced 
that Becker could not direct nor could we sing, and so we stopped." 
On the iith day of October, 1S55, the " Gesangverein Syracuse Lieder- 
kranz," was organized with thirteen members at the old " National Hotel," 
of which Benedict Haberle was then the proprietor. Carl Eckerman, 
Charles Steingrebe, Ma.x Schott, John Ziegler and Jacob Miller, now living, 
were among the organizers — Ziegler being the first president. For over 
thirty-five years this society has prospered, and to-day it stands in the front 
rank of singing societies in this country. The Liederkranz has been a wel- 
come guest at the leading Saengerfcsts of the country, especially at the 
great Baltimore fest in 1889. Its membership, which includes our leading 
Germans, at present numbers about one hundred and fifty. The Verein at 
present meets at their hall on the corner of Lodi and Butternut streets. 
The following have served as directors of this society: Benedict Haberle, 
Francis Baumer, Anton Will, Theodore Dissel, Mr. Gross, Alex. Fleisch- 
man. Max Schott, Jacob Miller, Paul Thouret, Eugene Neuberger, and the 
present director. Prof. Henri Bitter. The society was incorporated 
April 20, 1889, theretofore e.xisting merely as an association. The present 
officers are: President, Jacob Gilcher : Vice-President, William Welter; 
Secretary, John W. Fries; Treasurer, John Juhl; Librarian, Julius Gilcher. 
In 1857 the "Concordia" was organized, with about eight members. 
For many years this gesangverein was the rival of the Liederkranz for pop- 
ular favor. It meets at present at No. 713 North Salina street and num- 
bers about fifty members, both active and passive. William P. Hensler 
was the first Director and Prof. Geo. Braun is the present. Of late the 
society has not sung in public. In 1873. the Fifth ward S;ungerbund was 
organized with Prof. Heinrich Regener, Director. It now numbers about 
twenty-five members and meets in rooms in the rear of the building on the 



Fraternity among the Germans. 345 



south west corner of Gifford and Oswego streets. Prof. George Braun is 
tlie present Director. In June 18S2, members of the order of Harugari, 
organized the Harugari Liedertafel. Only members of the foregoing order 
are eligible. It numbers about fifty members both active and passive, and 
meets at the Harugari rooms, on the corner of Ash and McBride streets. 
Prof. Henri Bitter is the Director. On the 14th of February, 1889, the 
Arbeiter Liedertafel was organized and now numbers about forty members. 
It meets in the Kaupp building on North Salina street near Catawba. 
Prof. Henri Bitter is the Director. In 1877, the M;ennerchor was organized, 
chiefly by young men who seceded from St. John's Lutheran church in that 
year. It had about twenty members and existed about three years. Prof. 
Blaich was the Director. 

The fraternal and social feeling of the Germans of Syracuse is evi- 
denced by the numerous lodges, vereins, and orders existing among them. 
It is needless to speak of the influence and good derived from them. Fore- 
most among them stands the distinctively German Order of Harugari. 
The constitution of this Order, aside from the sick and death benefit, 
directs the e.xclusive use of the German language in its proceedings and 
makes it a duty to do everything possible for the preservation of the lan- 
guage in other ways. About the year 1850, Syracuse Lodge No. 30 was 
organized and met Monday evenings at their hall in the Ackerman block. 
This lodge existed until some time in 1857, when most of its members 
joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and organized LaFayette 
Lodge No. 409. There were no Harugari lodges in Syracuse from that 
time until November 17, 1867, when Central City Lodge No. 154 was or- 
ganized. The first officers of this lodge were : O. B., John A. Eckel ; U. 
B., Martin Scheuerman ; Secretary, John Hessler; Treasurer, Michael 
Heitz ; Financial Secretary, Jacob Samsel. This lodge meets at the Haru- 
gari rooms, corner of Ash and McBride streets. The Deutsche Wacht 
Lodge No. 283 was organized July 26, 1872. The first officers were : O. B., 
Jacob Stahl; U. B., Reinhard Mueller; Secretary, Alex, von Landberg ; 
Treasurer, David Keck ; Financial Secretary, George C. Young. This 
lodge justly feels proud of the recognition it has received at the hands of 
both the Grand and Supreme Lodges. Although comparatively a young 
lodge in the Order, two of its members have attained high honors. Alex, 
von Landberg, after being Gross-Barde of the State or Grand Lodge, 
was twice (1886, 1887) unanimously chosen to that office in the National or 
Supreme Lodge of the United States. Adam Metzer, in 1888, was Gross- 
Barde of the Grand Lodge. Mr. von Landberg, who is the present 
United States Internal Revenue Collector for this district, is now Supreme 
Secretary of the Order. The Freie Brueder Lodge No. 458 was organized 
May 19, 1882, with following officers: O. B., Jacob Levi; U. B., Louis 
44 



346 Memorial History ok Syracuse. 

Kraft ; Secretary, August Koehler ; Treasurer, Gito Killey. The lodge 
meets at their rooms on North Salina street, just north of Division street. 
Humboldt Lodge No. 537 was organized in 1886 with the following ofificers : 
O. B., G. Hauck; U. B., George Roeschlaub ; Secretary, Fred Holzwarth ; 
Treasurer, K. Krause ; Financial Secretary, W Krause. They meet at No. 
617 South West street. 

The Germans of Syracuse are also well represented in the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. The first German lodge of this Order organized in 
Syracuse was Schiller Lodge No. 408, instituted September 29, 1849. It 
met Monday evenings in Odd Fellows' Hall, in the Washington Block, on 
South Salina street, with the following as its first officers: N. G., Isaac 
Lowenthal ; V. G., Gabriel Klemmer; Secretary, Peter Fringaut ; Record- 
ing Secretary, Marcus Goldstein. In 1867, the name of this lodge was 
changed and merged into Lessen Lodge No. 116, which now meets at Odd 
Fellows' hall on Market street on Monday evenings. The second German 
lodge, the LaFayette Lodge No. 489, was instituted in 1857, mostly by 
members of the old Syracuse Lodge No. 30, D. O. H. The following were 
the first officers: N. G., Harmon Ackerman ; V. G., Benedict Haberle ; 
Secretary, Jacob Wagner; Treasurer, Henry Tausend ; Recording Secre- 
tary, Carl Hessler. In 1866, this lodge was merged into and became Lin- 
coln Lodge No. 180. This lodge is not only a credit to itself but to the 
Order in general. It is the only lodge of the Order in Syracuse owning its 
own hall — a beautiful brick structure on the southwest corner of Ash and 
Townsend streets; it was erected in 1887 at a cost, including lot, of about 
$12,000. Among the Knights of Pythias, Onondaga Lodge No. 190, is 
German and uses the German ritual. The following lodges and councils 
among the several other Orders are German : Germania Council, No. 49, 
of the Order of United Friends ; Harmonia Lodge No. 23, of the Ameri- 
can Protestant Association ; Syracuse Council No. 94, Order of Chosen 
Friends ; Order of Foresters No. 7387 ; Salt City Lodge No. 239, Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. Although there is no distinctively German 
lodge of Free Masons in Syracuse, this nationality is well represented in 
both Syracuse Lodge No. 501 and Salt Springs Lodge No. 520. They are 
also strong in the various other Orders. 

The German workingmen are particularly conspicuous by their different 
Aid and Benefit societies. As early as May 21, 1859, ^ society was formed 
among them, whose object was " to assist its members in sickness, etc.," 
called the Germania Mechanics' Association (Deutscher Handwerker Ver- 
ein.) This society met in rooms, corner of Ash and North Salina streets. 
The Association had a large membership and its beneficent influence was 
felt in many a poor German mechanic's home. One of the articles of its 
original constitution provided that upon the death of one of its members, 
his widow should be entitled to receive four dollars monthly during widow- 



The Syracuse Turn Verein. 347 



hood. This provision was amended in 1S73, so as to entitle the widows to 
one dollar from each member of the society and no more. At the time of the 
adoption of the amendment, the verein had four or five widow pensioners 
on its rolls, who were dissatisfied with the change and brought suit. After 
long and expensive litigation, which was carried into the appellate courts, 
the association was bankrupted and dissolved ; not, however, without pay- 
ing its widows in full. The case is reported in 4 Hun, 339. William 
C. Ruger, the present Chief Justice of this State was the verein's lawyer. 
The courts in this case having held that the new article was not retroactive 
and that the widows were entitled to receive the monthly allowances pro- 
vided for by the original articles, most, if not all, of the different working- 
men societies formed since have framed their constitutions accordingly. 
Among the more prominent societies of this kind existing at the pre.sent 
may be named the Arbeiter Kranken-Unterstuct/.ungs Verein ; Deutsche 
Lebensversicherungs Verein; Bayern Verein; Columbia Kranken-Un- 
terstuetzungs Verein ; Germania Huelfs-Verein ; Handwerker Verein ; 
Syracuse Germania \'erein. To these may be added several of the Trade 
Unions.and also the Schuetzen Verein, (Syracuse German Rifle Club.) This 
latter verein was organized sometime in 1869, with Dr. Charles Koch, Pres- 
ident ; John L. Roehner, Vice-President ; Gustav Herzog, Captain. In ad- 
dition to the above, it may be added that each of the German churches, 
both Protestant and Catholic, have benevolent and aid societies connected 
with them, among both men and women, founded on the same principles 
as the above societies. 

In mentioning the above institutions of this city, the Syracuse Social 
Turn \'erein cannot be overlooked. Its beautiful hall on North Salina 
street, just north of Ash street, while it is an ornament to that part of the 
city, at the same time is a monument to the libert\--loving sons of the revo- 
lution of 1848. Not a few of those brave souls, who were compelled to 
leave the Fatherland during those stormy years, found their way to Syra- 
cuse. Of these the founders of the Turn Verein were a part, its first mem- 
bers and organizers being: Henry Wanderer, Xanver Rauscher, P. Lich- 
tenberg. M. Lichtenberg. Peter I^aumgras, Gabriel Traub, J. Hoeffler, \^al. 
Metzger, Carl Metzger, G. Becker, Conrad Becker, Christoph Becker, 
R. Fix, J. Miller, J. Krug and J. Elsasser. These men met and organized 
in the upper story of the Eagle Hotel (now Amos Hotel) then kept by 
Jacob Amos, May 15, 1854. They chose "Bahn Frei!" for their motto, and 
embodied in their constitution the "perpetuation of the German language," 
and adopted the German system of gymnastics as founded by Prof. Jahn, 
for the training of the members and their children Peter Baumgras was 
the first President. The turn or gymnastic class met at the house of Chris- 
topher Becker on Plumb street, near the Onondaga creek, the business 
meetings being held at the place of organization, in the spring of 1S55, 



348 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

the society moved into the Ackerman Hall on North Salina street, (over 
the present Union office), the gymnastic exercises being conducted in a 
building on the lot in the rear thereof. It was in this hall that the first 
German theatre was opened in Syracuse. In March, 1857, a lease for five 
years was procured of Dr. Christopher Maas, of his hall in the next block 
north, and into this the Turners moved, but not to remain long, for in 
December, 1858, Dr. Maas locked the doors of the hall and refused them 
admission, which resulted in long and costly litigation, in which the verein 
was victorious, Frank Hiscock, at present United States Senator, acting as 
their lawyer. This was one of the first cases in which Mr. Hiscock was 
retained in this city and to it much of his future popularity and success is 
due. The law suit was not, however, without disastrous consequences to 
the verein, its membership falling from over one hundred to sixteen. After 
holding their meetings and exercises at the Center House, then conducted 
by Benedict Haberle and located where the Turn Hall now stands, for 
about one year. Christian Freeoff donated to them a lot on Pond street, 
near Spring, on which they built a one-story wooden structure. About 
this time, March 14, 1862, they were duly incorporated, with the following 
directors : Christian Freeoff, Henry Genzel, Jacob Haberle, and Valentine 
Schilly. It was also about this time that the Turn Verein made its proud- 
est record ; the members exhibiting their devotion to their country, and 
the patriotism inculcated by their predecessors, the " Forty-eighters." Of 
a membership of twenty-eight, sixteen joined the 20th N. Y. volunteers, or 
Turner regiment, in a body, while six others joined local regiments, their 
families in the meantime being provided for by the remaining Turners. In 
1863, the verein purchased the lot on the corner of Lodi and John streets, 
and there put up the building now occupied by W. J. Demong as a cigar 
manufactory. This building was subsequently sold to the Board of Edu- 
cation, who occupied it as Franklin School until 1872. Early in 1867, the 
Turners bought the Central House property of Benedict Haberle and re- 
modeled it at great expense only to see it burn to the ground in December, 
1867. Mr. Haberle immediately offered them the use of the garden in the 
rear of his brewery, which was accepted for a short time, when Henry 
Woese, father of ex-Supervisor W. VV. Woese, gave them the use of 
his theatre, corner of Butternut and Park streets. There they remained 
until they moved into their present hall on North Salina street, the corner 
.stone of which — a gift of Charles Allmang — was laid July 4th, 1869, with 
imposing ceremonies, and on September 14th, 1869, the building was dedi- 
cated to the purposes for which it was intended — recreation, improvement, 
socially, physically and otherwise. After a parade by the Turn Vereins, 
who were present from Utica, Rochester, Buffalo, Suspension Bridge and 
Auburn, they were met at the entrance to the hall, which was beautifully 



The German Orphan Asylum. 349 

decorated, by the building committee, who, through their chairman, Valen- 
tine Schilly, in due form presented the keys of the building to School Com- 
missioner John L. Roehner, president of the verein. A beautiful flag, the 
gift of Mrs. Daniel Schmeer, was then raised from the cupola of the build- 
ing by the fair donor. The hall was formally opened to the public Decem- 
ber 26th, 1869, William Schmidt delivering the oration. The history of the 
verein since then is well known. It is now enjoying a large membership 
and prosperity. Aside from Peter Baumgras, the following have served as 
I'residents of the organization: Henry Wanderer, John Heimlich, Chris- 
tian Freeoff, Jacob and Benedict Haberle, Henry Genzel, John L. Roeh- 
ner, Anton Aman, William Rautenberg, Ernst Steingrebe, William Dopffel, 
Jr., and Henry F. Dierkes. School Commissioner Daniel Schmeer is the 
present President. 

Among the other institutions of which the Syracuse Germans are proud 
is the Evangelical Lutheran Orphan Asylum. This institution is also 
known by the name of Tabor Orphan Asylum, although the first is its cor- 
porate name. This asylum was incorporated May 24. 1884, with the fol- 
lowing trustees : Rev. Alex. Oberlander, Ferdinand Rothe, Philip HarfT, 
Philip Ruch, Alex. E. Oberlander, Amelia Bulla, Margaretha Walther, 
Catherine Heylgeist, and Margaret Buhlauer. In 1883, while returning 
from the burial of a father of five little children whose mother was hope- 
lessly insane and an inmate of the Binghamton insane asylum, Mrs. Math- 
ilde Oberlander, wife of the Rev. Alex. Oberlander, being much affected 
by the sad spectacle, suggested to Mrs. Nicholas Walter, a friend, the idea of a 
German orphan asylum in Syracuse. They immediately started penny sub- 
scriptions among their neighbors for an asylum fund. Two years later, No- 
vember 26th, I S85, the present beautiful and imposing structure, on Gilbert's 
hill. Spring street near Butternut, was dedicated without a debt resting upon 
it; its cost was about $10,000. This was due to the noble efforts of Rev. 
Ale.x. and Mrs. Oberlander and the above named ladies, who, as evidence of 
appreciation of their unselfish labor, were placed on the first Board of Trus- 
tees. The annual average number of orphans in this institution since it 
opened in 18S5 is about twenty. Its work is greatly appreciated by Ger- 
man citizens, who liberally support it. Rev. Alex. Oberlander is the pres- 
ent Superintendent and President and has been since its incorporation. 
The following are the present trustees : Rev. A. Oberlander, Charles Merle, 
Charles Listman, Charles Yaeckel, Alex. E. Oberlander, Daniel Schenck, 
Adam Klink, and George Guthman. The Rev. J. Lichtenberg, who with 
his whole family were drowned in the great Johnstown flood of 1889, was 
at the time of his death a trustee of this asylum. 

Many of the younger Germans, who have grown to manhood, refer 
with pride to their early German education in the schools conducted by 



350 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Professors Adolph Brummel, Otto Waxelbaum, and Heinrich Regener. 
Of these German teachers, Prof. Brummel was the most conspicuous. He 
conducted his school for many years between i860 and 1875 in a small 
frame building which stood in rear of St. John's Lutheran church, on But- 
ternut street. Here he taught to not a few scholars, the elementary 
branches of education in the German language, receiving as his compensa- 
tion, twenty-five cents a week from each scholar. Among his pupils were 
some who now rank high among the Germans of the city. Brummel was 
an eccentric character^an old-fashioned German schoolmaster, ever ready 
with the rod, without which he could not have kept discipline. Brummel 
became later on a real estate agent and died some twelve years ago in this 
city. Waxelbaum and Regener conducted schools for one or two years in 
the 'jo's. The latter, Prof. Regener, was a learned man, who died after a 
few years' residence here, leaving a large circle of friends. 

While it cannot be said that the present generation of Germans of Syr- 
acuse are fond of German theatre, it is no fault of their ancestors. On the 
i6th day of April, 1855, a German theatre was instituted by the social Turn 
Verein, with Henry C. Allewelt as manager, in Ackerman's hall on North 
Salina street. Performances were given regularly once a week and were 
followed by a hop. The talent was local, excepting the leading parts, for 
which professional artists were engaged. Among the names of local play- 
ers who took part were Carl Eckerman, Max Schott, Henry C. Allewelt, 
and Anton Aman, who were conspicuous. At the end of one year, trouble 
arose between the Turn Verein and the management, which resulted in the 
opening (August 25, 1856,) of the Casino, by the Casino German Social 
Union, a society organized in 1855, under the name of the German Read- 
ing and Debating Society. Henry C. Allewelt assumed the management of 
the new theater, which occupied the top floor of the Eagle Hotel (Amos 
Hotel.) Upon this theater being closed in 1S58, Dr. Christopher Maas 
opened a German theater at his hall, on the east side of North Salina 
street, north of Butternut. This theater was well patronized until it was 
destroyed by fire in November, i860. The next venture in German theat- 
ricals was made in 1865, when Henry Woese built a neat little structure on 
the corner of Park and Butternut streets, which locality was then common- 
ly known as " Schwabenland." This theatre had a seating capacity of 500, 
and proved a paying enterprise. Many of our older citizens, both German 
and English, recall many pleasant evenings spent at this well conducted 
theater, which was burned to the ground in 1870, with no insurance upon it 
Since then German performances have been given at Turn Hall, Prospect 
Hill Garden, and the Casino in the Church of Assumption school building. 
None of the latter theatres have been as successful as the former ones. 

Schwabenland, or rather Schwobeland, as it was called as late as the 



Pkominknt Gr.uMAN Fkstivai.s. 351 



year 1875, was a small community at the intersection of Butternut and 
Park streets. It undoubtedly derived its name from the first settlers in that 
neighborhood, who were Swabians, and who arrived in the thirties and 
forties. For many years, upon Sundays, pleasure seekers could be seen 
wandering from the city, across the fields to Schvvabenland and enjoying 
themselves in the old fashioned German saloons and pleasure resorts, among 
which, Kaiser's grove and VVoese's theatre were the principal places. The 
growth of the city has changed all this and instead of lonely streets, small 
rivulets and open fields between the city and the then small community, 
the stranger of twenty years ago finds handsome homes, beautiful business 
places and graded and paved streets. The Sunday pleasure seeker can still 
be seen wandering in the same direction, but farther east, beyond the city 
line into the new Butternut street tract, which is also called Oklahoma, in 
the town of Salina. Schwitzer Hill was another community known to our 
early citizens. It was situated to the west and south of Schwabenland and 
north of Rose Hill Cemetery. A dance hall on the top of the hill on Sew- 
ard street was the chief attraction. A great antagonism e.xisled between 
the younger element of Schwitzer Hill and Schwabenland, which caused 
many fierce but bloodless battles to be fought on the Leavenworth tract 
between the two. These stone fights were often indulged in by the parents 
of the belligerents. 

A history of the Germans of Syracuse, however brief, would not be 
complete without reference to the earlier festivals of this social people. A 
great German event seldom passes without being properly observed by the 
Teutons, wherever they reside in considerable numbers. The principal fes- 
tivals of the Syracuse Germans were the looth anniversary of the birth of 
the great poet Schiller, which was celebrated at Pfohl's Hall, November 10, 
1859. Christian Freeoff was President of the day. The festivities con- 
sisted of a banquet, music and speeches by Mr. Freeoff, Carl Eckerman and 
Rev. George Saul, in the afternoon, and a great ball in the evening. The 
second great festival was the celebration of the lOOth anniversary of the 
birth of the great German naturalist, Humboldt. This festival was held in 
connection with a Turn fest at the time of the dedication of Turn Hall. 
The celebration opened in the morning with a grand parade through the 
principal streets of the city, by military and civic societies, (this parade was 
independent of the parade of the Turners for the dedication of their hall), 
of which Gen. Gustavus Sniper was Chief Marshal, and ended with speeches 
by Carl Eckerman, Alex. Fleischman and the President of the day, Wm. 
Dopffel, at Kaiser's grove in the afternoon. The third and greatest Ger- 
man celebration in Syracuse was the Peace Festival, of May i, 1S71 ; in fact, 
no celebration ever held in Syracuse equalled it in splendor, enthusiasm and 
magnitude. It was celebrated in honor of the great event of the union of 



353 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Germany after the many years of division and of the advent of peace to the 
Fatherland at the close of the Franco-Prussian war. Preparations were 
made by the Germans of the city for weeks in advance aud the morning of 
May I, 1 87 1, was ushered in by a salute of one hundred guns, the twelve- 
pound cannon being stationed on Liberty Hill, back of Haberle's brewery. 
North Salina and other principal streets of the Second ward were one mass 
of evergreens and national colors of Germany and the United States. In 
fact, all the houses of the principal streets of the city, both north and south 
of the Erie canal, were handsomely decorated, especially James street. The 
procession was over two miles long and was headed by the police, followed 
by the entire military of the city and civic societies, with the whole fire de- 
partment in the rear. The march through the streets was one ovation. 
People turned out by thousands to witness the Germans celebrating 
their peace jubilee. While marching, the singing societies sang songs. One 
of the features of the procession was a carriage drawn by four horses, con- 
taining fac-simile representations of the four great Germans of that period, 
with John Winter, as Kaiser Wilhelm : Herman Klube, as Bismarck ; Henry 
Woese, as VonMoltkeand ; August Mueller, as Crown Prince h'ritz. The 
march extended through the principal streets of the city to Greenway's 
grove in the rear of St. Cecelia Cemetery, in the Fourth ward, where 
speeches were delivered in German by the Rev. Drs. B. Pick and Cohen, 
and Carl Eckerman, and in English by the late Police Justice Patrick Cor- 
bett. William Dopffel was I'resident of the day; ex-Mayor John Demong 
Chief Marshal. In the evening there was a general display of fireworks, in 
which very nearly every German home participated, followed by a banquet 
at Amos Hotel and a ball at Turn Hall. No great festival has since been 
celebrated by the Germans in general in Syracuse. 

When the war of the Rebellion broke out and it was a question of life 
or death to the Republic, the Germans in general throughout the Union 
did not hesitate which cause to espouse. They left their dear old country 
homes to avoid slavery in the form of despotism and tyranny, and they 
were bound, as free citizens of the grandest Republic, to make it also 
wholly free. Their love was for humanity, rather than for States. They 
had little to do with the " rise " of the Confederate States, but a great deal 
with their " fall." The Syracuse Germans alone furnished more than their 
average to the Union army, some families supplying as many as four 
brothers to the ranks, notably Rev. Fix's boys. 'I'hc following companies 
were substantially composed of Germans. Co. B 12th N. Y. Vols., Cap- 
tain Jacob Brand; Co. II loist N. Y. Vols., Captain Peter Oneth ; Co. B 
149th N. Y. Vols., Captain Nicholas Grumbach ; Co. B 185th N. Y. Vols., 
Captain John Listman. In addition to these companies, there were Syra- 
cuse German boys in very nearly every company that left Onondaga county 



The Germans in Politics. 353 



and in many regiments of Central New York. The Second ward to this 
day feels proud that during the annual session of the Board of Supervisors 
in 1862, it was not represented in that body, its Supervisor, NicholasGrum- 
bach, being in the volunteer service fighting for his country. Supervisor 
Grumbach returned in 1S65 at the head of the 149th. Gustavus Sniper, 
who entered the service as Major of the loist regiment, returned home as 
Colonel of the 185th with the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General, which he 
received for bravery on the field at Quaker's Road. Many individual acts 
of bravery of our German boys could here be recalled, for some of which 
Congress bestowed medals, and which are proudly worn by the brave souls 
who earned them ; but that being a proper subject for another chapter we 
will not mention them here. 

The Germans forming a large proportion not only of the city's, but also 
the county's population, it is but natural that they should take an interest 
in politics and that their power as such, is felt. In this regard they have 
always used their power to the benefit of the community. Among the 
various county offices held by them, was, George Saul, Coroner from 1852 
to 1855 ; Hon. Henry Riegel, County Judge, 1862 to 1882 ; Gen. Gustavus 
Sniper, County Clerk, 1882-85 ; Hector Brose Johnson, Sheriff, 1888 to the 
present time; George Edinger, Loan Commissioner, 1884 to the present. 
Messrs. Sniper and Johnson have also been Assemblymen, the former rep- 
resenting the Third District in 1870-71 and '72, being the first German 
elected to that office ; the latter represented the First Assembly District in 
1886 and 1887. To the foregoing county officers may be added Frederick 
Schug and John C. Kratz, both of whom have held the responsible posi- 
tion of Criminal Deputy Sheriff; the latter at the present time. 
Charles Simon, 1874; C. Fred Herbst, 1876 and 'j"], and Ignatius Sawmiller 
at the present time, have been Assemblymen representing the Third Dis- 
trict. Among the earlier city officers may be mentioned Adam Listman, 
Peter Saladin, and Ignatius Fauth as Tax Collectors for the Second ward as 
early as 1851, 1854 and 1855 respectively. Mr. Listman was also an Excise 
Commissioner, 1855-57, ^"^ Alderman of the Second ward in 1859 ^"d '60. 
His son, Charles Listman, besides being Fire Commissioner, was Alderman 
of the Second ward during the years 1884 to 1887 inclusive. Andrew Fes- 
enmeyer was City Marshal several years immediately after the incorpora- 
tion of the city. George Koehnlein was an Assessor in 1854. In 1872, 
Wm. Baumgras, Republican, the first Ciorman candidate, was defeated for 
Mayor by I-'rancis E. Carroll by a majority of 191 in a total vote of 8,349. The 
whole Republican ticket, with but one exception, a justiceship, was defeated 
in that year. George P. Hier was Mayor in 1875, and John Demong in 
1882. Among the Assessors have been : George W. Cook, 1864-68 ; Chas. 
Simon, 1868-74; Jacob Schwarz, 1874 to the present time ; Henry F. Ste- 

45 



354 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



phens (the present City Clerk) 1877-83. Among the Overseers of the Poor 
may be named the following Germans: John Listman, 1886-90; George 
Schemel, 1S70-71 ; John Bierhardt, 1S83. Alexander E. Oberlander was 
elected Justice of the Peace at large in 1883 and still retains the office. Mr. 
Oberlander was elected to this office in the first municipal election after at- 
taining twenty-one years of age and is, therefore, the youngest person 
elected to a city office in Syracuse. At the present time it is customary to 
allow the German element a representative upon the several city department 
boards. It may be added that Harmon Ackerman (1852) was the first 
German to be elected Alderman; John Vorkey (1854) the first Supervisor, 
and Christian Freeoff (1855-56) the first German School Commissioner in 
Syracuse. 

A reference to the business directory of Syracuse will not fail to con- 
vince one of the commercial importance of the German citizens of the city. 
Among the earlier Germans not heretofore mentioned, whose business ca- 
pacity has left a visible impression, may be named Harmon Ackerman and 
Jacob Amos, both of whom settled here in 1840, and both of whom left 
large business interests when they died. William Baumgras, who settled 
here in 1843, 's another German pioneer who, upon his death, not only left 
his children an honorable name, but also a well-established business. The 
same is true of Benedict Haberle and of Theodore Dissel. The Germans 
are not only well represented in commercial circles, but also in the profes- 
sions and other branches of business. Each generation is brought up to 
some line of business or trade, so that all become workers in some direction, 
thus adding materially to the wealth and prosperity of the community. 

We now come to the subject of the German press. While it is conceded 
that the press has done much toward the welfare of the social, political and 
business interests of the city, it is to be deplored that in this respect a na- 
tionality so large, distinct, and influential, has not kept pace with that of 
larger cities. This can be accounted for by the fact that the younger Ger- 
man generations are laying aside the German customs and language and are 
becoming thoroughly Americanized in both language and spirit, retaining 
however, their German pride. While the German press embraces at the 
present time only two weeklies, it can be said they always have exerted 
a powerful influence in the community and are creditable alike to their 
editors and publishers and to the German speaking portion of the commu- 
nity that support them. The first German newspaper published in Syra- 
cuse was the Onondaga Detiiokrat, the initial number of which appeared 
Saturday, September 4, 1852. It was the outgrowth of the visit of Louis 
Kossuth to this city. The daily papers having announced that Kossuth 
would address the German citizens at the City Hall, great preparations 
were made for the famous Hungarian orator's reception, and a fund of 



Foundation of the Fikst NEWsrAii-k. 355 



$320.00 was raised by a committee, of which George Saul was chairman. 
This fund was intended as a gift to Kossuth. At the hour announced the 
hall was filled with Germans, but the great champion of universal freedom 
failed to appear. The crowd becoming impatient, a committee was ap- 
pointed to wait upon Kossuth at the Globe Hotel and escort him to the 
hall. The orator had delivered an oration at Auburn the previous day and 
in this city in the afternoon, followed by a reception at the residence of 
E. W. Leavenworth in the evening, and felt weary and indisposed, and in- 
formed the committee that if the dermans wished to see and hear him, they 
must go to the hotel where he would receive them and "say a few words." 
This was reported to the assemblage, the angered feelings of which were 
expressed by Chairman Saul in the public remark: " Vou go and tell Kos- 
suth to go to the d — 1." The meeting then dispersed, after having voted 
to turn the fund collected for Kossuth over to Mr. Saul for the purpose of 
founding a German newspaper. The money having been contributed 
largely by Whigs, great surprise was manifested when the prospectus of the 
paper, issued on the 23d day of August, 1852, contained the following: 
" Onondaga Demokrat. This will be the name of the German paper which 
will probably appear for the first time on Saturday, September 4th. We 
have chosen the name, ' Demokrat," as an evidence of the course we will 
pursue in the politics of this country. We will try by all honorable means 
within our power to promote the interests of the Democratic party and the 
election of Franklin Pieice and William R. King. This will undoubtedly 
surprise many who expected that we would be independent of politics; a 
few explanatory words will, therefore, be necessary. It has always been 
our object to unite, rather than divide the Germans of this city, and at first 
thought an independent paper would secure the desired object ; but when 
we considered the bitterness and jealousies that exist between the parties, it 
was seen that we would be compelled to be on one side or the other Fur- 
thermore, it came to our ears that certain German Whigs openly declared 
they would convert the Independent into a Whig paper, dethrone us and 
smuggle a young Whig into our chair. It was also demanded by the 
Whigs, that we not only publish an independent paper, but also refrain 
from making speeches for the Democratic party. This was impossible, and 
hence we are forced to issue a Democratic paper. We, however, promise 
the Whigs, that we will prescribe only small homcLOi)athic doses for their 
dilapidated condition and only then, when their ailment becomes chronic, 
will we be forced to prescribe harsher measures. Therefore, may the On- 
ondaga Demokrat prosper, and with the assistance of a large subscription 
list, sow the seed of Goor/ among the Germans." The paper was first pub- 
lished from the building on the corner of North Salina and James streets, 
where the Third National Bank building now .stands. It was a fair appear- 



356 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

ing sheet, somewhat smaller than the present Umo7i, and was liberally pat- 
ronized by advertisers. The subscription price was two dollars per year, 
payable semi-annually in advance. In 1857, the paper came out for the 
Free Soil party and Fremont and Dayton, and has been Republican ever 
since. In January, 1.S63, Saul accepted a position in the New York Cus- 
tom House and sold the paper to John L. Roehner, who at that time was a 
compositor on the Central Democrat. Roehner's initiatory article strongly 
espoused the cause of the Union. It called upon all able-bodied Germans 
to enlist, and closed with a declaration that thenceforth the paper would 
not show the slightest Democratic leaning, and would, therefore, change its 
name to Union, under which title it has ever since appeared. The article 
was very effective in promoting enlistments among the younger Germans. 
It also pleased the Hon. Andrew D. White so much that in the following 
month he presented the paper with an entire new outfit of type. In Au- 
gust, 1880, Mr. Roehner sold the Union to John Ziegler, a shoemaker, who 
disposed of it in the succeeding December to its present owner and editor, 
Alex, von Landberg, under whose management it has become one of the 
best weeklies in the country. During his connection with the paper, Mr. 
von Landberg has held various honorable public ofifices, and is at present 
United States Internal Revenue Collector for this district ; these offices 
have come to him unsolicited by him, and as a recognition of his ability and 
the valuable party service of his paper. In i860 the establishment was re- 
moved to its present location in the Ackerman block, on North Salina 
street, where it remained until the fall of 1863, when it wss moved to the 
next block north. It remained there a few months when it was destroyed 
by fire and water, mainly water, the whole block being on fire; the cry of 
the firemen was " save the Union," and thus special effort was made to 
save the Union at the expense of the rest of the block. The Union there- 
upon was moved back to its old quarters in the Ackerman block, where it 
has remained ever since. 

George Saul and John L. Roehner, having left a marked impression 
upon the German mind in Syracuse, a few words concerning them will not 
be out of place. Mr. Saul came to this city from Albany in 1846 and in 
the following year organized the now defunct Evangelical Zion's Church 
and was its pastor until 1849, when he quit the ministry, opened a German 
book and music store and entered politics, becoming Coroner and later on 
Deputy Sheriff of the county. He was a leading spirit in most of the 
German societies of that time and at one time, in 1857, was Commander 
of the Washington Artillery. He was an agressive man, of firm and decided 
opinions, as the prospectus of his newspaper shows, and a forcible public 
speaker, no German event of note passing without a speech from him. 
He resigned his position in the New York Custom House, in about two or 



The Central Democrat. 357 

three years after accepting the same, and moved to Missouri, where he re- 
entered the ministry, in wliich he remained until retired on a pension by 
reason of old age. He again moved to New York, where he died in 1886, 
and was buried at Oakwood in this city. Charles F. Saul, the hardware 
merchant ; Henry G. Saul, and Mrs. Col. E. S. Jenney are his children. Mr. 
Roehner, like his predecessor, sold out to accept a position in the New 
York Custom House, remaining there until removed by the Cleveland ad- 
ministration in 1S86. He represented the Second ward in the Board of 
Education in 1S68-70, and the introduction of German books into the 
Central Library is due to his efforts. He returned to this city in 1886 and 
represented the Ninth ward in the Board of Supervisors, and is now en- 
gaged in the insurance business. He is also a polished German speaker. 

The desertion of the Democracy by the Onondaga Demokrat in 1856, 
left the Democratic party without a German organ in this section. A com- 
pany' calling itself " The Independent Democratic Society," with Jacob 
Pfohl at its head, was organized and on July i, 1858, issued the first num- 
ber of the Central Democrat, with William Mueller, editor, and Julius 
Schwarz, business manager. The paper was issued from the Star Building, 
which stood on the present site of the Syracuse Savings Bank Building. 
The brief salutatory was as follows: "Herewith we give to the German 
reading public the first number of the Syracuse Central Democrat, with the 
prediction that it will be welcomed by all." Although well edited, the 
paper was so poorly managed that on the following 12th day of Novem- 
ber, (185S), it was turned over to the Hon. Joseph A. Hoffman, debts and 
all. The breadth of Mr. Hoffman's policy may be gathered from the fol- 
lowing extract from his introductory editorial : " Our motto will be, ' Ve- 
reint macht stark, (Union gives strength)." It will be our object to publish 
only such articles as are foreign to religion and personalities. We will be 
guided by the welfare of our Republic and the enforcement of the rights 
guaranteed by the Constitution." The Democrat under its new manage- 
ment at once entered upon a career of influence and prosperity ; it has 
always adhered to the principles enunciated, and to-day is one of the most 
influential German newspapers in the State, commanding the respect of the 
entire German community, regardless of party. In 1859 '^^^ paper was 
removed to the Davis Block, which stood on East Water street just east of 
the Bastable Block, and from there in 1864 to the present No. 728 North 
Salina street, whence it was again removed in 1878 to its present handsome 
quarters in the Hoffman Block, corner of North Salina and Catawba .streets. 
In 1888, after an untiring and successful career of thirty years, Mr. Hoff- 
man turned the establishment over to his son, Louis C. Hoffman, an 
energetic young man of great promise, who is naturally adapted for edito- 
rial work. In 1874-75, the Zion's Auc was published by the Rev. Alex. 



358 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Oberlander. Although self-supporting, it was discontined at the end of 
one year. The paper was about 12 x iS inches in size. In May, 1S75, two 
energetic young printers, Frederick G. Kaufman and J. Peter Pinzer, began 
the publication of Das Sontagsblatt, a full-sized sheet, first as a weekly 
(being issued Saturday afternoon), and later as a semi-weekly, under the 
name of Die Frcie Pressc. Julius Jaixen was editor. The paper was 
independent in politics and well patronized with subscribers and advertisers. 
In the summer of 1876, the Freic Pressc was purchased by Alex, von Land- 
berg and merged with the Union, Mr. Pinzer becoming foreman of the 
Lhiion office. This was the last German newspaper venture in this city. 

While we have thus far mentioned various German bodies, societies, 
lodges and vereins, we have yet to give the record of the first and grandest 
institution founded by Germans in Syracuse — the Church. No other insti- 
tution of theirs in Syracuse is as old as their churches, at least three of 
which were founded before other German institutions were organized. At 
the present time there are nine German churches here, two of them being 
Roman Catholic. The German houses of worship, so far as cost and beau- 
ty are concerned, compare favorably with our best church edifices. The 
German Roman Catholic churches will be found in another chapter. 

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church. — This church is located on the 
southeast corner of Butternut street and Prospect Avenue. It was incor- 
porated under the name of "Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John in 
the village of, Syracuse," January i, 1840, with a membership of about 
forty families, although regular services were held by this body as amission 
as early as 1838, in the session room of the First Presbyterian Church, 
which then stood on the present site of D. McCarthy & Co."s store, corner 
of South Salina and East Fayette streets. The first services were con- 
ducted by the Rev. Mr. Muelhauser, of Rochester, N. Y. Henry Lammert 
and George Koenig presided at the meeting of incorporation and the fol- 
lowing were chosen as trustees : Louis Yehling, Frederick Strangeman, 
Henry Lammert and George Koenig. The elders and deacons being : 
George Lupp, John Miller, Mr. Schneider, Frederick Hess, John Yehling 
and Philip Zahn. 

In 1841, the first edifice was erected on the present site at a cost 
of about $1300. This building was destroyed by fire December 28th, 1856, 
and was rebuilt during the next year; it is of brick and cost about $12,000. 
The following named pastors have served the church : Rev. Julius Kempe, 
December 25, 1838 to January 1841. Rev. C. F. W. Rechenberg, February 
15, 1841, to April 22, 1855. Rev. F. W. Weiskotten, May i, 1855, until 
his death May 20, 1863. Rev. C. H.Thomsen, March, 1864, until his death, 
May 9, 1877. Rev. Leo Koenig, 1878 to 1880. Rev. J. Nicum, 1880 to 
1887. Rev. G. A. Bruegel, 1887 to the present time. During the second 



Till-: Gr.RMAN Churches. 



359 



year of Rev. Rechenberg's pastorate, he refused to confirm a boy, the son 
of a prominent member of the congregation, which caused ten families 
to secede, and who with others organized .St. Peter's Evangeh'cal 
Church in the fall of 1S43. On the death of the Rev. Weiskotten in 1863, 
the Congregation elected the Rev. Charles Steinhauer pastor, who was re- 
fused admittance to the church the following Sunday, the trustees having 
caused the windows to be securely fastened and locked the doors with a 
lock and chain ; hence the name " Schloss Kirche," by which name it was 
called by many at that time and up to the present. Not to be baffled, the 
Rev. Steinhauer preached from the steps of the church and on the follow- 
ing Sunday, with about eighty seceding families, organized the Evangelical 
Lutheran Zion's Church. During 1879, the Rev. Koenig introduced with 
no little difificulty, the liturgy of the Lutheran Church, theretofore not 
observed in the churches of that denomination in this city. This, together 
with other minor difificulties, among them the succeeding of the old Luthe- 
ran hymn book, led to the withdrawal from church membership of about 
twenty-five families. Trouble again arose in 18S3, during Rev. Nicum's 
pastorate, which ended in ordering the police into the church building to 
preserve order at the annual election for church officers (December 18, 
1883). This election was followed by long litigation, which resulted favora- 
bly to Pastor Nicum's faction ; consequently, si.xty families seceded and or- 
ganized St. Mark's Lutheran Church. The present membership is some- 
what over one hundred families and the church is enjoying peace and pro.s- 
perity. The following are the present church officers: Elders, Charles 
Groffman, Henry Kaukenmueller, Herman Reiss ; deacons, Charles Wei- 
mer, E. F. Muser, W. Wiegand ; trustees, G. Schwarz, president; F. Lam- 
mert, clerk; C. Weil, treasurer, and Henry Korb, H. Reiss, jr., C. Damms, 
and H. C. Kimmann, trustees. 

Gtrman Evangelical St. Peter's Chureh. — This society was incorporated 
August 6, 1843, with about thirty-eight families. Peter Miller and Michael 
Dick presided at the meeting and the following were elected the first tru.s- 
tees: Henry Lammert, president ; Henry Siefker, Secretary; Harrison H. 
Rolf, treasurer ; Henry Gieselman, (still living), Adam Listman, Michael 
Dick, Philip Dick, Peter Eurig, Lewis von Hagin, and Christopher Wilker. 
The first meetings were held in a small frame church on the northwest cor- 
ner of Butternut street and Prospect avenue, opposite the site of the pres- 
ent church. The building was subsequently moved across the street to the 
present church lot, fronting on Prospect avenue, and was destroyed by fire 
in the fall of i860, with the minutes of the church. The present edifice 
was built during the winter and spring of 1860-61 and cost about $12,000. 
The following ministers have served this church : Rev. Augustus Hemerer, 
from the organization to September, 1846. This pastor in after years be- 



360 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

came a convert to the Roman Catholic faith. Rev. M. Steiner, 1846, to 
March, 1850; Rev. Frederick William Hesselman, May, 1850, to October, 
1850. This pastor was dismissed from the Evangelical Reformed Zion 
Church, of Buffalo, the year previous to his coming here, for dissipation, 
and when that fact became known and it was seen that he had not reformed 
he was excluded from the pulpit here. The church was without a regular 
pastor until June, 185 1, when Rev. Mr. Feysel became pastor and remained 
until June, 1852; Rev. Carl A. Focke was acting pastor during the winter 
of 1850-51. Rev. Gottlob Fix became pastor in December, 1852, and re- 
mained until his death, December 28, 1858. Four sons of this pastor. Max, 
Adolph, Julius, and Frederick, entered the Union army at the beginning of 
the rebellion and served with distinction to the end. All are now honored 
residents of Syracuse. Rev. F. A. Zischka, from December, 1858, to De- 
cember, i860; Rev. Charles F. Soldan, December, i860, to April, 1870; 
Rev. Dr. B. Pick, May i, i87i,to April 12, 1874. Rev. Emil Henckell, 
June, 1874, to November, 1883. and the present pastor. Rev. Johannes 
Schaefer, since March, 1S84, During the latter years of the Rev. Soldan's 
pastorate, Rev. von Schulenberg was assistant pastor, owing to the old age 
of the former. The church building was remodeled in 1880 at great cost. 
Towers were erected and chimes placed therein, with other improvements. 
The present church officers are : Adam Metzger, president ; George Wer- 
ner, secretary ; \'alentine Dorschug, treasurer ; August Finck, J. C. Sur- 
beck, and Fr. Gehring, trustees. H. Sammer, H. Ackerman, and John 
Moses, deacons and elders. 

Salem's Church of the Rvangelical Society of Syracuse in the Evangelical 
Association of North America. — This society was incorporated September 
9, 1844, Jacob Riegel and John J. Lucksinger presiding. The following 
were elected its first trustees: John J. Lucksinger, (still living), Gabriel 
Blumer and Frederick Sprenger. The first religious services were held at a 
private house on Montgomery street. The first church was built of wood 
on the southeast corner of Cedar and Grape streets, about the year 1845. 
This building was removed to the west side of Lock street near East 1-iel- 
den avenue in 1850, and an addition of fifteen feet built on the rear. The 
congregation soon outgrew this building and in 1869 the present beautiful 
edifice of brick was erected at a cost of about $25,000. The following pas- 
tors have served the church, one of its rules prohibiting any minister from 
remaining with the church more than three j ears: Jacob Riegel, Theobald 
Schnyder, Jacob Levy, Peter AUes, Francis Herlam, Augustus Klein, Mi- 
chael Pfitzinger, 1864 to 1866 inclusive ; A Miller, 1867-69; Jacob Siegrist, 
1870; David Fisher, 1871-73; C. F. Schoepflin, 1873-76; John Reuber, 
1877-79, *"d 1S89; Adolph Leuscher, 1880-82; Jacob Vossler, 1883-85; 
Jacob Kachele, 1886-88; the present pastor is Rev. H. A. Schlenk. The 



The Gkkm.w Churches. 361 

following are the present officers: Trustees, John Michael, president ; J. 
Michael Hrenner, secretary ; John L. Bauer, treasurer ; G. Haendle, John 
Moerschler, stewards; J. M. Brenner, J. E. Kraus, G. Grieb, F. Klasi. 
The following were among the earlier pastors of this church, the years in 
which they served not being known : Levi Jacoby, L. Lauer, A. Spies, M. 
Lehn and A. Holzwarth. 

German Evangelical Zions Church. — On the 4th day of March, 1847, a 
congregation was incorporated under the name of "German Evangelical 
Zion Congregation of Syracuse." The meeting of incorporation was held 
at the old No. 5 school house on Lock street, opposite the present St. 
John's Academy. Jacob Eckel and Jacob Kurtz presided, and the follow- 
ing were elected trustees; George Koenig, Conrad Scheideman, and Philip 
Drumm. Rev. George Saul was the pastor. The meetings were first held 
in No. 5 school house and later on in a wooden building on Ash street, near 
the corner of Townsend street. This society dissolved in 1850, the Rev. 
Mr. Saul opened a book and music store and in 1852 founded the Onondaga 
Dcmokrat , afterwards the Syracuse Union. 

The Second Branch of the Evangelical Association of the City of Syra- 
cuse. — -The removal of Salem's Church to the north side of the Erie canal, 
in 1859, caused censiderable dissatisfaction among the members ot that As- 
sociation who resided on the south side. This led to the formation of the 
above society in 1857. It was not incorporated, however, until November 
8, 1859, Franz Merlan and Theodore Hinneman presiding. The following 
were elected trustees: Charles Matt, Jacob Schneider, and Michael Blaich. 
The brick edifice on Grape street, corner of Jackson, costing about $4,000, 
was built soon afterward. The pastors of Salem's Church ministered to 
this church until 1870, since which time the following pastors have served: 
Frederick Hehr, John Schaaf, Levi Jacoby, John Reeber, Mr. Boiler, l^an- 
iel Miller, J. E. Herman, W. J. Marley, aed F. J. Holzwarth. The follow- 
ing are the present church officers: Trustees, Conrad Fessler, George 
Blye, and John Shafer. 

The German Eiuiugclieal Lutheran Zion s Church. — This church is lo- 
cated on the southeast corner of Prospect avenue and Butternut street. It 
was organized with about ninety families by the Rev. Charles Steinhauer, at 
the time of his lock-out in 1863, before alluded to. The first meeting was 
held on the 31st day of October, 1863, the anniversary of the German Ref- 
ormation, and the society was incorporated December ist, 1863. In 1864, 
a frame house of worship costing about $12,000 was erected on the site of 
the present church. Prior to this time the services were held in Ackerman's 
and Pfohl's halls on North Salina street. In 1867, the church was burned and 
the present building of brick was erected at a cost of about $24,000. The 
46 



362 Memorial Histukv of Syracuse. 



first trustees were Nicholas Morgenstern, Charles L. Hamerle, William 
Gehm, C. Frederick Lindemer, Andrew Speich, and Jacob Walter. The 
deacons and elders were John Steiger, John Schoen, George Schoen, Jacob 
Goettel, Philip Schaffer, William Rheinheimer, and P. Schneider. The 
first pastor, Rev. Charles Steinhauer, left the congregation after six years 
of service, in 1869, and was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. Alex. 
Oberlander, who has now served the church faithfully for more than twenty 
years, and is the oldest pastor in continuous service in Syracuse. The 
present church officers are as follows : Deacons and elders, Valentine 
Schmidt, John Renz, Philip Wein, Philip Ruch, Franz Wagner, Louis Lohr- 
man. Trustees, Carl Yaeckel, Peter Blint, J. Fadel, Philip Harf, H. Klein, 
Peter Edinger, L. Gabel, Michael Ruebel, Jacob Helmstetter, Nicholas 
Morgenstern. The latter was from the time of the incorporation of this 
society up to 1887, its treasurer, and since that date has been its president. 

* Rev. Alexander Oberlander has, up to the present time, ministered to 
one church for a longer period than any other pastor in Syracuse, and 
hence a short sketch of his life will be appropriate. Few ministers of the 
gospel enjoy to a greater degree the love and confidence not only of their 
congregations, but of the community at large. Mr. Oberlander was born 
in the hamlet of Friedersdorf, principality of Schvvarzburg-Rudolstadt, 
May 31, 1834. He was the youngest of three brothers, whose father died 
when Alexander was two years old. Although poor, his widowed mother 
was a woman of excellent judgment and she determined to give her sons 
the benefit of an academic education ; this she was enabled to do by the 
exercise of industry and economy. Alexander was graduated at both the 
High School and the Seminary of Rudolstadt, after which he taught school 
and gave lessons in music, in which he was well versed and able to play 
many instruments, until he emigrated to the United States in 1859. Arriv- 
ing in this country he settled in Rochester and there taught German school 
and music while preparing for his life-work, the Christian ministry. He 
was ordained in Chicago in 1861 and at once accepted a call from the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Church at Waukegan, III. After serving this church for 
two years he accepted a call in 1863 to the P^irst Lutheran Church at West 
Turin, Lewis county, N. Y. In 1867, he removed to Rome, N. Y., as pas- 
tor of the Trinity Lutheran Church, which, in October, 1869, he left to 
accept his present charge. All of the above calls were unanimous, and 
such is the regard in which Mr. Oberlander is held by his former parishion- 
ers, that annoucement of services to be conducted by him is sufficient to fill 
any church that formerly called him pastor. When he reached Syracuse in 
1869, Zion's Church had a membership of about ninety families; now it 
has over five hundred. Then it was under a heavy debt ; now it is free of 
debt. In short, it has grown from one of the weakest, to the strongest 

* Contributed. 



The German Cuuri fies. 363 



Protestant German church in Syracuse. Much of this is due to the pastor. 
Mr. Oberlander is a man of gentle, kindly nature, ever ready to aid the 
poor and deserving. Married early in life, he is the father of fifteen chil- 
dren, of whonn ten are living; six boys and four girls, among the former 
being Drs. O. W."and H. L., and Justice of the Peace Alex. E. Oberlander 
of Syracuse. Mrs. Mathilde Oberlander, his wife, died July 24, 1888. 

St. Paul's livaitgclical Lutheran CJiurch. — This society was incorpora- 
ted April 17, 1882, and the following were elected trustees: Charles Sey- 
bold, Charles Schramm, and Henry Williams. The first religious services 
were held in the Good Will Chapel, corner of Fabius and Oswego streets, 
until the completion, in 1S83, of the present frame church, corner of Shon- 
nard and Oswego streets. The building and lot cost about $7,000. The 
first pastor was Rev. Charles R. Raymond, who remained until September, 
1S84, and in December of that year. Rev. Mr. Heinrichs came and remained 
until July, 1885. In September of that year, the present pastor, Rev. 
George Merschroth was installed. Following are the names of the present 
church officers: Elders, Philip Kies, W. Van Lengen, John Kiehner; dea- 
cons, William Guckert, Otto Koehler, Henry Klein : trustees, Charles 
Schramm, Ernest Hurst, Peter Leibt, Philip Kies, president; Otto Koehler, 
secretary ; W. Van Lengen, treasurer. 

Evangelical Lutheran St. Mark's Church. — This church was organized 
through a secession from St. John's Church, January ist, 1885, with a mem- 
bership of about sixty families, and was incorporated on the 2d of Februarj' 
following. Henry Soehle presided at the meeting of incorporation, and the 
following were elected trustees: Ludwig Trage, sr., August Fandrich, 
Gottfried Wells, Carl Schlosser, sr., Nicholas Huber, Heinrich Bruns, Wil- 
liam Rohde, Carl Kreischer, and Herman Ungerathen. The church build- 
ing, which is of brick and situated on the corner of Lock and Burnet streets, 
was purchased of the Church of the Messiah society soon after the organi- 
zation. The first pastor of the church was the Rev. Dr. Theophilus C. 
Maas, who remained until the year 1888, when he left the ministrj' to prac- 
tice medicine. Since then Rev. Dr. G. C. H. Haskarl has been the pastor. 
The present officers are: Christian Cook, president ; William Rohde, secre- 
tary; Henry Bruns, treasurer ; Charles Schlosser, F. Wells, Herman Unger- 
athen, and Ludwig Trage, trustees ; Ludwig Harbach, John F. Voshall, 
and Charles Wolf, deacons ; August Ohman, Henry Soehle, and John 
Gehm, elders. 

The First German Baptist Church. — This is located on Catharine street 
and was organized June 28, 1877. It was the outgrowth of the German 
Mission, which was begun under the auspices of the First Baptist Church, 



364 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

in 1862, with about thirty members. A lot was purchased and a chapel 
erected on Lodi street near Ash. In November, 1875, Rev. Reinhard Hoef- 
flin became the missionary and under his administration the church was 
organized on the date above named. Rev. Hoefflin continued with the 
church until 1884, and was succeeded by Rev. C. H. Schmidt. He contin- 
ued until 1888, when he was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. H. W. 
Geil. In 1885 the new church edifice was erected at a cost of about $7,000 
The church is now growing rapidly. The present officers are : Deacons, 
B. C. Wurth, Jacob Braun, sr.; Clerk, Theodore Otto ; Treasurer, B. C. 
Wurth ; Trustees, B. C. Wurth (president), R. Hausmann, Theodore Otto, 
John Heise, Jacob Braun, sr., B. Hagenbucher and George Risler. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

I'INAXCIAI, HISTOm'. 



Syracuse as a Healthy Financial Center — The First Monetary Stringency — Its Consequences — 
The Stringency in 1857 — Old Hank of Syracuse — Trust and Deposit Company — Salt Springs Na- 
tional Bank — Merchants' National Bank — Onondaga County Savings Bank — First National Bank — 
New York State Banking Company — Syracuse Savings Bank — Third National Bank — Bank of Syra- 
cuse — State Hank of Syracuse — Robert Cere Bank. 

THE financial history of Syracuse and its vicinity is such that it can be 
looked back upon by the business community with the utmost satis- 
faction. During the great periods of financial stringency, leading up to 
panics that have swept over the country leaving business ruin in their track, 
Syracuse has been able to continue her wonted industries and mercantile 
operations with very little of individual disaster to mark the time as one of 
peril. This is not saying that the business community of this city did not 
feel the effects of those periods of stringency in the financial circles of the 
country; they certainly did. But the solid monetary foundation of the lo- 
cality, combined with what is believed to have been an exceptionally high 
degree of financial ability among leading business men, have given 
Syracuse, past and present, the capacity to outride financial panics which 
have worked ruin in other localities. 

The first period of extensive stringency in the monetary circles of this 
country, occurred in 1836-37 and grew out of a prevailing fever of specula- 
tion in real estate. It is difficult for the conservative young or middle-aged 
business man of to-day to understand the wild aud reckless operations of 



Periods of Monetary Stringency. 365 

that unprecedented era. It followed upon a period of general prosperity 
and rapid growth of villages and cities, which seems to have first inspired 
the people with the belief that there could be practically no limit to the ad- 
vance in real estate values, and afterwards filled them with the mania that 
money could be actually produced by the exchange of lots and buildings. 
Almost everybody, whether actually possessing means or not, was drawn 
into the whirlpool and a number of the leading men of Syracuse were 
seriously crippled financially, and a few were almost ruined by this wild 
fever of speculation. Strange as it may now read, real estate in portions of 
Syracuse, and in some instances far out in the suburbs, changed hands at 
prices that it would not bring to-day, even under the influence of the recent 
great advance in values. Every day in the public rooms of the Syracuse 
House could be found knots of an.xious men, evidently sane on all other 
topics, who were what may properly be termed real estate lunatics. Their 
conversation turned wholly upon prices of lots and the certainty that for- 
tunes could be made in a week by buying and selling them. 

But if this was true of Sjracuse, other cities suffered so much more se- 
verely that this city had ample reason for self-congratulation. In Buffalo, 
Rochester, Oswego, and other places, the ruin and desolation following 
financial failures was almost universal; and in those cities recovery was a 
slow process, while in Syracuse the end came soon and with comparatively 
little actual disaster. There were elements in this place which rendered it 
far less vulnerable to financial stringency than most other cities, as we shall 
see presently. A local paper of that time states in an issue near this period 
that the business men of Syracuse were making money and the prospects 
were bright, and that what financial trouble really existed was among those 
who had gone outside of the legitimate channels of trade to speculate. 

No further monetary stringency worthy of special mention occurred un- 
til 1S57, when a period of peril and wide-spread business disaster swept the 
whole country. This was occasioned by the depreciation of the currency 
then in use. Banks had multiplied and the issue of bills had gone on until 
the inevitable consequences followed. Many staunch business houses suc- 
cumbed and a period of business weakness and distrust ensued, the effects 
of which were felt until the approach of the great civil war. But even 
through this period of general business disaster and stagnation Syracuse 
passed with far less difficulty than many of her sister cities. Money was 
very scarce and difficult to obtain and the channels of trade were greatly 
clogged ; but the fountlation of financial prosperity resting upon the salt 
industry was too secure to be easily undermined. Indeed, this great indus- 
try, which saw its best days in the earlier years of Syracuse history, has 
always proved an anchor to the general material welfare of the community. 
Through the intervention of the State it became an industry which did not 



3^^ Memorial History of Syracuse. 

require great capital for its operation, while the returns were sure and con- 
tinuous ; it was a creator of wealth, and carried the village and city through 
troubled times. 

Since the period just considered, the general financial condition has been 
progressive. The reaction following the inflated and exciting period of the 
war was felt in Syracuse, as it was in all parts of the country; but the ef- 
fects were soon overcome and trade and finance resumed their accustomed 
course. Money has, as a rule, been ample for the business of the commu- 
nity, especially since the era of large manufacturing operations, which sa- 
gacious men have inaugurated as the salt industry has declined. Prices of 
real estate in almost all parts of the city have steadily advanced, and within 
the last few )^ears have gone upward at a rapid pace ; and yet, at no time 
in the history of the city has there occurred what is commonly known as a 
" boom " in real property ; that is, where property has rapidly changed 
hands beyond a healthy demand and at prices far beyond the safety point. 
The transactions of the past few years have been enormous, and promise 
to continue. The extensive construction of street railroads leading into 
the suburbs has opened up many tracts of beautiful residence lands, which 
have been purchased at low prices and cut up and sold for building lots for 
the accommodation of the rapidly growing population. 

The history of the separate fiaancial institutions of Syracuse begins with 
the old Bank of Salina, with which a number of the leading men of that 
village were connected. The bank was of vast assistance to early mer- 
chants and salt manufacturers, but when the rapid growth of Sj^racuse 
overshadowed Salina, the bank was removed and located on South Salina 
street. It was organized in 1832 and closed up about . 

The Bank of Syracuse. — The first bank in Syracuse bearing this name 
(there being one of the same name at the present time), was organized in 
1839, under the general State banking law. John Wilkinson was its first 
President, and Horace White, Cashier. Its capital was $200,000, and the 
institution was prudently managed and was prosperous. On the 19th of 
September, Mr. Wilkinson died and Hamilton White succeeded him as 
President of the bank. He was succeeded for a short time by John H. 
Cheddell, and he by the Hon. Andrew D. White. In 1S56, Horace White 
was succeeded by Orrin Ballard as Cashier. The bank continued business 
under the State law until 1865, when it reorganized as the Syracuse Na- 
tional Bank and continued as such until 1877, when it closed its affairs and 
retired from business. V'ery much of the usefulness and prosperity of this 
institution were due to the financial ability and public spirit of Horace and 
Hamilton White. 

Mcrcltants Natioial Bank. — The history of this institution covers a 
period of about forty years. It was organized under a State charter in 



TiiK Mi;ki' HANTS' National Hank. 567 



1S50, as the Merchants' Bank, with the following oflficers: John D. Nor- 
ton, President: Edward H. Judson, vice-President ; Eli H. Sherman, Cash- 
ier. These men, with Herrick Allen, Marcus Cone, Peter Cutwater, jr., 
Charles C. Kichardson, Joseph F. Sabin, James M. Baker, Lucius D. Cowan, 
Harvey Loomis, Simon C. Hitchcock, and Joseph M. Cook constituted the 
Board of Directors. This list is composed of the names of leading citi- 
zens of Syracuse at that time, all of whom are dead excepting the venera- 
ble E. B. Judson, now President of the First National Bank. The original 
capital of the Merchants' Bank was $135,000, and at a .special meeting held 
in the fall of 1851, it was increased to $160,000, and subsequently, to ac- 
commodate its increasing business, was again increased to $180,000. In 
June, 1865, the institution was made a National Bank with an authorized 
capital of ^500.000, the paid-in capital remaining $180,000. Jefferson Free- 
man was then President, and the office has since been held by George Ste- 
vens, R. M. Gere, and George N. Kennedy, the present incumbent. Prev- 
ious to 1864, Peter Cutwater, jr., was Cashier of the bank, and upon his 
death in that year, E. R. Plumb was placed in that responsible position, 
which he has filled ever since. Mr. Plumb entered the Merchants' Bank 
in 1856, as book-keeper, was promoted to the position of Teller, and then to 
Cashier, giving him an experience in the institution of thirty-four years. 
The management of the bank is largely in his hands and its prosperity and 
the confidence placed in it by the public, attest his capacity as a financier. 
While the capital of this bank is nominally $180,000, it is really $350,000, 
for the surplus is $170,000. The loans and discounts approximate $800,- 
000, and the deposits $600,000. The following statement was issued Feb- 
ruary 28, 1890 : 

RESOURCES. 

Hills, loans and discounts - .- !i!705,6g6. 54 

Silver, U. S. Bonds 50,000.00 

Gold, U. S. Treasury - 2,250.00 

Checks, Expense i, 890. 82 

Stocks and Mortgages - 6,300.00 

Due from Hanks - - 145,763.90 

Cash and Cash Items 79,325.94 

lj!l,05I,227.20 
l.lAHII.niKS. 

Capital - !J!i So.000.00 

.Surplus and profits - — .- 1 72,098.92 

Circulation - 45,000 00 

Deposits - - 606,664.55 

Due Kanks 47,463.73 

:i!i, 051, 227.20 

The present officers of the bank are : George N. Kennedy, President ; 

Edwin R. Plumb, Cashier; H. W. Plumb, Assistant Cashier; these, with 



368 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

James A. Sherman, George P. Hier, Peter Burns, William G. Tracy, Chas. 

E. Hubbell, and Willis B. Burns, constitute the Board of Directors. 

Salt Springs National Bank. — This old and stable financial institution 
was organized as the Salt Springs Bank, (a State bank) in 1852, with a capi- 
tal of $125,000, which has been increased to $200,000. The first Board of 
Directors were David Munroe, Thomas G. Alvord, George H. Waggoner, 
James E. Heron, Henry S. Candee, Matthew Murphy, Cornelius Lynch, 
Dennis McCarthy, Edward B. Judson, George Geddes, William Clark, Orla 

F. Whitney, S. N. Kenyon, John D. Norton, and B. Davis Noxon. Alfred 
A. Hewlett was made a director in 1854. Thomas G. Alvord was the first 
President and E. B. Judson the first Cashier. Mr. Alvord was succeeded 
by William Clark, and he by Alfred A. Howlett in 1859. There has been 
no change in the presidency since. Cornelius Alvord was Cashier for a 
time after the retirement of Mr. Judson, and previous to the election of 
Thomas J. Leach, the present Cashier, in 1859, Mr. Howlett officiated for a 
time. The bank operated under the State law until 1865, when it was 
chartered as a National Bank. In 1876, when the Syracuse Savings Bank 
building was finished, the bank removed to its present handsome quarters. 
Following is a statement of this bank, issued under date of December 1890: 

RKSOLKCKS. 

Loans .ind Discounts $646,692.69 

Overdrafts, secured and unsecured 2,774.45 

U. S. Bonds 5o,cxx).oo 

Stocks, securities, etc 3,500.00 

Due from approved Reserve Agents -- - 62,066.88 

Due from Hanlvs 25,809.18 

Current expenses and ta.xes paid - 5,72743 

I'remiums on U. S. bonds - 10,000.00 

Checks, cash items, and e-xchanges for Clearing House 11,810.27 

Bills, specie, legal tender notes, and redemption fund 43,426.95 

$861,807.85 
LlABILnlES. 

Capital Stock paid in - $20o,txK>.oo 

Surplus I'und- 40,000.00 

Undivided profits - 61 ,326.63 

National bank notes outstanding 45,000.00 

I )eposits subject to check 451,133.47 

Demand certificates of deposit 60,124.70 

Due to other banks 4,223.05 

)|;S6i,.So7.S5 

Following are the present officers of this bank : Alfred A. Howlett, 
President; Thomas J. Leach, Cashier; David A. Munroe, Charles Hubbard, 
Alfred A. Howlett, Robert Dey, William Brown Smith, Lsaac H. Mun- 
roe, A. Ames Howlett, T. J. Leach, and Giles Everson, Directors. 



New York Statk Banking Company. 369 



Nc2v York State Banking Company.— TK\s institution originated with 
the old Burnet Bank, which was incorporated under the State banking 
law in 1S52. It continued business under that plan until the adoption of 
the National banking system, when it was made the " Fourth National 
Hank of Syracuse." It continued thus until 1S72, when its Nationel char- 
ter was resigned. At this time the present name was adopted and the 
banking business has continued without material change. 

Nathan F. Graves, has been President of this bank from the date of its 
incorporation in 1852, and is one of the older and most respected citizens 
of Syracuse, not only in a business sense, but in all the relations of life. 
He was educated for the law and has been called to fill several public sta- 
tions of importance; was for a number of years a member of the Board of 
Education, and its President, and in 1874 was elected mayor of the city. 
He has been for many years a large owner of real estate, and has always 
been among the leaders in measures for the general prosperity of the city. 

In the year of 1856, R. A. Bonta entered the bank as Clerk. From this 
position he was promoted to Book-keeper and next to Teller, and in 1864 
was made Cashier, which position he has since retained. Most of the active 
business manangement of the institution devolves upon him. 

The New York State Banking Company has kept its old location on the 
second floor of the Wieting Block, and its character as a thoroughly reliable 
and prosperous institution is fully established. 

The present ofificers of this bank are as follows: Nathan F.Graves, 
President; M. \V. Hanchett, Vice-President ; R. A. Bonta, Cashier. An- 
nexed is the statement of this bank dated January, 1890: 

RESOURCES. 

Loans and Discounts less due from directors % 463,761.98 

Due from Directors - - 20,809.40 

Overdrafts .-. 698.19 

Due from other Banks and Bankers — 31,980.96 

lionds and Mortgages, Stock and Bonds, Specie, Legal Tender Notes, Cash Items, 

Loss and E.xpense - -- - 30,664.99 

I 551,023.13 
MABILITIKS. 

Capital Stock paid in - $ 100,000.00 

Undivided Profits.. 33.157-58 

Due Depositors . 408,895.11 

Due Trust Companies, State and National Banks 8,970.44 

% 551,023.13 

First National Bank. — The National banking system of the country 
was inaugurated in 1863, at which time the Secretary of the Treasury re- 
quested a number of gentlemen of high financial standing to meet him in 
Washington for consultation. Among these men were Governor English, 

47 



370 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



of Connecticut, and E. B. Judson, of Syracuse. The meeting was product- 
ive of the object sought and Mr. Judson returned home, where he imme- 
diately inaugurated measures for the organization of a National Bank in 
this city. This First National Bank was the outcome of those measures 
and was the sixth National Bank organized in the United States. 

The original capital of this institution was $iOO,OCX3, which has since 
been increased to $250,000. When the organization was effected, Mr. Jud- 
son was chosen President and George B. Leonard, Cashier. These men 
have held the positions ever since, a period of more than twenty-five years. 
Mr. Judson had previously been connected with banking in Syracuse since 
1851, in connection with the Merchants' National Bank, the Trust and De- 
posit Co., the Bank of Syracuse, and the Salt Springs Bank, and is largely 
interested in various manufacturing industries, as appears in another chap- 
ter. He came to Syracuse from Constantia, where he had been engaged in 
the manufacture of lumber and iron. 

This Bank is located in the Onondaga Savings Bank Building, where 
apartments were fitted up for it when the building was erected. The 
following constitute the present Board of Directors i^ E. B. Judson, E. B. 
Judson Jr., Jacob Crouse, G. B. Leonard, E. F. Rice, C. W. Snow, Dennis 
McCarthy, John McCarthy, and E. F. Holden. Following is the report of 
the bank issued on September 30, 1890: 

RESOURCES. 

Loans and Discounts - $1,427,151.73 

Overdrafts - <J73- ' 7 

U. S. Bonds - - 50,000.00 

Stocks, Securities 06,356.25 

Due from approved Reserve -Xgents 79,562.31 

Due from other National, State and Private Banks and Hankers 68,085.77 

Other Real Estate and Mortgages Owned 4,698.20 

Current E.\penses and Ta.xes paid ^ 6,571.30 

E.xchanges for Clearing House.-. 35,074.64 

Bills of other Banks 6,300.00 

Specie 39.735-9f> 

Legal Tender Notes 22,500.00 

Redemption Fund 2,250.00 

1:1,809,259.27 
l.i.\nn.iTlES. 

Capital Stock paid in $ 250,000.00 

Surplus Fund 150,000 00 

Undivided Profits •- 63,624. 59 

Circulating Notes received from Comptroller 45,000.00 

Individual Deposits Subject to Check 1,273,204.68 

Due to other National Banks 23, 306. 5 1 

Due to State and Private Banks and Bankers 4,123.49 

$i,8o9,2|;9.27 





^«- c-/^ ^<»^ 



Till', RoiiF.RT Geri: Bank. 371 



Robert Gere Bank. — This thriving monetary institution was established 
May 8, 1880, with James J. Belden, President; A. Cadwell Belden, Vice- 
President : Frederick \V. Barker, Cashier. The first Board of Directors 
were: James J. Belden. A. C. Belden, Alvin J. Belden, Martin A. Knapp, 
Samuel B. Lamed, William II. H. Gere, and N. Stanton Gere. The bank 
was located in the Lamed Building until June, 1888, when it was removed 
to the present handsome and convenient quarters in the new Snow Building. 
The number of Directors has since been reduced to five and the present 
Board is as follows : James J. Belden, A. Cadwell Belden, Alvin J. Belden, 
Martin A. Knapp, Frederick W. Barker. The officers are the same as when 
the bank was organized. 

The following statement shows the financial condition of the bank on 
Januarj' 1 1, 1890 : 

RESOURCES. 

Loans and Discounts less due from Directors .$1,642,813.97 

Due from Hanks, etc 148,229.07 

Banking House and Lot - --- 45,000.00 

Stocks and Bonds - - - 67. 539-67 

Specie - - 17,468.11 

Legal Tender Notes and Circulating Notes, Cash and Other Items 38, 776. 35 

Taxes I'aid and Current Expenses - 15,823.83 



$1,975,651.00 
LIABILITIES. 

Capital Stock paid in, in cash _ - - $ KXi.ooo.oo 

Surplus Fund 200,000.00 

Exchange, Interest, and Other I'rotits — 44,520.85 

Deposits subject to Check, Demand Certificates of Deposit, and Certified Checks 537,247.59 

Due Hanks, etc .-. 93,882.56 

Due Individuals and Corporations other than Banks and Depositors.. 1,000,000.00 



*l. 975. 651.00 

Third National Bank. — This bank .was organized in 1S63, but did not 
begin active business until January i, 1864. Its capital was placed at 
$150,000, which soon proved inadequate for its large business and it was 
increased in May, 1864, to $200,000. This was again necessaril)- increased 
to §300,000. The first Board of Directors were : John \V. Barker, James 
M. Munroe, Charles Pope, Allen Munroe, Timothy R. Porter, 11. \V. Van- 
Buren, Lucius Gleason, Frank Hiscock, and James Munroe, the latter being 
chosen the first President. He was succeeded by Allen Munroe, and in 
January, 1871, Lucius Gleason, the present incumbent of the oiifice, was 
elected. The first cashier was Francis H. Williams, who retained the posi- 
tion until Februar)', 1873, when George S. Leonard was appointed. He 
was succeeded by Henry Lacy, the present Cashier. The bank was located 
in the White Memorial Building, until 1887, when its own splendid block 



372 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

was erected, corner of Salina and James streets. Its present quarters are 
not excelled by any in the city. The present officers ofthe bank are : Lu- 
cius Gleason, President ; William K. Niver, Vice-President ; Henry Lacy, 
Thomas MoUoy, Louis Marshall, George H. McChesney, William Gleason, 
Orson C. Gleason, Jacob Amos, Directors. Lucius Gleason is one of the 
oldest bankeis in the city. His whole life has been passed in business pur- 
suits and since 1842 he has been largely identified with the salt industry. 
During late years the greater share of his attention has been given to this 
prosperous bank. 

Following is a statement of the Bank under date of December, 1890: 

RESOURCES. 

Loans and Discounts # 807,982.10 

Overdrafts, secured and unsecured 505-70 

U.S. Bonds - - 375,000.00 

Due from approved Reserve Agents 110,748.69 

Due from other Banks... - 68,457.70 

Banking House and Fi.xtures, Real Estate and Mortgages (kj.ooo.oo 

Current Expenses and Taxes Paid - 674.61 

Checks, Clearing House Exchanges, Bills of other Banks, Specie, Legal Tender Notes, 

Redemption Fund, etc --- 81,988.87 

1^1,508,357.67 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital Stock, paid in - ....| 400,000.00 

Surplus Fund 60,000,00 

Undivided Profits 13.922-59 

National Bank Notes outstanding - 292,500.00 

Individual Deposits, Demand Certificates of Deposit, and Certified Checks 520,042,26 

United States Deposits 54>765.95 

Deposits of U. S. disbursing officers 308.44 

Due to other National Banks 62,276.63 

Due to State Banks and Bankers - 104.54182 

|l. 508,357.67 

The State Bank of Syracuse.— TWk institution was organized under the 
general banking law and began busine.ss on the 1st of February, 1873. The 
paid-up capital was $100,000. The officers of this bank are : Francis Hen- 
dricks,' President ; George Barnes, Vice-President; Jonathan C. Chase, 
Cashier; Francis Hendricks, George Barnes, Frank Hiscock, James Barnes, 
Frank H. Hiscock, George E. Dana, and Albert K. Hiscock directors. The 
bank is in the Syracuse Savings Bank Building. Its surplus on the ist of 
January, 189O, was over $800,000. The active management of the bank is 
with Mr. Chase, the Cashier, under the counsel of an Executive Committee 
consisting of Francis Hendricks, Frank Hiscock, and James Barnes. Mr. 
Chase has been connected with the banking interests of Syracuse for about 
thirty years, having been Teller of the Mechanics' Bank until it went into 
liquidation. He was elected Cashier of the State Bank of Syracuse in 
1881. This bank transacts a general business and, by its good business 



The Bank of Syracuse. 373 

methods and careful attention to the interests of its customers, has gained 
an excellent reputation. 

The Bank of Syracuse. — This prosperous financial institution was or- 
ganized under the banking law of the State of New York in the spring of 
1884, and began business on the ist day of May of that year. Its capital 
was placed at $125,000, with an authorized capital of $500,000, and there 
has been no change in this respect. The bank began business in rooms in 
the Larned Building, where it remained until October, 18SS, when its rap- 
idly increasing business warranted its seeking more commodious and con- 
venient quarters. These were found on the second floor of the White Me- 
morial Building, where it has since remained. The officers elected at the 
organization of the bank were as follows: Directors, Manning C. Palmer, 
Alva W. Palmer, John Dunn, jr., Lyman C. Smith, J. William Wilson, 
Wilber S. Peck, Charles P. Clark, Theodore L. Poole, Charles M. Crousej 
Salem Hyde, and Henry H. Clark. This Board elected Manning C. Palmer, 
President; John Dunn, jr., Vice-President; J. William W^ilson, Secretary. 
F. C. Eddy was made Cashier. All of these officials still hold their respect- 
ive positions. Mr. Palmer is a business man of forty years of experience 
and has shown himself a financier of exceptional ability. In these respects, 
as well as in his other relations with the community, he occupies an enviable 
station. This is indicated by the remarkable prosperity of the institution 
of which he is the head. In connection with his associates he has directed 
its large business to the entire satisfaction of its stockholders and custom- 
ers. The following statement shows the present condition of this bank: 

RESOLRL-KS. 

Cash, Checks, etc I 62,873.10 

Hills Discounted _ -04, 238.47 

Stocks and Bonds 4.383.34 

Expense 240.40 

Furniture and Fixtures i^ 500.00 

Real Estate 8,588.44 

Due from Hanks. 95,881.09 

$ 877,704.84 
I.IABIl.lTIKS. 

Capital f 125.000.00 

Individual Deposits 664,272.01 

Surplus and profits 53,047.40 

Duel5anks 35.384-53 

I 877,704.84 
Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga. — This Banking Institution 
has a sphere of business somewhat peculiar. The company is authorized 
by its charter to act as agent, receiver, executor, administrator, guardian, 
treasurer, assignee or trustee, either by power of attorney or appointment 
of court. The duties of administrator and executor have extensively fallen 
to it, and it is well fitted to act in this capacity from its capital and surplus, 



374 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

which is pledged for its trust funds, its absence of personal interest and 
its command of time to devote to such business. Having all the rights 
and privileges of a Savings Bank, it designs to go farther and provide safe 
receptacles for money, bonds, and other valuables, for safe keeping. 

The Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga was organized in 1869, 
with Dudley P.Phelps, President; Daniel P. Wood and E. B. Judson, 
Vice-Presidents; Matthew J. Myers, Secretary. The offices of this com- 
pany are in the Syracuse Savings Bank Building, but were originally in the 
Onondaga County Bank Building. For a small consideration the company 
guarantees absolute safety to money and valuables left in their care, for 
which purpose vaults of the most perfect character are provided and fitted 
with all modern appliances in the way of time locks, etc. The vaults con- 
tain separate safes, and these are subdivided into many apartments, each 
being provided with lock and check lock. These safe boxes are rented at a 
trifling cost and are placed under the absolute control of persons leasing 

them. 

In addition to this peculiar function, the company, as a savings bank, 
receives deposits in sums of five cents and upwards, monthly interest on 
all sums being compounded every six months. The company has a paid- 
up capital and surplus of $186,000, one-half of which is deposited with the 
Superintendent of the Banking Department of the State. The present 
officers of the company are as follows: George Barnes, President ; James 
Barnes, Secretary ; Trustees, John N. Babcock, Martin A. Knapp, Frank 
Hiscock, Thomas MoUoy, J. G. Wynkoop, George Barnes, Alfred Mercer, 
D. P. Wood. The following is a recent statement of this institution : 

RESOURCES. 

United States Bonds ---* 126,000.00 

Bonds and Mortgages - 141,12500 

Loans on Calls.-.. ( Secured by t_ 3f>5.33l-07 

Loans on Time.... '( Collater.-.! * -- 40,000.00 

Stock and Bond Investment --- - 176.618.36 

Accrued I nterest on above 10, 868. 59 

Safes in Vault 1,000.00 

Cash with New York Correspondents 86,198.38 

Cash with State liank of .Syracuse 779.871-89 

Cash in Vault - 59.178.83 

11,786.192.12 
i.iAiiii.i riKs. 
Due Depositors with interest to date $1,599.578. 66 

Capital and Surplus - ---- * 186,613.46 

Otwndaga County Savings Bank.— A special charter for this bank was 
granted by the Legislature in 1855. The amount of good accomplished by 
savings banks, in Syracuse as well as elsewhere, in fostering economy and 



TiiK Onondacia County Savings Bank. 375 



frugality, can hardly be estimated ; and the statement is especially] true 
of this old and honorable institution. During the thirty-five years of its 
existence it has been a conservator of the public welfare in many directions 
The original incorporators of this bank were Allen Munroe, James L. 
Bagg, Robert G. Wynkoop. George Barnes, Perry Burdick, James Foran, 
John \V. Barker, Daniel 1*. Wood, William E. Abbott, Harlow W. Chitten- 
den, Isaac H. Bronner, Charles F. Williston, Edward S. Dawson, John 
Yorkey, Levi W. Hall, Cornelius L. Alvord, and John Fitzgerald. The 
first President was Allen Munroe, and the first Treasurer, S. H. Slosson. 
Mr. Munroe remained President until 1876, when he was succeeded by Daniel 
P. Wood. Mr. Slosson was succeeded as Treasurer, by Dudley P. Phelps, 
and he by Edward S. Dawson, who now holds the office. Mr. Dawson is 
one of the veteran business men of the city and for twenty-one years has been 
prominently connected with this institution. The first business place was 
over the old No. 16 South Salina street, whence it removed to the Syracuse 
House Block and remained there until it took possession of its building. The 
structure is one of the finest in the city and was built of Onondaga lime- 
stone, at a cost, including the lot, of about $300,000. The condition of the 
bank on the ist of January, 1890, is show by the following statement : 

RESOURCES. 

Bonds and Mortgages l5,303.73l-35 

U. S. Bonds ---- --- 1,572.750.00 

Other Bonds - - 1,293,782.20 

Banking House and Other Real Estate 1 237,000.00 

Cash in Banks and Trust Companies - 526,658.01 

Cashon Hand 84,329.17 

Loans on Call, Accrued Interests, etc - -- -- 1 57.' 82. 22 

*9.i75.432-y5 
l.LMill.niES. 

Due Depositors - $7.903.Si3<'7 

Another Liabilities -- 2,800.00 



#7,906,613.07 
Net Surplus .$1,268,819.88 

The present officers of the bank are as follows : D. P. Wood, Presi- 
dent ; Robert G. Wynkoop and J. W. Barker, Vice-Presidents; Charles 
Franchot, Secretary; Edward S. Dawson, Treasurer; Clinton T. Rose, As- 
sistant Treasurer; Lester J. Greenwood, Paying Teller; Nathan R. Colton, 
Receiving Teller. Trustees, Robert G. VV'ynkoop, Charles L. Stone, John 
W. Barker. Charles F. Williston, Daniel P. Wood, Thomas Molloy, Charles 
Franchot, William E. Abbott, George F. Comstock, Edward S. Dawson, 
George B. Kent, Rasselas A. Bonta, J. Dean Hawley, P'rancis E. Carroll, 
William H. Warner, Alva W. Palmer, Anson N. Palmer. 

The Syracuse Savings Bank. — This is one of the soundest and most 
successful financial institutions in the State, and was incorporated March 



376 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



30, 1849, by ^^^ following persons: Harvey Baldwin, Moses D. Burnet, 
James Lynch, George Saul, John H. Burnet, Johnson Hall, Harvey 
Rhoades, Philander W. Fobes, John B. Wicks. William W. Teall, Thomas 
B. Fitch, Thomas T. Davis, James G. Tracy, Elias W. Leavenworth, Geo. 
F. Comstock, Henry Gifford, Thomas Bennet, and William Clarke. At 
the first meeting of the Board of Trustees, Harvey Baldwin was elected 
President of the bank, and James Lynch and E. W. Leavenworth, \"\ce- 
Presidents. On the 5th of June, 1.S49, the bank was temporarily located 
in the ofifice of W. W. Teall, corner of Fayette and Grape streets, and on 
the 20th of November, 1850, the corner room of the old Bastable Block 
was leased until the following May, and in the spring of 1851, the bank 
was removed to the southwest corner of the old Bastable Block. Mr. Bas- 
table demanded possession of these rooms in the spring of 1854, and the 
bank was removed to the apartments that had been occupied by the Syra- 
cuse City Bank, in the Noxon Block, on North Salina street. In April, 
1862, the Trustees purchased the Star Building, a four-story brick .structure 
which stood on the site of the present bank building, at a cost of $15,500 
and the north half of the first floor was fitted up for the bank, the remain- 
der of the building being leased to various tenants. In the fall of that 
year the bank occupied its new quarters. 

By the year 1871 the deposits of the bank had reached the sum of near- 
ly one and a half million dollars, and it became apparent to the Board that 
not only larger accommodations for its growing business, but safer vaults 
were absolute necessities. After efforts to find a more suitable site, it was 
finally decided that no better one was obtainable and steps were taken to- 
wards the erection of a new building. In that year (1871) the two lots ad- 
joining the bank property on the east were purchased for $20,000 and still 
another lot was bought a little later in the year for $10,000. A Building 
Committee of five (L. W. Leavenworth, then President, T. B. Fitch, N. F. 
Graves, E. P. Glass, and Lyman Clary; was promptly appointed. In the 
spring of 1874 the lot and store still farther east on James street were pur- 
chased at a cost of $14,000 and in the fall of that year the Building Com- 
mittee visited several eastern cities to inspect notable buildings and were 
thus enabled to decide upon the general structure they would erect. The 
plans of Architect J. L. Silsbee were accepted in February, 1875, and the 
corner store of the Empire House was taken temporarily by the bank. 
Here the institution remained until June, 1876, when it was removed to its 
present spacious and handsome quarters. The contract for the building 
was let to John Moore, of Syracuse, and cost as it now stands, $350,000. 
Harvey Baldwin resigned the presidency of the bank in January, 1859, ^"<^ 
James Lynch was elected. In January, 1862, Mr. Lynch declined a re-elec- 
tion and E. W. Leavenworth was elected. He held the position until Feb- 



TiiK ONONnAc;A Cuuntv Savincs Hank. 377 



ruary, 18S3, when he resigned after a long and eminently successful admin- 
istration of the affairs of the bank. The present President, Charles P. 
Clark, a business man of long experience and high standing, was elected to 
the vacancy. The statement of this bank under date of January i, 189O, 
is as follows: 

RESOURCES. 

Bonilsand Mortgages.... - - 13,479,83516 

Other Bonds -- - 1.427,31224 

Banking House and \x,t ■ - 225,000.00 

Cash on Deposit in Banks and Trust Companies 597,425-13 

Cashonlland - - -- 30,179-20 

.\11 other Assets, including Call Loans and Accrued Interest --- 199,484.51 

$5,959,236-24 

I.lAIilLiriES. 

Amount due Depositors - -15, 255,820.46 

Another Liabilities -.-- -- - - 3.665-90 

Surplus - ---- - 699,749-88 

$5,959,236-24 

Following are the present officers of the bank: Charles P. Clark, Presi- 
dent ; William Brown Smith, \'ice-President ; Nathan F. Graves, 2d Vice- 
President ; A. F. Lewis, Secretary and Treasurer; Frank II. Hiscock, At- 
torney ; Trustees, William Brown Smith, Oliver C. Potter, Alfred A. How- 
lett, Nathan F. Graves, Nicholas Peters, Charles P. Clark, Frank Hiscock, 
A. J. Northrup, James J. Belden, W. H. H. Gere, John Lighton, Francis 
Hendricks, Amos L. Mason, II. J. Mowry, F. D. Dickinson, Austin C. 
Chase, John Dunn, Jr. 

Besides the above described financial institutions, there have been 
two others that met with disaster. These were the Wilkinson Bank, an 
account of which has been given on an earlier page of this work, and the 
People's Savings Bank, which failed in the year 1872 and paid only about 
sixty-five cents on the dollar to its depositors. 



48 



378 Memukial Histukv ok Syracuse. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



TllK SALT INPrsTRV. 

Salt in Olden Days— The Discovery of the Onondaga Salt Springs— The First Known Source 
of Salt Away from the Sea Coast— Comfort Tyler's Primitive Salt Works— Isaac Van Vleck's Oper- 
ations—The Geddcs Works— The Federal Company— Elisha and Dioclesian Alvord— The Kstablish- 
ment of Larger Blocks— The Early Methods of Boiling— The First Wells— Relations of the Stale 
to the Salt Lands— Improvements in Processes— Early Markets for Salt— Statistics of Manufacture 
— Organization of Companies— Present and Future of the Industry. 



I 



N the early days of our National history, the population being confined 
, to the sea-coast, or sparsely scattered over the narrow strip of land be- 
tween it and the Alleghanies, was supplied with its salt (almost as necessary 
as air and water) either by that made from ocean water, or imported from 
Europe and the West Indies; the great cost of transportation, the infre- 
quency of ocean traffic, and the necessity of employing all labor to the 
clearincr of forests and the production of food, made salt a costly article to 
the dweller by the sea, while the difficulties, trials and dangers of interior 
traffic enhanced its value to almost its weight in gold, to the distant and 
remote settler in the wilderness. And right here, there is a full and start- 
ling parallel from the experience of modern times. During the war of the 
Rebellion, cut off by the close blockade of their coast from importation, 
and from their few and limited supplies from domestic sources, by the suc- 
cessful raids of the Union forces, the people of the South suffered untold 
miseries in their deprivation of this article ; or, when enabled to gather a 
scanty and temporary supply from the distilled brine of their pork and fij-h 
barrels, or from other equally precarious sources, the price could not be 
paid in Confederate currency, but only in gold of almost equal weight with 
this article of precious necessity. 

Up to the time of the Revolutionary war, the population of the State 
of New York had spread over but little territory beyond points where 
short land carriage or water routes permitted comparatively easy commu- 
nication with the Hudson river and the ocean ; northward to Lake Cham- 
plain, westward to Fort Stanwix and east to the boundary line between this 
State and New England. In this space was concentrated almost our entire 
population, then not exceeding 300,000 in number. Slowly the tide of 
emigration spread westward, to join the men of the Mohawk Valley to 
the few stragglers on the borders of Lakes Erie and Ontario. 

In 1794 the County of Onondaga was erected from the western end of 
Herkimer County, and then contained within its borders a territory out of 
which afterwards were erected the counties of Cayuga, Seneca, Cortland. 



DiSCOVKKV OK TIIK SaI.T Sl'UlNf.S. 379 

and Tompkins, and part of Oswego; but prior to that time, while it was 
part of the county of Herkimer, the white people had become aware of the 
fact that a tribe of Indians called Onondagas were making salt for their 
own use at Salt Springs near their place of residence around Onondaga 
Lake. Some of this salt had in small quantities been carried by the Mo- 
hawk Indians and Indian traders to the city of Albany. 

Tradition among the Indians dates back the knowledge by white men of 
the existence of these springs as early as the middle of the sixteenth century, 
when it is said that a party of Spaniards traveled from Florida to the sup- 
posed .silver beds on Onondaga lake, the Indians having told them that at 
that point a shining white sub.stance covered the ground. The Spaniards 
found the substance to be not silver, but salt, made by the action of the sun 
on the receding waters of the salt springs, which flowed freely in the wet 
season, but became dry during the summer heat. 

Father LeMoyne, one of the French Jesuits from Quebec, came to On- 
ondaga early in the seventeenth century and, it is .said, taught the Indians 
the uses of salt, who up to that time had regarded the springs as inhabited 
by bad .spirits, and consequently avoided them. The latter part of this 
statement is probably untrue, for it is well known that ages before, the 
nomads, or wandering tribes of Asia, and the negroes of Africa (the latter 
intellectually far below the North American Indian.s) knew of and used the 
article; and why should not the Indian have profited by the knowledge 
that wild animals and birds compas.sed great distances to enjoy the .salubrity 
and life-sustaining properties of .so-called salt licks, .scattered bountifully by 
a wise Hencfactor over all countries, and that around such places of their 
resort he could most surely capture them in the chase. But nine years be- 
fore LeMoyne, in 1645, Father Jerome L'Allemant, another Jesuit, visited 
the Onondagas and described the salt springs as bordered with a crust of 
fine salt. In 1656-7 the Jesuits undertook to establish a mission station 
among the Onondagas, details of which and its failure will be found in an 
earlier chapter of this work, and when they returned to Montreal they car- 
ried back with them specimens of salt and a full account of the .salt springs, 
and of its manufacture and use by the Indians. 

The salt springs of Onondaga were the first known sources of salt in the 
United States, away from the sea coast, and the general knowledge of their 
discovery, while it did not precede the first permanent white settlement in 
this county, hastened immigration rapidly. The settlements were for a 
time confined in the main to the bluffs overlooking the springs, and long 
before the classical nomendature of that good man, Simeon DeWitt, 
Surveyor-General, was sown broadcast over the central part of the State, 
the hardy pioneers of the salt works had styled their hamlet overlooking 
lake Onondaga, " Salt Point," an appropriate though not a classical name, 
and one which the more euphonious name, Salina, could not eradicate; 



3So Memorial History of Syracuse. 

and even now that it is swallowed up by, and is a beautiful part of, the 
Central City, " Syracuse," yet still in the recollection and speech of many 
of the old inhabitants and their salt-trading visitors, " Salt Point with the 
echo still resounds." 

The region to which the springs were mostly confined lay around the 
head of Onondaga lake in somewhat the shape of a half moon, the con- 
cave side abutting on the lake, though the salt waters reached on the side 
on the northeast down the lake for about three miles, to where is now the 
village of Liverpool. All of this ground was a low-lying swamp covered 
with a growth of pine, .sedge, and cedars. The soil was a treacherous quag- 
mire, raised but little above the normal level of the lake, and overflown by 
the least rise of its waters back to the surrounding uplands, a distance vary- 
ing from one-half of one to two or three miles. 

The first salt from the waters for the use of resident white people was 
made by Comfort Tyler and Asa Danforth in the year 17S8, the first year 
of their settlement in Onondaga Hollow, or Valley. Comfort Tyler, under 
the guidance of an Indian, went down Onondaga creek in a canoe to the 
lake, and thence east along its shore a short distance, up a stream called 
Mud creek to the spring. Mud creek was then a considerable stream, 
draining from the east a large portion of the low lands of the present towns 
of Cicero and Salina. This stream, now almost wholly extinct, discharged 
into the lake near where the line of Mechanic street (now Lodi) would, if 
extended, strike it ; and the spring where Tyler and Danforth made their 
first salt was on the bank of the creek about in the line of Salina street. 
Shortly after the Indian had pointed out the spot, Tyler and Danforth, 
carrying on their shoulders their largest cooking kettle and bags for the 
salt when made, and also an axe and a chain, cut their wood and put up old- 
fashioned crotches \\ith a pole across, hung their kettle with the chain and 
filling it with salt water from the spring, made by boiling about a dozen 
bushels of salt, and hiding their kettle and chain in the bush they carried 
on their backs to their homes the salt thus procured. In the next year a 
man named Nathaniel Loomis brought a few four-pail kettles from the east 
by the way of Oneida lake and boiled salt water enough to produce a con- 
siderable quantity of salt for sale, which he disposed of for a large price. 

In 1792, Mr. Isaac Van Vleck, coming here from Kinderhook, brought 
with him and used the first potash or salt kettle set in an arch in which salt 
was made at these springs. 

It seems proper here to revert to the ownership of the lands by the 
whites in this vicinity, mainly confined to the immediate surroundings of 
Onondaga lake. The tribe of Indians, (one of the Si.x Nations,) the On- 
ondagas, were in possession. During the revolutionary struggle they fought 
on the side of Great Britain, but notwithstanding this, the State of New 
York negotiated with them as an independant nation, for the ownership of 



Treaties with the Indians. 381 



their lands, and by a series of treaties became possessors of their country, 
reserving, however, for the Indians as a home what is now called the On- 
ondaga Indian Reservation, being about 7,000 acres of land lying in the 
present towns of Onondaga and Lafayette. The treaties of 1788 and 1795, 
more particularly related to the Onondaga salt springs and culminated in 
the final purchase by the State of that area of land known as the Onondaga 
Salt Springs Reservation, a plot containing about 10,000 acres and being 
about three and one-half miles wide on the southerly line, afterwards the 
town line between Salina and Onondaga, and bounded on the east and west 
by two converging lines running each side of Onondaga lake to the Seneca 
river, making its northerly boundary about three-quarters of a mile long. 
The first treaty made at Fort Stanwix { now Rome ) September 12, 17S8, 
ceded to the State all the lands of the Indians forever, excepting certain 
reserved tracts. Among other lands the Indians reserved the Salt (Onon- 
daga) lake and the land for one mile around the same, which " shall for- 
ever remain for the common benefit of the people of the State of New 
York and the Onondagasand their posterit\-, for the purpose of making salt, 
and shall not be granted or in any wise disposed of for other purposes." 

By the treaty at Cayuga Bridge, July 28, 1795, the Indians ceded to the 
State the exclusive control of the Salt Springs Reservation, including the 
lake, " in order to render the common right formerly reserved more produc- 
tive," but still dedicating it to the production of salt forever under the man- 
agement of the State. They also ceded that plot of land in the town of 
Onondaga now known as the Onondaga Reservation, and received from the 
State $500 for the common right and $200 for the Onondaga Reservation, 
with this stipulation : the State to pay annually forever thereafter to the 
tribe $700 and 150 bushels of salt on the first day of June in each year ; 
and the Indians receive to this day annually from the State this $700, di- 
vided among them per capita by their State Agent, and the Superintendent 
of the Onondaga Salt Springs delivers annually upon the rcfiuisition of the 
Chief of the tribe, their 150 bushels of salt. 

James Geddes came here in 1794 from Pennsylvania and established 
himself as a salt manufacturer on the southwest corner of the head of the 
lake under the bluff, (the village built in the vicinity being afterwards called 
Geddes,) but the Indians took umbrage and claimed that, by a tacit ar- 
rangement under the treaty of 1788, the " common right" had given to the 
white man the southeastern and to the Indians the southwestern end of the 
head of the lake, the division line being Onondaga creek. The difficulty 
was settled by adopting Mr. Geddes into the tribe, but the occurrence was 
undoubtedly the cause of the release by the Indians and the assumption 
by the State of full control under the treaty of 1795. The late Hon. Geo. 
Geddes, son of James Geddes, gives the following version of his father's 
trouble and settlement with the Indians: 



382 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



" In 1794, Judge James Cedcies constructed a salt work a mile or more to the southeast of that 
point, (Salt Point,) or what is properly the head of the lake. The Indians took exception to this, 
saying they owned one-half of the water and the white men the other half, and as the whites h.id 
taken possession on their sitle of the lake, they should keep away from the Indian's side. This grew 
into a difhculty threatening an attack on the part of the Indians. Judge deddes had proceeded too 
far with his work to be willing to give it up as a peace-offering to conciliate the wrath of his red 
neighbors. Presents were offered and conciliatory speeches made to induce them to surrender peace- 
fully ; but all seemed unavailing to compromise what they considered their right to the side of the 
lake which the Judge had occupied. I'inally, a happy method of solving the problem struck one of 
the Chiefs : 'Let us,' said he, 'adopt this pale-face into our tribe and then, being one of us, he will 
have a right to make salt on our side of the lake.' The proposition was unanimously adopted and 
Judge (leddes had the name, I)on-da-dah-gwah, conferred upon him, by which the Indians ever after 
addressed him. Thenceforth he made his salt in peace." 

It may be well to mention here that the Indians gave names in their 
language to many of the whites, both male and female, particularly those 
to whom they were friendly, which names were indicative of their apprecia- 
tion of some particular trait in each person which they liked ; by such 
names they would always afterward address them. Mr. Geddes continued 
the manufacture of salt until 179S, when he removed to Camillus. 

A large portion of the county of Onondaga as it existed when it was 
taken from Herkimer county, was soon after the revolutionary war, dedi- 
cated by the State as a reward for the services of its military contingent in 
that struggle. At the time when these lands were ordered to be surveyed 
and laid out into 600-acre lots for that purpose [1791-92] the Surveyor-Gen- 
eral was ordered to reserve from such dedication and lay out a sufficient 
area to secure all the salt springs around Onondaga lake in accordance with 
the stipulation in the Indian treaty of 17S8. 

During the remainder of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century, Thomas Orman, Simon I'haris, William Gilchrist, Elisha 
and Dioclesian Alvord, Fisher Curtis, Davenport Morey, Ichabod Brackett, 
Benajah Byington, Thomas Wheeler, Thomas McCarthy, and others, began 
the manufacture and sale of salt, and many of them also became local mer- 
chants. The State did not take formal possession and assert legal owner- 
ship of the salt springs until 1797. Prior to that time the salt was made 
under crude shanties covered with bark or hewn slabs, until Elisha Alvord, 
as one of the " Federal Company," and its Superintendent, erected a large 
frame building in which were placed eight blocks, each containing four 
60-gallon kettles, set in double arches, two kettles on a side From that 
time all fine or salt-boiling erections have been known as, and called, "Salt 
Blocks." The Federal Company was composed of the following men : Asa 
Danforth, Jedediah Sanger, Daniel Keeler, Thomas Mart, Ebenezer Butler, 
Hezekiah Olcott, and Elisha Alvord. Within a short time they sold out to 
Elisha and Dioclesian Alvord, who remained in copartnership until 1S13, 
and both were salt manufacturers for j-cars thereafter. 

At the beginning of the salt manufacture, and for many years subse- 
quent, the low, wet, marshy lands where the salt water was found, were the 



I'.AKi V CuNDirioxs oi- THE Sai/i Strings. 383 

hot beds of the most deadly miasmatic diseases, the death rate annually 
often exceeding thirty-three and one-third per cent, of the inhabitants, and 
not until there was thorough drainage and cultivation of the land and wid- 
ening and deepening of the outlet of the lake, insuring at all times a rapid 
and easy discharge of its waters into the Seneca river, did the inhabitants 
escape from an annual visitation of typhus, billious, and other fevers ; but 
for the last half century, with the exception of the Asiatic cholera of 1832, 
1833 and '34, the salt springs and surroundings will compare favorably as a 
healthy location with any other portion of the State. 

Prior to 1797, each person was a squatter, planting his kettles at the 
place most convenient to the shallow hole from which he first dipped, and 
afterwards pumped by hand, his salt water. The kettles were of capacity 
varying from twenty to forty gallons, picked up wherever found, and brought 
up the Mohawk and through Wood Creek, down Oneida lake and river, up 
the Seneca river and Onondaga lake by boat, as there were no roads over 
which such heavy articles could be transported. Before the end of the 
century an iron furnace at Taberg, Oneida county, near Rome, manufactured 
for the salt works, kettles of a capacity of sixty or seventy gallons, very 
heavy and costing at that time more than thrice as much as the present 
kettle of one hundred and fifty gallons capacity and weighing no more. 
Later a large portion of the kettles came from a furnace which had been 
erected at Constantia, on Oneida lake. For many years in the past, kettles 
of the present fashion have been cast at the foundries in the city of Syracuse. 

It has heretofore been said that the salt springs, when first known to the 
whites, bubbled up and ran over the surface of the ground, but, as it was 
found by observation, never as the fresh water springs, continuously or in 
such volume as to make rivulets or water-ways ; but the salt water was so 
near the surface that the weight of long continued rain or damp weather 
would cause it to burst forth and cover the ground, while returning warm 
and dry weather seemed to depress it below the surface. Accordingly, 
when first used by the settlers, the water was dipped from shallow pits, and 
as the demand for its use increased, the pits were made larger and deeper 
and the pump took the place of the dipper and the pail. Soon the estab- 
lishment of permanent blocks and their increase calling for united action, 
the persons engaged in the business in " Salt Point" combined to dig a well 
and curbed it with wood. This well was nearly opposite the present State 
pumjj house in the First ward, just across the side-cut canal, north of it, and 
was fourteen feet long, ten feet wide, and twenty-five feet deep. In it was 
placed a pump the pipe of which reached up into the air about twenty feet 
and around this was a platform elevated high enough to stand upon and 
work the handle of the pump. From the platform to each of the different 
salt blocks ran V-shaped troughs, so fixed as to be attached, when necessary, 
to the spout and when not wanted, laid on the platform. In each of the 



3S4 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



salt blocks and lying along-side of the kettles, was a reservoir or cistern 
made from a huge white wood, dug out like an Indian canoe. The salt boiler 
would climb a ladder to the platform, adjust his trough and pump his re- 
quired supply of salt water, and returning, dip it as wanted from his reser- 
voir into his kettles. This method was in use as late as 1817. Shortly 
afterward horie-power was introduced and tradition says that Ashbel Kel- 
logg, afterwards a distinguished and prominent citizen, commenced his pub- 
lic career as the driver of the horse. The next step in the direction of 
progress was to force as far as possible into the ground, a wooden tube, 
afterwards followed by the use of cast iron tubes made in sections of about 
two feet in length, joined and held together by a slot and bolt. In 1841, 
on account of the great cost of the tubing and its liability by reason of its 
weight to sink and pull apart, the iron was abandoned and wooden tubing 
was introduced. It was made of bored maple or beech, eight inches diam- 
eter in the bore, and the outside turned down smoothly to a uniform width 
of fourteen inches, and connected by doweling together the sections eight 
feet in length, and held in place by iron bands set in recesses made at the 
ends of the sections, so that the entire line of the shaft would be smooth 
and offer no extra obstruction to the sinking of the tubing. Sand pumps 
were used to lift from the interior of the shaft, as it was forced into the 
ground by pressure, the loose sand, or the clay and stone broken up by the 
drill chisel. The same method has since been applied with great success to 
the sinking of wrought iron tubing in sections of from twelve to sixteen feet 
in length, screwed into a band lapping the joints, and making a much 
;heaper, lighter, and firmer tube or well-shaft. These various steps of pro- 
gress have grown out of the need of more salt water and the necessity of 
finding it as deep as possible, because of its consequent increased strength 
and greater value. The history of the progress of the manufacture may be 
read in the depth and number of the wells which have been and are now on 
the Reservation, beginning with the single hole in the ground in 1792 and 
ending in 1889 with at least twenty wells averaging a little less than four 
hundred feet in depth. The salometer is an instrument for measuring 
the density of the water, indicating the value or amount of .salt held in 
solution. There was no salometer in existence until comparatively lately; 
but calculating the strength of the brine from the yield of salt from a cord 
of wood in the early days of the century, it would lead to the conclusion 
that the brine of to-day is more than two hundred and fifty per cent, 
stronger than then. 

Prior to the purchase by the State in 1825 of all the means for procur- 
ing and distributing the brine, it permitted the diversion of a stream called 
Yellow Brook from its natural course, for the purpose of propelling the 
pumps at Salina, and a little later had authorized and required the Canal 
Commissioners to divert a portion of the waters of the canal to the same 



c 




'^^ 



The Question of Prior Rights. 385 



purpose ; authority at the same time being given to bring compensating 
water from Butternut creek into the canal. Under the supervision of Simon 
Ford, duly appointed by the Governor and Senate for that work, the State 
undertook the business of supplying brine and from time to time thereafter 
large reservoirs were built and pump-houses in addition to the one at Salina 
wore established at Syracuse, Geddes, and Liverpool. The machinery in 
the first three was driven by water from the canal, and in Liverpool by 
steam. Pumps of large power were erected, new wells bored and every- 
thing done to assure, if possible, a suflRcicnt quantity and improved quality 
of water. 

From the very beginning of the use of salt water there had been local 
strife and contention about " prior rights." The State had endeavored to 
settle the controversy, both by statute and by arbitration of authorized 
commissioners; but the failure, in whole or in part, of wells put down in 
Geddes and Liverpool, after costly investments had been made at these 
points, and the creation by the State of additional fine salt blocks at Salina 
and Syracuse, coupled with the growing demands of the rapidly-increasing 
coarse salt fields, had far outstripped the efforts, by means of new wells, to 
supply all. In 1 S25, under a provision of law, the parties aggrieved appealed 
from the decision of the Superintendent and Inspector to the Judge of the 
Seventh Judicial District. Enos T. Throop, then such Judge, made a decis- 
ion upon that appeal, by dividing all the then salt erections into twenty- 
three classes, each entitled, as numbered in the order, to its needed quota of 
salt water, to the exclusion of all classes behind it, and future erections to 
take the surplus, if any, in the order of the time of their erection. Under 
this decision, while there was often giumbling and contention, the efforts 
of the State officers and their success, in the main, in adding to the supply 
of salt water, gradually settled strife, and when the codified law of 1859 
was passed, putting all the erections then in existence on an equal footing, 
with the power to the Superintendent to discriminate in the months of July 
and August in each year in favor of the coarse salt fields, it was with some 
reluctance accjuiesced in; the parties interested, no doubt, being inclined 
thereto by the fact that their leases from the State expired that year, and 
they were then asking for a renewal for another thirty years. Since that 
time, while all may not have been at all times supplied with saltwater, there 
has been sufficient out of which the manufacturers could and did make 
each year all of the salt and more than was wanted for the legitimate 
markets of the springs. 

Keeping pace with the rapid improvements of an inventive age, by the 
use of steam, by the direct application of power to the pump over the well, 
in the exchange of indestructible iron aqueduct tubing for conveyance of 
salt water, in place of decaying and weak wood, and in many other appli- 
ances of a useful nature, the system of furnishing the salt water to the 
manufacturers now leaves nothing to be desired. 
49 



386 Memorial History ok Syracuse. 



There has ever been among the citizens of this locality a belief that the 
saline strength of the waters of the springs indicated a close proximity of 
underlying beds of salt, and naturally taking the depression of the land on 
which the springs are found as an indication, it was thought by many that 
these beds of salt lay deep below the bottom of the lake, or in its im- 
mediate vicinity. Benajah Byington, an uncle of the wife of the late 
Superintendent Kirkpatrick, influenced by the frequent bowl-shaped de- 
pressions on the hills in the eastern part of what is now the Second ward 
of the city, thought that the washing out of the rock salt had caused these 
sink holes, from whence the water impregnated by it had flowed into the 
valley around the lake. On that theory he obtained in 1820, the enactment 
of a law securing to himself valuable rights in the premises, provided he 
reached the salt. He began drilling in that locality and persisted in his 
efforts to strike the supposed salt beds intermittingly for over a dozen years, 
until driven from his work by lack of means and the decrepitude of age. 
He succeeded, however, in pushing his drill to a depth of about three hun- 
dred feet before the final abandonment of the undertaking. 

During the superintendency of Dr. Rial Wright, 1836-7, under a law of 
the State, a shaft was sunk on the north side of Free street in the First 
ward, near the present pump house and under the Jerry Barnes block; but 
it was stopped without result at a depth of six hundred feet, as required by 
the law. In the year 1867 the Salt Company of Onondaga caused a well 
to be bored near Liverpool to a depth of seven hundred and fifteen feet, 
for the purpose of either reaching stronger brine or salt in place ; but the 
effort failed. In 1883, Thomas Gale, a large and wealthy coarse salt manu- 
facturer, sank a well on the highlands near the Liverpool road and his 
works, to a depth of sixteen hundred feet, and succeeded only in obtaining 
a water slightly brackish, but highly charged with the chlorides of calcium 
and magnesium. In 1884, Peter J. Brumelkamp, the present Superintend- 
ent, sank a shaft in an abandoned salt well on the west bank of Onondaga 
creek, near the road leading across the marsh from the First ward to Geddes, 
to a depth of nineteen hundred and sixty feet, with no satisfactory results. 
These various trials have demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that 
the basin of Onondaga lake, with its low surroundings, is merely a reser- 
voir filled up with the accumulated drift of past ages, and holding in its 
grip above the underlying rock, the flow of water weighted with the .salt 
from some deep deposit of that material south or east of this locality. 

Henry Stevens was appointed Superintendent of the Onondaga Salt 
Springs June 20, 1797, and remained as such until his death in 1801. The 
State sent with their Superintendent a surveyor, who laid out the land con- 
tiguous to the springs into 15-acre marsh lots, Sand 7-acre pasture lots, 
and lots running from the marsh adjacent to the springs up the hill suffi- 
ciently large for salt works on the marsh and a store and dwelling house on 



Regulations Governing the Manuiactukf. 387 



the blutf, and to each salt manufacturer was given a lease of one of each of 
these lots. The first lease ran for three years, expiring in 1801, after which 
the leases were for seven years, and were renewed in 1808 for twenty-one 
years, up to and until 1829, when the term was extended to thirty years. 
In 1859 the leases were made for another thirty years, expiring June 20, 
18S9, since which date there has been no renewal. The State preparing to 
sell and selling, in 1822 all the lands except those reserved for the manu- 
facture of salt, the leases since that time were confined to the salt lots alone. 
These leases have reference to fine salt lots only, the coarse salt lands, as 
will be shown later on, being held under an entirely different tenure. 

Up to 1822, the State gave to these lessees full permission to dig for and 
use salt water, to procure from the salt reservation timber for building and 
for fuel for making salt, or for any other purpose desired, providing such 
consumption and use was limited to the reservation and not elsewhere ; the 
State, as its remuneration, charging a duty of four cents a bushel of fiftv-six 
pounds, (which was the statute bushel,) for all salt made. Each manufac- 
turer was to make at least ten bushels of salt annually for each kettle of his 
block or blocks, and in order to guard the interests of the State, any person 
not returning an account of his production at stated periods, or making less 
than the legally required amount, was to pay to the Superintendent two 
cents per month per gallon of the kettle capacity of his salt block, in lieu of 
the duty of four cents per bushel. Each person having in his spring, or 
water pit, more than sufficient water for his own use, was compelled to allow 
his neighbor to use the surplus. Shanties not being adapted to the storing 
of the salt, the State furnished storehouses in which the salt could be placed, 
the keys of which were in the custody of the Superintendent. Such stor- 
age was paid for by an addition of one cent per bushel to the duty, and the 
Superintendent could sell such .salt for the price of sixty cents per bushel, 
which was made the legal price for salt sold to inhabitants of the State, the 
State reserving the five cents and paying the fifty-five cents to the manu- 
facturer. If a person stored his own salt he was exempt from this storage 
charge of one cent per bushel, but the keys of his personal storehouse must 
be in the hands of the Superintendent. Shortly after this the power of 
sale was withdrawn from the Superintendent and he issued certificates of 
the quantity stored to each party storing the same, and these certificates 
passed from hand to hand the same as if they were money. Any party 
holding any such certificate could have and demand the amount certified 
from any salt in the State storehouse, no matter by whom it was made. 
The two storehouses of the State were an old block house erected in 1794 
as a protection against any hostilities of the Indians, and located near the 
northeast corner of the site of the present pump house in the First ward of 
the city, and the other storehouse was built on the bluff near the angle 
made by the tow-path of the canal and the Liverpool road. 



388 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

To aid in the transportation of salt, the State also built a wharf on Mud 
creek between the lines of Park and Salina streets, if extended, near where 
the old aqueduct of the tail-race of the Clark & Alvord saw mill afterward 
crossed the creek, and no salt was allowed to go by water from the reserva- 
tion, except from the State wharf. All barrels in which salt was packed 
were under the approval of the Superintendent, to be made of good sound 
white oak staves and heading, with round hoops, and water tight ; to be 
branded with the name of the manufacturer and the weight of salt marked 
by the Superintendent with a cutting or marking iron. The barrels used 
for years were mostly made along the West Genesee Turnpike, between 
Geddes and Camillus, which road for that reason was called for a long time 
by the inhabitants, " Cooper street." As the oak within easy reach disap- 
peared, pine and afterward hemlock was substituted for barrel timber, and 
the barrel-making was transferred to the low-lying lands of Salina and 
Cicero, and later across the Oneida river into the county of Oswego. For 
many years the settlers of these localities gave their attention almost wholly 
to the making of barrels. Felling the trees, they would draw them to the 
road fronting their log houses and rude cooper shops, with the inevitable 
tansy beds by their side. There they would saw, bolt, and rive out the 
staves and heading, and with draw-shaves fashion them into shape for the 
barrel ; and not more than sixty years since a journey on the " Salt Road," 
leading from Salina to Brewerton, would rarely disclose a frame building 
or a well cultivated farm ; but in front of the log cabin would rise a pile of 
refuse from the cooperage, making the only break in the gloom of the for- 
est and the mire of the highway. The only teams to be met as you went 
out on the road, would be the patient oxen drawing their load of from 
twenty-five to forty barrels, and on your return the same teams plodding 
slowly homeward, carrying their exchange in a little flour, pork, or beef, 
and a huge jug or barrel of whiskey. The story is told of a family of 
Schillings, coopers, near " Taft's Settlement," so-called, who would leave 
their full barrel of whiskey on the wagon with a tin cup near the spigot, 
free for all, and when the whiskey gave out, the wagon, again loaded with 
salt barrels, would be dispatched to town for another barrel. The whiskey 
of that day was the pure juice of the rye, not " doctored," and could be 
bought for ten or fifteen cents a gallon. Pine gave way slowly to hemlock 
and in a suit before a " Salt Point " Justice in 1833, for the non-fulfillment 
of a contract to deliver merchantable salt barrels, it was once for all settled 
that a well-made rived hemlock stave barrel was as good as a pine one and 
complied with the contract. The hemlock disappearing and inventions 
stepping forward to the aid of the cooper, barrels are now, and for some 
time have been, fashioned from machine-made staves and hoops, of any hard 
or soft wood suitable. The lands where coopers and whiskey once held 
sway are now valuable and fertile farms, and the homes of the inhabitants 



The Earlv Salt Markets. 389 

are substantial and often artistically built dwellings, while the cooper, 
eschewing whiskey, reaches by canal and rail his stock of materials, and 
within the bounds of the city makes and delivers his wares to the salt man- 
ufacturer. 

The only way for some years for the distribution of the manufacture, 
with the exception of a very limited home trade, was by water, and the 
manufacturers were authorized to dig canals from their blocks to Mud 
creek, so as to carry their salt by boat to the public wharf ; but no such 
canals were built and the stone-boat drawn by oxen, the only animal and 
vehicle which could be used on the treacherous marsh, carried the loads 
from the works to the landing, where it was placed in batteaux, or river 
boats, carryijig from twenty-five to forty barrels as a load, and then started 
for market. One route was through the lake and outlet, into and up Seneca 
river to and through the Cayuga and Seneca lakes and other inland waters, 
and the salt was often portaged over the divide between the waters running 
south and north, to Cortland, Elmira, and Olean. Loaded on rafts it was 
run to Chesapeake bay through the Susquehanna river, or down the Alle- 
ghany into the Ohio. To supply the region of the great lakes, the bat- 
teaux descended the Seneca river to the head of the rifts on the Oswego 
river, known then, as now, as Oswego falls ; there the salt was carried by a 
portage of about one and one-half miles to the still waters below the pres- 
ent village of Fulton, where, again loaded into boats, it descended the river 
to Oswego. From thence, placed aboard small schooners carrying from 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred barrels, it was distributed to the few 
and sparsely settled hamlets along the shores of Lake Ontario ; or, destined 
for Lake Erie, the lower lake vessels would unload at Queenston, and the 
salt, drawn by oxen, would be carted around Niagara falls to Chippewa and 
placed on other small schooners; it would then be towed up Niagara river 
to Black Rock, and thence by sail up the lake to points on lake Erie. 
Landed at Erie, it was often carried up a small creek to Meadville by boat 
and thence by pack mules to Pittsburg. Salt was also carried through lake 
Erie and up Detroit river to Detroit. Salt was sold in Detroit in 1799, by 
Elisha Alvord, while the stockaded town was still in possession of the 
British. He received cider in payment, made by the French liabitans from 
the fruit of their apple orchards on the shores and islands of Lake St. 
Clair, and carrying the cider back by vessel, portage, and vessel to Lake 
Ontario, he found for it a satisfactory market at Little York, now Toronto. 
Up to the war of 1812, most of the trade in sal( for Lake Erie was conducted 
by the firm of Porter & Barton, warehousemen and commission merchants 
at Black Rock. General Porter was one of the distinguished family of 
Porters, of Niagara Falls, noted in the history of the Niagara frontier. A 
large portion of the salt sold in Pennsylvania and Ohio was exchanged for 
cattle, which were either marketed in Philadelphia, or driven over the long 



390 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



distance, to grow and fatten on the rich grass of the county of Onondaga. 
The late Judge David Munroe, of Camillus, in conjunction with the Al- 
vords, made more than one trip of this kind. 

The traffic in salt by way of Oswego constantly increasing, a tavern was 
built at each terminus of the Oswego Falls portage and a regular business 
of haulage across the same was maintained by Messrs Lyon, McNair and 
others, of Oswego, continuing up to the final building and completion of the 
Oswego Canal in 1826-7. The men who sold their salt in Ohio and Penn- 
sylvania were often general merchants at " Salt Point." They took their 
money for cattle sold in Philadelphia, to New York and there purchased the 
goods needed for their stores at home and shipped them by sloop to Albany, 
and carted them thence to the Mohawk at Schenectady, where, transferred 
to river boats of five tons carrying capacity, the goods would be poled and 
trecked up the Mohawk river, around Little Falls, through the locks of the 
Western Inland Navigation Company, then again, near Rome, through a 
lock into Wood creek and Oneida lake ; then through said lake and Oneida 
river, to the confluence of that river and Seneca river, a place then and now 
called " Three River Point," where the confluence of the Oneida and Sen- 
eca rivers make the Oswego ; thence up the Seneca through the outlet of 
and through Onondaga lake to " Salt Point." The merchants would gener- 
ally follow their venture of salt until the goods thus obtained were landed 
at home, using up in the round trip over four months of the year. Making 
and packing the salt in the State store-houses in the winter, it would be em- 
barked on its voyage in June and the goods as a result would be ready for 
sale at " Salt Point " late in September or early in October. 

The settlers of the surrounding district of country, notably from Che- 
nango Valley, south, and from Oswego and Jefferson counties, north, owing 
to the absence or almost impassable condition of summer roads, came for 
their salt in the winter, and up to the time that rapid and easy communi- 
cation was had by canal and railroad, the first flake of snow, and until bare 
ground came again, would witness great caravans of sleighs from all quarters 
of the compass driving to their salt '"Mecca" for their annual supplies of 
this necessary article. They brought hardly money enough to pay the dues 
to the State, which would not allow its Superintendent to dicker, but with 
the manufacturer they were ready to exchange for salt, all articles of their 
make, whether vegetable, animal, or liquid — potatoes, turnips, wheat, rye, 
corn, flour and Indian meal, chickens, turkeys, pigs or beef, beeswax, butter, 
cheese, apples, cider and apple-brandy, woolen yarn, mittens, socks etc. 
Taverns and private houses were alike filled to repletion, but fortunately 
the horde brought their own dinner boxes, filled with provisions for them- 
selves, and oats in bags for their teams. The gradual improvement in roads, 
as the country grew older and more settled, distributed this trade more 
equally throughout the year. 



SUrERIXTENDENTS OF THE SaI.T SPRINGS. 3gl 



In 1 797, the first year of the administration of William Stevens and of 
the State, the manufacture of salt reached 25,474 bushels, and for the next 
three years an annual quantity of a trifle over 50,000 bushels. Stevens had 
been appointed by the Governor and the Council of Appointment. Asa 
Danforth succeeded him, by appointment of the Governor and Council, and 
was in office for four years, during which the annual average yield of salt 
had risen to 100,000 bushels. In 1806-7, William Kirkpatrick looked after 
the salt interests, with an annual average production of about 144,000 bush- 
els. Then for one year each, 1808-10. T. II. Rawson, Nathan Stewart, and 
John Richardson held the reins, with an annual average production of a 
trifle less than 300,000 bushels. Then, for an unbroken term of twenty 
years, William Kirkpatrick was again Superintendent of the Salt Springs 
and during that period from 200,000 bushels in 181 1, the quantity of salt 
made had swelled to 1,435.446 bushels in 1830, or an annual average pro- 
duction of a little short of 625,000 bushels for the twenty years. Nehe- 
miah II. Earll ne.\t succeeded and held the office for five years. The yield 
of salt his first year was 1,514,037 bushels, and for the last (1835) 2,209,867. 
The average for the five years was a trifle over 1,830,500 bushels. He was 
followed by Rial Wright, under whose first term of four years there was 
inspected an aggregate of 9,519.896 bushels. Then came Thomas Spencer, 
with a term of three years and a production of 8,254.977 bushels. Rial 
Wright again took the helm for two years and brought into port 7,131,054 
bushels. Enoch Marks's administration of three years showed an aggregate 
of 1 1,552,564 bushels. He gave way to Robert Gere for a four year term, 
yielding 18,703,531 bushels. Harvey Rhoades next filled the place for 
three years and compassed the amount of 16, 130,404 bushels. Then came 
a term longer than any other, except the incumbency of William Kirkpat- 
rick. Vivus W. Smith was made Superintendent in 1855 and continued as 
such to and including the year 1864, and during his term of office the anor- 
mous quantity of salt inspected was 67,458,212 bushels. It was during this 
period, in 1862, that the greatest yield was had from the salt springs in any 
one year of their history, it being 9,053,874 bushels. George Geddes had 
next an official life of six years, reporting in that time 47,216,966 bushels. 
Next came John M. Strong with his three years and 23,766,238 bushels. 
After him Archibald C. Powell (with a temporary four months occupancy 
by Calvin G. Hinckley) reported for six years, an inspection of 40,527.755 
bushels. Then follows N. Stanton Gere, with a three years term of office, 
and 24,256,156 bushels to his credit. The present incumbent, Peter J. 
Brumelkamp, took possession in 1883 and for the seven years including 
1889, he reports having inspected 44,599.522 bushels. 

It would appear from the foregoing that under the management of the 
State, the Onondaga salt springs have produced since and including the 
year 1797, up to January i, 1890, 341,461,778 bushels of salt, and including 



392 Memorial His.tory of Syracuse. 



the proceeds of the sales of land on the reservation, have paid into the 
treasury of the State over $7,000,000, leaving there, after deduction of 
every expense attending the collection, over $5,000,000; while his "common 
right" has given out of this to the Indian the enormous annual income of 
$700 and the great aggregate of 13,800 bushels of salt. 

In 1859, the term of Superintendent was extended to three years. The 
salary varied from $800 at first, by sloW increase to the present salary of 
$1,500, and $300 for the use of a horse annually. In 1798, the Legis- 
lature appropriated $260 to build a house for the Superintendent, and $50 
to fit him up an office in the old block house. At first he was required by 
law to attend personally to his multifarious duties. In 1 799, he was allowed 
a deputy at $100 annual salary, and shortly afterward, on the increase and 
spread of the salt manufacture, he was empowered to appoint a deputy each 
for Salina, Geddes, and Liverpool, and he was authorized thereafter from 
time to time, to employ additional aid. 

In 1800, inspection by weight was abolished and salt was to be sold by 
a half-bushel measure, as approved by the Superintendent and the price of 
salt was fixed by law at sixty-two and one-half cents per bushel. In 181 1, 
measure by weight was again restored, and the duty was reduced to three 
cents per bushel of fifty-six pounds. That year a law was passed authoriz- 
ing and requiring the setting apart of two acres of land for experimenting 
in the production of coarse salt by solar evaporation. In 181 7, duty on salt 
was raised to twelve and one-half cents per bushel, and the Superintendent's 
compensation, in lieu of salary, he paying for all help reipiired, was two per 
cent, on the amount received for duties, which was afterwards altered, to 
two per cent, for the first $100,000 and one per cent, on all collected over 
that sum. In 1825 an additional office was created and called " The In- 
spector of salt for the County of Onondaga." His pay was based on the 
receipt from the State of three mills per bushel for all salt inspected by him, 
out of which he was to pay his required help. 

In that year, the State for the first time by law becoming the sole and 
only owners of all pumps, power, salt wells and acqueducts, for the raising 
and supply of salt water for the manufacturer, an office of " Engineer of 
Pumps," was created, but this was soon abolished and its powers and duties 
imposed upon the Inspector, and a charge of two mills per bushel for such 
last service for all salt manufactured by him, was exacted of each manufac- 
turer, in addition to the regular salt duties. In 1835, the duties were re- 
duced to six cents per bushel and the pump tax abandoned, and the State 
officers thereafter each received an annual salary of $1,500.00 in lieu of fees. 
The State prescribed by law the number and duties of their assistants, and 
fixed their pay, to be taken from the treasury of the State. The appoint- 
ments of their assistants, however, were still in the hands of the Superinten- 
dent and Inspector of salt, each for his own department. 



Bkhinning of the Use or Coal. 393 



The oflRce of Inspector of Salt, as a State appointment, was abolished in 
1846, since when all powers have devolved on the Superintendent. At the 
same time the duties were reduced to one cent per bushel. Among the 
prominent men holding the office of Inspector of Salt, prior to its abolition 
by law, we find the names of John Grinnel, Matthew VanVleck, Thomas 
Rose, James M. Allen, Henry G. Beach, Henry W. Allen, and Jesse 
McKinley. 

From the first the State was very stringent in the laws regulating the 
manufacture of salt and the distribution of salt water, enacting special 
rules by statute, and devolving upon the Superintendent great and arbi- 
trary powers in relation thereto. All the laws on the subject, by legislative 
enactment, were revised and codified into a general act, under the adminis- 
tration of \'. W. Smith, and such revision and codification received legisla- 
tive sanction in 1859, and with but slight changes have governed up to 
this time. 

For many years all salt produced at the salt springs was made by boil- 
ing the water in kettles ; the salt blocks, so-called, consisting at first of four 
kettles in a double arch, were gradually enlarged by additional kettles to 
eight, ten, fourteen, twenty and twenty-eight kettles, until finally to-day, 
while there are a few salt blocks having one hundred or more kettles, the 
greater part are of sixty or seventy, each from one hundred and twenty to 
one hundred and fifty gallons capacity. 

The fuel first used was wood, obtained from immediately around the 
works, and in this way the site of the city was denuded of its trees and, 
when finally settled with inhabitants, was found covered by a second growth 
of timber, mostly of oak bushes on the uplands. Next, the immediately 
surrounding territory was invaded for a supply and often during the winter 
bands of Indians from the Castle, accompanied by their squaws, papooses, 
and dogs, would be found in the forest lying in improvised wigwams and 
industriously plying the woodman's a.x. Soon, most of the wood within 
profitable hauling distance by teams being exhausted, boats were brought 
into use to bring it from the shores of the navigable streams near by, and 
when the canal was completed a wider country to draw from was opened 
up. 

Wood rarely reached the value of two dollars per cord at the salt works, 
until increased house consumption and a demand for the locomotive began, 
after 1830, to raise it in value and price. The cost became so great in 1S49 
that Thomas Spencer, once Superintendent and then salt manufacturer, 
tried the experiment of using hard or anthracite coal and continued its use, 
intermixed with wood, for some years. No general use of coal, however, 
was then had. In 1857 the consumption of wood had risen to 160,000 cords 
per annum and the price to $4.50 per cord. In this year some half a dozen 
manufacturers, raising their chimneys so as to create a sufficient draught 
50 



394 Memorial Histokv ok Syracuse. 



for that purpose, began the use of coal to the exclusion of wood, and grad- 
ually thereafter coal as fuel completely displaced wood and for many years 
has been the only fuel used. In that year the Superintendent reported to 
the Legislature as in existence in the Syracuse district, blocks 50; number 
of kettles, 2,418. The Salina district, blocks 147: number kettles, 7,648. 
The Liverpool district, blocks 61 ; number kettles. 3,212. The Geddes dis- 
trict, blocks 46 ; number kettles 2,608. This makes a total of 304 blocks 
and 15.886, kettles This number of salt blocks has never been exceeded 
except by the small addition of twelve new ones, or in all 316 blocks. 

Anthracite coal, the first used, gave way early to the bituminous, as a 
cheaper article, and the close competition of other salt-making localities 
finally led to the adoption of the fine, or refuse, of the anthracite, called by 
us, "coal dust," in England, "slack." This fuel, burned with the aid of an 
engine and blower, is claimed to yield more salt from the consumption of a 
ton, than a cord of wood or a ton of either the anthracite or bituminous 
mine run coal, and has been purchased at a cost of ^^j^ per cent, less than 
the price of any other coal within the last twenty years. It may be said 
right here that the improvement of the quality of the brine and the adop- 
tion of the present fuel have enabled an average salt block to make 75,000 
bushels of salt annually, against 30,000, the limit of annual production 
thirty years ago. 

Though hundreds of thousands of dollars, amounting in all probability 
to a round million or more during the period of salt production by arti- 
ficial heat, had been expended in innumerable experiments to cheapen the 
cost and increase the quantity, the old original salt block was the base and 
still rules the form of the modern one. A salt block of the present usual size 
of sixty or more kettles is covered by a rude wooden building long enough 
for the kettles, and wide enough for two bins, one on each side, into 
which the salt as made is thrown from baskets resting over and filled 
from the kettles. The kettles are set in a double row with a space under 
each row high enough to admit grates for the reception of fuel at the 
mouths of the arches. Such spaces are gradually compressed, leaving a 
clear space under the kettles to the chimney for the purpose both of a 
draught and distribution of heat the whole length of the block. A boiler 
and engine with a blower attached is operated in front to aid in the eco- 
nomical consumption of the fuel. On the outside, at or near the rear of 
the blocks, are two or more cisterns, each 20 x 30 feet and six feet deep, to 
receive and hold the necessary supply of brine from the State reservoirs. 
These cisterns are so elevated as to permit the water to flow into a con- 
ductor of bored logs lying on the arch between the two rows of kettles, in 
which is inserted, over and in front of each kettle, a faucet and stop 
through which, as required, the salt water is drawn into the kettle. The 
mania for experiment and hoped-for improvement still lingers and there is 



The Coarse Salt Industry. 395 



at present a factory in operation called " the experimental works." Its in- 
terior is a scaled book to the outside enquirer, but every apparent sign is 
given that, like its predecessors, it will only add to the volume of money al- 
ready lost in the vain attempt for improvement. 

Coarse salt in small quantities and at great cost, had been made here, by 
artificial heat, but the anxiety of the State to produce the article cheaply 
and in abundance, for the growing demands of the beef, pork, and fish pack- 
er, particularly at the west, induced the Legislature, as early as 18 10, to in- 
vite, by offers of extra facilities, rewards and exemptions from the general 
statutes, embarkation in its manufacture by solar evaporation ; but the at- 
tempt was not successful until 1822, when, by the personal efforts of citizens 
and the members of the Syracuse Company, a start in that direction was 
finally made. Along the seacoast of Massachusetts, particularly around 
Cape Cod, in Barnstable county, salt had been made by solar evaporation 
from sea water for many \-ears, in wooden vats erected along the shores and 
filled with water pumped into them by the action of windmills. A visit to 
this locality resulted in enlisting the co-operation of Stephen Smith, a 
Quaker, who was persuaded by the inducements held out by the State, to 
come to Syracuse and initiate the enterprise. He brought with him Henry 
Gifford, by trade a carpenter and experienced in the building of coarse salt 
vats. Two companies were organized and incorporated, one called " The 
Syracuse," and the other, " The Onondaga Solar Coarse Salt Co." The 
first was controlled by John Townsend, James McBride, William James and 
their associates, of the Syracuse Company, a corporation which had then 
purchased largely of lands in this vicinity, out of the sales of which 
they became the founders of the village of Syracuse. The other, or 
"Onondaga Coarse Salt Company," was made up of citizens, with Joshua 
Forman at their head, and in this organization Stephen Smith became per- 
sonally interested. Henry Gifford, after superintending the building of the 
first works for each company, built for himself the Gifford Salt Yard, since 
absorbed in the Cape Cod Coarse Salt Company. 

By statute many benefits were conferred on these pioneers. They were 
given lands for their erections, special privileges as to the supply of brine, 
and bounties on the production and disposition of their salt. Their mana- 
gers and operatives were by law exempted from jury and military duty also, 
except in case of invasion or insurrection ; this last privilege, ostensibly 
granted as a concession to the necessites of their business, requiring con- 
stant supervision of their works to avoid loss by rain and to secure the 
benefit of the sunshine, is said to have been the shrewd demand of the 
Quaker, Stephen Smith, as a concession to his religious scruples. 

Next in order came the works erected by Dr. Samuel C. Brewster in 
1837. The amount of coarse salt made in 1S40 was 184,613 bushels; but 
not until the official report of the Superintendent in 1841 was the quantity 



396 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

of coarse salt made, reported separate from the general statement made of 
the manufacture, since which time it has always been so reported. In the 
year 1S40 the demand for State land on which to erect coarse salt works 
caused an investigation and survey of the lands unsold and reserved for the 
manufacture of salt, when it was found that the extensive plot originally 
set apart for that purpose, The Onondaga Salt Springs I'leservation, had 
dwindled down, by force of statutes authorizing sales for village sites and 
other purposes, from over ten thousand acres, to about five hundred and 
fifty, including as well all land then covered by salt erections as lands still 
unoccupied for that purpose. Upon legislative request, the Superintendent 
reported that about seventy acres of this land was occupied by fine saltworks, 
one hundred and fifty by coarse salt fields, and that about one hundred 
acres had then in addition been set apart to private individuals for coarse 
salt manufacture, leaving about one hundred acres eligible for the same 
purpose ; the remainder of the five hundred and fifty acres being broken 
and swampy lands unfit for salt manufacturing purposes. 

In 1843, Parmalee & Allen, at Geddes, Cobb & Hooker in Salina. and 
" The New York Salt Company " at Greenpoint, were added to the list of 
coarse salt makers. The Constitution of the State, adopted in 1846, pro- 
vided that, "The Legislature shall never sell or dispose of the salt springs 
belonging to this State ; the lands which may be necessary or convenient 
for the use of the salt springs, may be sold by authority of law and under 
the direction of the Commissioners of the Land Ofifice, for the purpose of 
investing the monies arising therefrom in other lands, alike convenient, but 
by such sale and purchase, the aggregate quantity of these lands shall not 
be diminished." 

Under this provision of the Constitution, the " Commissioners of the 
Land Office," as authorized by law, have from time to time caused the re- 
moval of vats and the sale of lands occupied by various coarse salt com- 
panies in the Third and Sixth wards of the city and in the (then) village of 
Geddes, and invested the proceeds in other lands alike convenient. This 
policy has added to the area of the land now occupied for the manufacture 
of coarse salt, more than six hundred per cent., and placed money in the 
treasury in excess of the cost of the removal of the vats and the purchase 
of new lands, and permitted the rapid development of the city, in opening 
streets through, and in building upon, the land so exchanged, substantial 
and costly structures. Now the product of the coarse salt fields has reached 
and passed the annual output of the fine or boiling works, making in the 
year 1888, 3,116,897 bushels, a trifle less than 600,000 bushels in excess of 
the fine salt manufactured in that year. There are now twenty-seven 
distinct coarse salt fields, operated by individuals or corporations, with an 
aggregate of 42,157 salt vats, 16 x 18 feet each, averaging an annual yield 
of seventy-five bushels to the cover, or 4,500 bushels to the acre, as compared 



DEscRirnoN of tuk Salt Vats. 397 



with the same sized vats in 1823, then yielding about 40 bushels to the vat, 
or 2,400 busliels to the acre. 

The erections are techinally called " covers," because of the necessity 
of dividing the roofs used to protect the brine and salt from wet weather 
into suitable sections, for the easy handling by the operators. They are 
constructed by placing light timbers on long rows of posts fixed in the 
ground, at such elevation as the surface of the land requires to make them 
level and at the same time easy to operate. The floors of boards 18 feet 
long are placed across the floor of timbers, or stringers, as they are called, 
and jointed and dressed tight enough together to resist leakage. The sides 
are made of plank or gunwales, grooved so as to receive the ends of the 
boards, calked to prevent leakage and covered over with a light roof, made 
into sections so as to run on and off easily upon movable wooden rollers. 
The gunwales are three inches thick and, (or deep or receiving room, fif- 
teen inches, and for settling and .salt rooms, nine inches wide. The vats in 
the deep rooms are twelve inches and in the others six inches deep, and are 
so arranged as to place the deep room highest, the settling room next, and 
the salt room lowest, so that the salt water flowing from the reservoir by 
gravity into the receiving or deep room, may be carried into the settling 
room, and thence, when purified and brought to saturation, into the salt 
room, where it remains until evaporation makes and perfects the salt. The 
rows of covers are made to face each other so that the covers, when re- 
moved, run in opposite directions. These fronts are eight feet apart, leav- 
ing a continuous roadway through which the men, horses, and carts, can 
attend to the making of the .salt and its removal to the store-hou.se, for 
drainage, sale, and shipment. This salt sold in the market as it comes 
from the vats, or divided by screens and mills into the various grades to 
suit the wants and uses of its buyers, has won, and deservedly holds, a pos- 
ition second to no other known salt, wherever produced. 

The tenure by which coarse salt lands are held, is a grant from the Com- 
missioners of the Land Office, revocable only upon a failure to use the same 
for the manufacture of coarse salt. 

In the beginning of the salt industry, when the country was new and 
the pioneer was struggling with the forest, but little thought was given to 
the nicety of the manufacture and various methods of its production to 
suit the table, the dairy, the preservation of food, and other purposes; but 
whenever salt was wanted, it was taken from the common stock produced 
by the simple boiling of the brine, and for all purposes it was the general 
resort. Hut as the cleared field enlarged and the products of the farm out- 
grew the wants of the home family and sought, through constanth- improv- 
ing methods of transportation to meet the growing wants of thriving towns 
and expanding cities, a taste for a purer, more delicate salt was cultivated 
and the manufacturer made efforts to meet the demand. As early as 1830, 



398 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Chauncey Nathaniel, and John Woodruff, and their sons and nephews, 
undertook the manufacture of table and dairy salt. Among their members 
was Martin Woodruff, in his younger days an enlisted soldier in the Na- 
tional army, afterwards for many years Colonel of the local militia regiment, 
and finally a victim of the " Patriot " war, paying with his life on the gibbet 
at Kingston for his complicity in the Canadian rebellion of 1837-8. These 
men, selecting from one to four kettles in a salt block, boiled the water with 
great care, removing the impurities as far as possible to be done, by mere 
labor and skill. They used powdered rosin to cut the grain of the salt and 
make it fine, and to further clarify the salt they put into the kettles either 
butter, soap, or fresh animal blood. The salt thus made, first stove-dried, 
was packed for market into baskets, boxes, and bags of various shapes and 
weights. Others, notably Warren H. Porter, soon embarked in the busi- 
ness, all making the salt very carefully. They soon abandoned the use of 
rosin, butter, soap, and blood. In order to make the salt fine they ground 
it, first by hand, then by horse-power, and finally by machinery driven either 
by water or steam. The salt was stove-dried to expel moisture. The de- 
mand increasing rapidly, in 1844 large establishments were erected— the 
Haskin Mill by James P. Haskin, on the basin of the Oswego canal, near 
the head of the first lock in Salina; the Hope Factory, built by John B. 
Ives, Thomas Spencer, and Robert W. Nolton, on the new side-cut canal 
(now abandoned) running out of the Erie canal south near the present 
round house and work shops of the New York Central railroad. Henry H. 
Hooker, Stevens & Brackett, Burr Burton, Timothy R. Porter, James Van 
Valkenburg, Albert Freeman, and many others engaged also in the busi- 
ness, and later on Robert Gere with the Ashton Mills at Geddes. Most of 
these works were experimental, both in the methods of manufacture and in 
the machinery and other appliances for drying and grinding. 

The demand for this kind of salt increased until it was used over the 
whole country. Finally, an opposition was started and grew in strength 
until it seriously affected the market so as to very perceptibly lessen the 
quantity made. This opposition grew partly out of an honest prejudice, 
but in the main was owing to the strenuous efforts of the European manu- 
facturer, backed up by the interested dealer here, who, seizing on the prej- 
udice, fostered its growth both at home and abroad, some of them going so 
far as to offer in open market premiums for butter and cheese cured with 
English salt. It is now an open secret that many, aye, very many, shrewd 
farmers having an abiding faith in the equality, at least, of the home-made 
salt, contented themselves with leaving the never-dwindling bag of Ashton 
or English salt to lie on the floor of their dairies, while their butter and 
cheese, cured with Onondaga salt (the very taste of which by the expert 
would betray it) was sold both at home and abroad as " gilt edged " and 
redolent with the Ashton flavor. 



CiiAKACTiirusTics OF Earlv Sai.t Workkrs. 399 



But it was true that it required very great care to eliminate mechanically 
the bitter, deliquescent salts of calcium and magnesium, of which there 
were slight traces in the brine of the Onondaga salt springs, and in the 
multitude of manufacturers and their various methods it might well hap- 
pen, as it infrequently did, that these impurities were not fully removed. 
Accordingly, when in i860 a combination of all salt interests afforded the 
opportunity, as well as the means, for the effort, the highest chemical tal- 
ent was employed at great expense to solve the difficulty. Scientific knowl- 
edge and extended experiment finally succeeded in overcoming all obsta- 
cles. Practical manufacture upon the chemical basis thus discovered pro- 
duced a pure chloride of sodium for the dairy and table, and now the On- 
ondaga salt springs furnish this grade from either coarse or fine salt second 
to none other in the world. 

The first settlers at the salt springs were largely New Englanders and 
most of them from Connecticut. They were either themselves soldiers of 
the Revolution, or the sons of Revolutionary sires, and they brought with 
them here the stalwart strength and power of endurance born of their ex- 
perience in their battles for liberty and life. Their native shrewdness and 
intelligence were brought into play ; undeterred by disease, fearless of 
physical impediments, they brought to their new home an indomitable and 
untiring industry that overcame all opposition. Death soon weeded out 
the few indolent, lazy, and dissipated, and the stalwart survivors built rap- 
idly and well the foundations of their future homes. They brought but 
little means save their hands to do their work ; they were their own em- 
ployers in the varied work of their calling — salt boilers, river boatmen, coop- 
ers, and laborers. They became in time the merchants, bankers, lawyers, 
mechanics, and political officers of the community. The long list of the 
names of these men, if recited, would remind us of many whose memories 
are still honored and cherished as worthy founders of our city. The history 
of one, not as an exception, but as a sample, may be not inappropriately 
related here. Dean Richmond, then an infant, was brought here by his 
parents from Vermont early in the present century. Poverty deprived him 
of the meager education then afforded and drove him early in life to the 
river boat, first as cook, next with his shoulders to the setting pole on the 
running board, then as salt boiler and packer. Next, he became a salt man- 
ufacturer, bank director, and local political boss. Removing to Buffalo he 
became the acknowledged State leader of the Democratic party, the Presi- 
dent of the New York Central Railroad Company, and died a millionaire. 
He always attributed his success in life to his practical education on the 
marshes of the salt springs. 

To narrate the financial or business history of the salt industry in this 
locality in detail, would require a more extended space than can well be de- 
voted to it within the bounds allotted to the general subject, but a rapid 
glance over the field may be of interest. 



400 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



For a few years the pioneers were unable to supply the demands of con- 
sumers and consequently their infant efforts were rewarded with an abundant 
return for their labor. As the means of transportation improved and the 
population of the surrounding country increased, the production of salt, 
sometimes equal to, then ahead of, and again behind, the demand, was never 
a stable, conservative business. The operators, early and enthusiastic ad- 
vocates of the canal projects of the State, were largely benefitted by their 
completion in increased and remunerative return for their salt, but they soon 
met the foreign article coming up the artificial waterway largely built with 
their money, right into the very heart of their territory. Differential canal 
tolls imposed by the State, temporarily a relief, were often neutralized by 
the action of the General Government in adjusting custom dues. Early 
after the completion of the canals attempts at combination were made to 
restrict production and regulate prices, but the ease and facility with which 
salt blocks could be built multiplied the manufactories whenever invited by 
any probable increase in the value of the product. The general financial 
and business depression of 1S41-2 proved alike disastrous to the organized 
company of buyers and the salt manufacturers. 

Spasmodic efforts were made at intervals thereafter to operate some 
scheme to remedy the difficulties, but none was successful. In 1S57 a buy- 
ing company was again organized and a limited output of salt agreed upon, 
but the financial storm of that year again overwhelmed the enterprise. 

The salt manufacturers were, as a rule, men of small means, unable to 
seek a market far from home. They were thus compelled to sell their salt 
in large quantities, on long time, in the main to commercial houses in Buffalo 
and Oswego, who as vessel owners, sought the salt asballa.st for their vessels 
in their trips up the lakes, for return cargoes of western productions. If 
the round voyage proved successful, the salt makers received their pay, but 
if not they were the first, if not the only ones, to lose their money, for a 
shipping bill generally accompanied the western produce and remained the 
property of the western seller until the sale was completed in New York 
and his money paid over either to him or to his eastern correspondent. 
But the salt of the poor manufacturer was distributed along the shores of 
the great lakes and sold at any price necessary for its quick discharge from 
ship impatient for its return cargo, and, as was too often the case, the failure 
of the shipper's venture was the only pay of the salt manufacturer. 

The manufacturers determined, if possible, to remedy this state of affairs 
and another agreement was entered into in i860, ba.sed upon these funda- 
mental propositions: All interests, fine, coarse and dairy were embraced ; 
the property of each and every individual and corporation, and salt erection 
was appraised by disinterested parties ; each establishment was entitled to 
and bound to take its pro rata share, based upon the appraisal, in a paid up 
money capital ; all property was entitled to and should receive an annual 



Competition in Salt Manutacture. 401 



rental on its shares of the joint appraisal ; no restriction was to be made on 
the quantity of salt to be produced, except from the want of salt water, or 
the absence of a market ; salt was to be sold to consumers in the State at a 
low fixed margin of profit, and salt was not to be sold to speculators, or to 
buyers who should, for that purpose, withhold it from sale at fair rates. 

It goes without saying that the war of the rebellion made the agreement 
at first a great success, and for a few years the monetary return was far in 
excess of any before in the history of the salt springs ; but soon the opening 
up of the Mississippi, the redemption of the salt fields of the Kanawha and 
the Ohio, coupled with the discovery and development of the salt of Sag- 
inaw Bay, warned us that our day of great prosperity must give way to the 
rising sun of a rescued and reunited country. 

Prior to 1868, and for some time, Onondaga had furnished Upper Can- 
ada with her salt to the extent of about 600,000 bushels annually. The 
discovery in 1867 of saturated brine in exhaustless quantities on the Can- 
adian shore of Lake Huron, from Kincardine on the north through Goderich 
to Seaforth on the south-east, ended that traffic, so that for many years On- 
ondaga has not sold a single barrel of salt in Canada. 

The salt fields of Michigan, starting from Saginaw, have been extended 
over half of the state and have improved so that to-day in many of her flour- 
ishing towns on the lake side of her peninsula, salt works abound, fed by ex- 
haustless springs of pure salt water, or from water artificially saturated on 
beds of mineral salt lying deep in the earth. The necessities of the rebel- 
lion brought to the surface the great underlying salt beds of Louisiana. 
The Kansas farmer, peering down into the rich soil of his prairies, has 
discovered the brine and the rock salt in great abundance and of greater 
value than the fruits of his husbandry'. 

To use the language of one of the great men of our nation, (Thomas H. 
Benton), "it is probable that salt is the most abundant substance of our globe. 
Like other neccessaries of life, like air and water, it is universally diffused 
and inexhaustibly supplied. It is found in all climates and in all varieties 
of forms. The waters hold it in solution, the earth contains it in solid 
masses, every sea contains it, many inland seas, lakes, ponds, and pools are 
impregnated with it. Streams of saline waters in innumerable places, 
emerging from the bowels of the earth, approach its surface and either issue 
from it in perennial springs or are easily reached by wells." "The probabil- 
ity " of Benton is to-day an accomplished prophecy. Verj' recently our 
brethren of Wyoming, Genesee, Livingston, Tompkins, and Cayuga, boring 
in the earth for oil and gas wherewith to illuminate their dark and devious 
ways, have found their preservation and safety in the development of a 
broad and thick carpet of salt underlying their earthly possessions. 

Onondaga's outposts have been attacked on every side and competitors 
have arisen in multitudes near the very heart of her citadel. Driven, but not 
51 



402 Memorial History oi- Syracuse. 



afraid, she still continues the contest; as competition has pressed down 
upon her industry, she has met it with her already completed plants, her in- 
vulnerable coign of vantage in her admirable location for wide distribution 
and minimum transportation charges for her salt, in the constantly increas- 
ing value of her brine, and in the careful and intelligent adoption of all 
necessary improvements tending towards both the purity and the economical 
production of her manufacture. 

Even now, in the last apparent struggle for existence, there dawns upon 
her a bright prospect of a final victorious fight for her old supremacy. The 
explorations of William B. Cogswell, esq., to procure, if possible, a rich 
supply of brine for a kindred industry, (the manufacture of soda ash by the 
Solvay process) have been crowned with success in the discovery and devel- 
opment within the limits of the county, of a mass of mineral salt, inex- 
haustible in quantity and of absolute purity. Ten wells have been bored 
into it, in and through which the clear waters of one of Tully's beautiful 
lakes will lead, to saturation. Already an iron conduit from the upper val- 
ley of the Onondaga creek has reached our borders and soon an abundant 
and rich flow of saturated brine will be exposed to the sun on our salt fields 
and give up its treasures to the loving heat of our salt blocks. 

The changes in methods of transportation demand a passing notice. 
The wagon and sleigh for short land carriage, the natural water-way, with 
batteaux and river boats, carrying restricted cargoes, were of the earlier 
stage. The artificial canal with its enlarged and greater reach followed. 
Then came, first in conflict with the canal and now victor in the contest, 
the railroad, and to-day three-fourths of all salt sent to market goes by rail ; 
and deducting that shipped to New York and Philadelphia, (where cost and 
not time of transit determines the mode) full 90 per cent, of all the salt 
shipped from here in any direction takes the rail. The reason for this 
great change is this: In the days when the canals were the only channels 
of transportation, the merchants and the packers, particularly of the west, 
were compelled to lay in in the fall of the year, large quantities of salt to 
carry them through the winter. This involved large outlays of purchase 
money, increased storage capacity, and payment of considerable sums for 
insurance. When the railroads were authorized to carry freight, this was 
all changed. The salt works are now the storehouses from which the mer- 
chant and the packer can draw their supply by the car-load any day in the 
year, just as, and as often as, they need. This saves them the investment 
of large capital, costly storage room, and payment of insurance, and largely 
more than pays the difference between the cost of railroad and waterway 
charges of transportation ; the same reason holds measurably true in sum- 
mer as well as in winter. 

Finally, let us pause and reflect upon the outcome of the discovery of 
the salt springs and their development by the untiring and sturdy determi- 



Relations of Salt to the Erie Canal. 403 



nation of our hardy pioneers and their successors. There is to-day in tlie 
very heart of this celebrated agricultural county of Onondaga, within ten 
miles of its Central City, an uncultivated and uninhabited swamp, wearing 
the same desolate, forbidding face that it showed to the white man one 
hundred years ago. Do you believe that the dismal swamp lying around 
the head of Onondaga lake would ever have been the site of a city of an 
hundred thousand souls and rapidly reaching towards greater stature and 
strength, unless the salt springs and their demands had lowered the waters 
and let in the sunshine and healing winds to dry up and blow away its 
death-dealing miasma? 

The Erie canal has long been the just pride and boast of our people. 
Would it ever have been projected through our locality, if the eloquent 
words of a Forman and the scientific works of a Geddes, both salt makers, 
backed by the enthusiastic aid of their fellows, had not, as early as 1807, 
urged this then gigantic project? The needs of expansion for their grow- 
ing industry demanded outlet, the knowledge of the rise and flow of streams 
both east and west had been gained by their use in the salt trafific, and the 
true eye of the surveyor had determined the feasibility of the route; but 
the war of 1812 with its burthens was upon the country ; the State, poor in 
men, poorer in money, just emerging from Colonial dependence into inde- 
pendent Statehood, was illy prepared for the undertaking. Accordingly, in 
1817, beginning the work, the Legislature imposed a tax or duty on our 
salt of 12 1-2 cents per bushel, and solemnly dedicated the proceeds to the 
building of the canals ; and, following it up, the Constitution of the State 
in 1821 declared the duty unalterable until the last dollar of the cost of 
the Erie and Champlain canals was paid and the debt discharged. Steadily 
thereafter the golden stream from this source flowed through the State 
treasury into the pockets of the canal debt-owners, until in 1S46 $3,500,000, 
more than half the cost of the whole undertaking, paid into the coffers of 
the State, cancelled the obligation of the Salt Pointers. 

The advantages of a completed canal came to us in 1825 and rapidly 
accelerated the growth of our town, both in wealth and population. The 
line of traftic and travel being permanently established by the canal, it was 
soon followed by the railroad, so that to-day we are not only the meeting 
place of the water-highways leading from the great lakes of the west to the 
noble Hud.son flowing to the sea ; but we are the hub of a network of rail- 
roads which carry us and our products everywhere, and bring to us from all 
parts of this great continent and from beyond the sea, their people and the 
results of their labors. 

Would the Erie canal so early (if ever) have been built, if left to the 
scattered strength and feeble energies of a mere rural population. Would 
the great prairies of the boundless west so soon have ceased to glow with 
the bright flowers of nature's carpet and been changed into a granary for 



404 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



the food of a world. Would that Metropolitan city sitting at the foot of 
the Hudson, gathering and distributing annually an internal trade more 
than seven-fold greater than her foreign traffic, have now ranked in popula- 
tion but little below, and none in enterprise and wealth, with the greatest 
cities of the earth, if the canals had not changed the face of the world and 
made the first steps to bring people and nations from the uttermost parts 
of the earth, eye to eye, to struggle in peaceful strife for man's progress and 
enduring prosperity? 

When you boast of j'our proud and beautiful city with its broad ave- 
nues and palatial buildings ; upon its many-hued industries ; upon its swel- 
ling population of noble workers in every calling— when you fondly pro- 
phecy and serenely hope for its future greater aggrandizement, let your 
eyes picture and your thoughts for a moment rest upon the untutored 
Indian, paddling in his canoe the first white man along the shores of your 
beautiful lake to the tiny flow of salt water bubbling out of God's earth — 
there, however great, Central City, you may be or may become, then and 
there you had your beginning. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



TRANSPORT.MION. 



The Western Inland Lock and Navigation Company— First Inception of the Erie Canal Pro- 
ject—The Routes Discussed- Judge Forman's Early Work in Favor of the Canal— The Slate Loan 
—Completion of the Canal— The First Packet Boat— Railroads— The First One to Reach Syracuse 
—Its Rude Character— Other Railroads of Syracuse. 

IN the early chapters of this work the reader has learned something of the 
methods of transportation of freight before the days of the canals and rail- 
roads. Very much of the early freighting was done by water over the well 
known route from Albany, up the Mohawk, through Wood creek, Oneida 
lake and the adjacent rivers. This route was established by the Western 
Inland Lock and Navigation Company in the year 1800. It consisted of 
the construction of a canal and locks around Little Falls and on the Mo- 
hawk River, the opening of a canal from the Mohawk at Rome (then Fort 
Stanwix) to Wood creek, connecting thence with Oneida lake, and the im- 
provement of navigation in the Oswego and Seneca rivers. The Company, 
in order to complete this work, borrowed of the State in 1796, fifteen 



Inception of the Canal Project. 405 



thousand pounds, and in 1797 two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
It was in its day a very useful improvement and aided greatly in the settle- 
ment and development of the resources of Central and Western New York. 
Many a pioneer and his family were conveyed over that old thoroughfare to 
their new homes in the western wilderness ; many a cargo of merchandise 
was shipped over it and freight of produce sent to market, till the growing 
population and commerce demanded ampler and more extended facilities 
for transportation. 

But when the condition of the great turnpike roads became sufficiently 
improved, along their well-worn surfaces passed a constant procession of 
teams and laden wagons, many of which had their destination at Salt Point. 
But in a section of country possessing the natural resources of New York 
State and showing the rapid growth in population that prevailed in this 
locality, these primitive methods could not long endure. 

For several years before the war of 18 12, the subject of connecting the 
Hudson river with Lake Erie by an artificial water-way received a good deal 
of attention throughout the State. The inhabitants of Onondaga county 
felt a special interest in this project. No limited section of the State, per- 
haps, felt so great a necessity for better and more rapid means for shipment 
of freight, as did the salt district of Salina. Judge Joshua Forman was 
elected to the Legislature of 1S07, with special reference to the introduc- 
tion of this subject by him in that body. He was eminently qualified for 
the work and was full of enthusiasm and determination to push the matter 
to a successful issue. In February, 1808, he procured the passage of a joint 
resolution ordering a survey and the appointment of a Joint Committee of 
both Houses. 

Three routes were in discussion, and as the Committee were predisposed 
in favor of the one by way of Oswego, all three were finally surveyed. On 
the nth of April, 1808, the Surveyor-General was authorized by law to 
draw on the State treasury for as great a sum of money as might be re- 
quired to make the survey contemplated by the Joint Committee, which 
sum should not exceed $600, a sum ludicrously insignificant for the purpose. 
Judge James Geddes was appointed to make the survey and received from 
his superiors these instructions : As the provision made for the expenses 
of this business is not adequate to the effectual exploring of the country 
for this purpose, you will, in the first place, examine what may appear to 
be the best route for a canal from Oneida lake to Lake Ontario, in the town 
of Mexico, and take a level and survey of it; also, whether a canal cannot 
be made between the Oneida lake and Oswego, by a route in part to the 
west of the Oswego river, so as to avoid those parts along it where it will 
be impracticable to make a good navigation. The next object will be the 
ground between Lakes Erie and Ontario, which must be examined with a 
view to determine what will be the most eligible track for a canal from below 



4o6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Niagara Falls to Lake Erie. If your means will admit of it, it would be 
desirable to have a level taken throughout the whole distance between the 
lakes. 

Mr. Geddes completed his survey and at a cost exceeding the appropri- 
ation by only $75.00, which was afterwards appropriated. He reported in 
1809 on the three routes — the first between Oneida lake and Lake Ontario ; 
the second, the Niagara river route, as it was called ; and the third, the in- 
terior route (the one finally adopted.) 

The feasibility of the project being assured, Judge Forman visited 
Washington and laid the subject before President Jefferson and solicited 
aid from the general government. This was refused, the President charac- 
terizing the undertaking as "being little short of madness at this day." 
He thought it might be carried out, possibly, a century hence. 

In 1810, a Board of Commissioners was appointed, composed of some 
of the leading men of the State, who were instructed to explore the pro- 
posed inland route, which they did, and reported favorably upon it in the 
following year. After considerable discussion as to whom they should 
apply to survey and lay out the canal, James Geddes and Benjamin Wright 
were employed for the work at a salary of $1,500 a year. Before a decision 
was reached, the Commission almost concluded to employ William Weston, 
a noted European engineer, at a salary of $7,000. 

One more ineffectual attempt was made to secure aid from the general 
government for the undertaking, and then (March, 181 2) the Commissioners 
reported, that "Now, sound policy demands that the canal be made by the 
State of New York on her own account." 

The war of 181 2 caused a suspension of the whole project until the leg- 
islative session of 18 16, when a memorial was presented to the Legislature, 
signed by more than 100,000 persons in New York and interior counties, 
calling on members to prosecute the important work without delay. In 
this county a meeting was called at which Judge Forman was appointed a 
Committee to prepare a memorial to be presented to the Legislature. At 
a large meeting held at the Court House, at Onondaga Hill, on the 23d of 
February, 1816, Judge Forman read his memorial, which was approved, and 
a large Committee was appointed from the several towns of the county to 
give it circulation and procure signatures. Over 3,000 persons in this 
county signed the document. The State authorized a loan of $1,000,000, 
and the section between Rome and the Seneca river was decided upon as 
the first to be begun. In 1816, Judge Geddes made another report on the 
country between Black Rock and the Cayuga marshes, and Benjamin 
Wright reported on the remainder of the distance to Albany. 

Still another and last attempt was made to enlist the aid of Congress 
in 1817, but it failed and this State was left to its own resources. Careful 
and revised estimates placed the entire cost of the canal at $5,000,000. The 



Tiiii l''iKST I'ACKiiT Boat. 407 

proposed route was divided into three sections and on June 27, 1817, the 
first contract was let. The excavation was begun at Rome, with appropri- 
ate ceremonies, on the 4th of July, 1817, and the first contract was given to 
Judge John Richardson, of Cayuga. Mr. Clark says, ("Onondaga," vol. 2, 
p. 61): It is, perhaps, a singular coincidence, that the first movement in 
the halls of legislation, relative to the Erie canal, was made by a member 
from Onondaga, — that the first exploration was made by an engineer of 
Onondaga, — that the first contract was given to, and the first ground bro- 
ken by, a contractor who had been several years a resident of Onondaga, 
and all of whom had been Judges of our County Courts and members of 
the Legislature from Onondaga county. The work progressed with unu- 
sual rapidity. The zeal and perseverance of the Commissioners and the 
activity and industry of the contractors, was everywhere exerted. 

It may now be added to this, as Mr. Alvord has stated in the preceding 
chapter, that the salt makers of Onondaga paid more than one-half of the 
entire cost of the canal, by a tax upon their staple article of manufacture. 

The work of constructing the canal went forward with commendable 
rapidity, when the obstacles and the circumstances of those early years are 
considered, and in Governor Clinton's message of 1820 he reported ninety- 
four miles finished on the middle section, with a lateral branch to Salina. 

The first packet boat, named the Montczuvia, came through Syracuse 
on the 21st of April, 1820, and the event was properly celebrated, as related 
on an earlier page. Those who had counted upon great advantages to be 
derived from the canal, directly and indirectly, by the people of Syracuse 
and Onondaga county were not disappointed ; but there were still many 
who, at all stages of the work, talked and worked against the success of the 
enterprise, predicting an enormous and extravagant expenditure to complete 
it, a lack of traffic, heavy operating expenses, and so on. But the work 
went on in spite of evil prophecies, and in November, 1825, eight years and 
four months from the time of beginning, the waters of Lake Erie were united 
with those of the Hudson River, through one of the longest canals in the 
world. 

Coming to the direct connection of Syracuse with the building of this 
great artery, and aside from the inestimable services of Judge James Ged- 
des and Judge Joshua Forman, it should be recorded that the first ground 
broken in Onondaga count)-, was by Mr. Elias Gumear, in the town of Man- 
lius. Oliver Teal), Esq., took several contracts in the eastern part of the 
county. Messrs. Northrup, De.xter and Jeremiah Keeler built a section 
or two through Syracuse. Hazard Lewis, of Binghamton, built the locks. 
The first locks were built of Eibridge sandstone, the masons having no 
idea that the Onondaga limestone could be cut for facing stones for locks, 
so little was this valuable material then understood. 

Oliver Teall was appointed the first Superintendent of the canal, and 
Joshua Forman was the first Collector, with office in Syracuse. 



4o8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

RAILROADS. 

It was not many years after the completion of the Erie canal, before it 
became a well settled fact that it would at an early day have a railroad along 
its course, as a competitor for passenger and freight traffic. Shrewd and 
far-seeing men realized that this line across the Empire State was the nat- 
ural course for through trade, as it is now termed, and busy brains were 
speculating upon ways and means and possible results of building railways 
that would at least divide the traffic of the canal and prove a profitable 
investment. Prominent among those early agitators of this topic was John 
Wilkinson, of Syracuse, and there were others who shared his views, but 
who were not so situated as to also share his active interest. But the senti- 
ment of this community at large was then, as it has been ever since, in 
favor of the extension of its transportation interests. 

The Auburn and Syracuse Railroad. — The first actual movement to- 
wards the construction of a railroad with Syracuse as a terminus or a sta- 
tion was made in May, 1834, when an Act of Legislature was passed incor- 
porating " The Auburn and Syracuse Railroad Company." The incorpora- 
tors of this company were : Daniel Sennett, Ulysses F. Doubleday, Brad- 
ley Tuttle, David Munroe, Grove Lawrence, and William Porter, Jr., and 
they were given power to construct a single or double track railroad between 
the villages of Auburn and Syracuse, on such a route as a majority of the 
directors might select. The capital stock was placed at $400,000. The 
law required that $20,000 should be expended on the road within two years 
after the passage of the Act, and that the road should be finished and in 
operation within five years thereafter. Following are the names of the 
Commissioners appointed in the Act : Daniel Sennett, Ulysses F. Double- 
day, Bradley Tuttle, John Seymour, Halsey Phelps, Stephen Van Anden, 
David Munroe, John Wilkinson, Grove Lawrence, Hezekiah Earll, and 
William Porter, Jr. Five of these Commissioners were Onondaga county 
men, viz: David Munroe, John Wilkinson, Grove Lawrence, Hezekiah 
Earll, and William Porter, Jr. The Company was organized in January, 
1835, with the following officers: Hon. Elijah Miller, President; A. D. 
Leonard, G. B. Throop, N. Girrow, J. )s\. Sherwood, S. Van Anden, 
Richard Steel, John Seymour, Abijah Fitch, E. E. Marvine, and Allen 
Warden, (of Auburn) and Henry Raynor and V. W. Smith of Syracuse, 
directors; E. F. Johnson, Engineer; Levi Williams, Assistant Engineer. 
Work was begun in December, 1835, and the first payment to contractors 
was made in January, 1836. On the 4th of April, 1837, an Act was passed 
authorizing the Commissioners of the Land Office to sell to the Auburn 
and Syracuse Railroad Company such portion of farm lot No. 253 of the 
Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation in the town of Salina lying between 
the canal and the streets across said lot as might be necessary for the track 




j5?V 



^^ 



The Syracuse and Utica Railroad. 409 



of the road and for a depot, and for the construction of a basin for the use 
of the company. The land thus mentioned is that on which tlie road was 
built in the city and embraced the site of the old depot on what is now 
Vanderbilt Square. Between Auburn and Geddes the road was laid with 
wooden rails, and was opened January 8, 1838. Sherwood's stage horses 
were put on the line and continued to draw the cars until June 4, 1839, 
when the first locomotive took their place. The bridge across the old mill 
pond was finished in the spring of 1839, and on the day last mentioned, an 
excursion train, the first steam railroad train to enter Syracuse, was run 
over the line. The engine which drew the train was appropriately named 
Syracuse. 

This railroad, as will have been seen, was a rude and primitive affair in 
comparison with the great lines that now center in this city. The changes 
that have taken place in this direction are elotjuent of the advancement of 
fifty years. The first improvement on the wooden rails was to cover them 
with flat strips of iron which were held down by spikes driven directly 
through them. These spikes would often become loosened and work up- 
ward, and the ends of the rails would also bend upward and work havoc by 
being caught by the locomotive or parts of the cars, up through the floors 
of which and among the passengers they would shoot, giving them the 
name of " snake heads." But the speed made by the trains was not great 
and it is said by good authority that " Phile" Rust would start from Au- 
burn with a good team of horses at the time of the departure of the train 
and fulfill his boast that he would be first in .Syracuse. 

Syracuse and Utica Railroad. — The Syracuse and Utica Railroad was 
chartered May 1 i, 1836. The capital stock of the corporation was placed 
at SSoo,000. The original commissioners appointed by the Act entitled, 
'• An Act for the construction of a railroad from Syracuse to Utica," were 
Henry A. Foster, Israel S. Parker, Timothy Jenkins, David Moulton, 
Pomeroy Jones, Riley Shepard, Julius A. Spencer, John Knowles, John 
Williams, Ichabod S. Spencer, James Hooker, Henry Seymour, James 
Beardslee, James M. Allen, Vivus VV. Smith, Miles W. Bennett, Horace 
Wheaton, Thomas J. Gilbert, Elihu L. Phillips, Frederick Whittlesey, 
Holmes Hutchinson, Charles Oakley, Rufus H. King, Aaron Burt, and 
Benjamin Enos. Six of these commissioners, viz: Vivus W. Smith, Miles 
W. Bennett, Horace Wheaton, Thomas J. Gilbert, Elihu L. Phillips, and 
Aaron Burt, were citizens of Syracuse ; the remainder were Utica and 
Albany men. 

The Syracuse and Utica Railroad Company were required by law to pay 
to the President and Directors of the Seneca Road Company the amount 
of damages which the Seneca Road Company might sustain by the construc- 
tion of the railroad, and also to pay toll to the Canal Commissioners on all 
freight, other than the regular baggage of passengers, carried by the rail- 
52 



4IO Memorial History or Syracuse. 

road during the season of canal navigation. The Schenectady and Utica 
Railroad was absolutel)- prohibited in its original charter from carrying any 
freight. This prohibition was removed by act of March 7, 1844, and the 
Schenectady and Utica road was allowed to carry freight during the sus- 
pension of canal navigation by paying the Canal Commissioners such tolls 
as would have been paid on the goods had they been transported by the 
Erie canal. This opened all the roads to freight through to Buffalo, sub- 
ject to the same conditions as those imposed upon the Schenectady and 
Utica Railroads. 

Prior to the removal of the prohibition on the Schenectady and Utica 
railroad, freights had been to some extent carried through from Schenec- 
tady to Utica on sleighs in winter, and transferred to other points west of 
Utica by rail ; but very little freight reached Syracuse by the Utica railroad 
till after March 7, 1844. 

Oliver H. Lee, of Syracuse, was the engineer in the construction of the 
Syracuse and Utica Railroad, and was appointed the first Superintendent. 
The original board of directors consisted of the following named gentle- 
men : John Wilkinson, President; Charles Stebbins, Vice-President; 
Vivus W. Smith, Secretary ; David Wager, Treasurer; Oliver Teall, Aaron 
Burt, Holmes Hutchinson, John Townsend, Horatio Seymour, James 
Hooker, Ira Hawley, John Stryker, Samuel French. 

The first engines were single-drivers, with small trail wheels under the 
cab, which consisted of a roof hung around with oil cloth during the winter. 
The weight of the locomotive was from four to si.x tons. The first cars 
had four wheels. The conductor passed along on the outside of the compart- 
ments, which had four seats each, and collected the fare. In 1843, ^he cars 
had no projection over the platforms, and were low and ill-ventilated. It 
was quite a step in advance when locomotives with four-drivers were placed 
upon the road, but even then there were no pilots ; some had two splint 
brooms set in front just in position to clear the track, and others flat iron 
bars bent forward and sharpened at the ends. This was the " cow-catcher." 
In winter a large wooden plow was placed in front of the engine. The first 
track was soon superseded by an eight-by-eight wooden rail, along the cen- 
ter of which was placed strap-iron the same width and thickness as that at 
first used. The Syracuse and Utica Railroad was opened in 1839. 

In locating the depots and routes through Syracuse, certain conditions 
were re(|uired of the company by a resolution prepared by Hon. E. W. 
Leavenworth, President of the village, and offered to the board by Captain 
Putnam, viz: that the railroad company should construct a sewer along the 
track on Washington street from the stream known as Yellow Brook to 
Onondaga Creek and should plant trees along both sides of Washing- 
ton street as far east as Beech street. These conditions were per- 
formed by the company. The rows of trees now standing on East Wash- 



The Oswego and Syracuse Railroad. 41 1 



ington street are those planted by the railroad company. The sewer con- 
structed by the railroad company was the first of any importance in the 
village, and contributed largely to the draining of the swamp between Sa- 
lina and Lodi streets. 

The company was also required to purchase certain portions of the 
blocks on each side of the depot, so as make sufficient space for the build- 
ing and an alleyway along aside of it. This was done, and the space thus 
left forms a part of the present Vanderbilt Square. 

TIte Direct Road. — The line of railroad from Syracuse to Rochester, 
composed of the Auburn and Syracuse, and the Auburn and Rochester 
railroads, was one hundred and four miles long, over a crooked route with 
heavy grades. In 1S49, the attention of John Wilkinson, of Syracuse, and 
others, was called to the necessity for a more direct and level route between 
those two termini. With the object in view of constructing such a line of 
road, they organized the Rochester and Syracuse Direct Railroad Compan)-. 
The surveys were made by O. C. Childs and showed that a railroad could 
be built twenty-two miles shorter than the old line and with much more fa- 
vorable grades. In 1850, the three companies consolidated under the name 
of the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad Company and the Direct Road 
was begun under the direction of James Hall, engineer, and opened in 1853, 
at the time of the general consolidation forming the New York Central 
Railroad. 

Oswego and Syracuse Railroad. — The company which built this railroad 
was organized in April, 1839, and the line was surveyed during the summer 
of the same year. But nothing of a practical character was done until 
nearly ten years later, when in March, 1847, a company was organized with 
the following Board of Directors: John Wilkinson, Thomas T. Davis, 
Allen Munroe, Horace White, all of Syracuse ; F. T. Carrington, Luther 
Wright, Sylvester Doolittle, Alvin Bronson, of Oswego; Holmes Hutchin- 
son, Alfred Munson, Thomas F. Faxton, of Utica ; Samuel Willets, of New 
York, and Rufus H. King, of Albany. The first officers of the company 
were: Holmes Hutchinson, President ; F. T. Carrington, Secretary ; Lu- 
ther Wright, Treasurer. Work on the road was at once begun and the line 
opened for traffic in October, 1848. The local press of that period ex- 
pressed the opinion that this railroad had proved to be of considerable ben- 
efit to Syracuse within a short time of its opening. In the year 1872, the 
road passed under control of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Com- 
pany and now forms a part of their through line to New York and Philadel- 
phia. The present Assistant Superintendent, located in Syracuse, is Adolph 
II. Schwarz. 

Syracuse, Biiighaniton and Nezc York Railroad. — The Syracuse and 
Binghamton Railroad Company was organized August 13, 1851, under the 
general law of 1850. The original Directors were: Hamilton Murray, 



412 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

D. C. Littlejohn, of Oswego : Horace White, James R. Lawrence, Thomas 
B. Fitch, Syracuse; Daniel S. Dickinson, Hazard Lewis, Binghamton ; Jed- 
ediah Barber, Israel Boies, Homer; Alanson Carley, Marathon; Henry 
Stevens, Cortland ; John B. Rogers, Chenango Forks ; Robert Dunlop, 
Jamesville. Henry Stevens was made President ; Clinton F. Paige, Secre- 
tary ; Horace White, Treasurer ; W. B. Gilbert, Superintendent and En- 
gineer for the construction of the road. The line was opened through on 
the 23d of October, 1854. It was sold on the 13th of October, 1856, on 
foreclosure of mortgage, and reorganized April 30, 1857, under the title of 
the Syracuse, Binghamton and New York Railroad. In 1858, the company 
was authorized to purchase the short line connecting with the canal at 
Geddes. The length of the road from Geddes to Binghamton is eighty-one 
miles. Under the second organization, Jacob M. Schermerhorn was Presi- 
dent, and Orrin Welch, Secretary. T. B. Fitch succeeded as President, 
and continued in the ofifice until 1871. In 1870, the Delaware, Lackawanna 
and Western Railroad Company secured a controlling interest in the stock 
and the road came under its management. The new passenger station 
was built in 1877, supplanting the old one at the junction of Clinton and 
Onondaga streets. P. Elmendorf Sloan was Superintendent of this road 
from 1871 to December, 1872 ; Theodore Voorhees from the last named 
date to August, 1874; W. F. Hallstead, Superintendent, and R. F. Mix, 
Assistant, from August, 1874, to November, 1876; W. K. Niver, Superin- 
tendent, from that time to May, 1886. Since the latter date A. H. Schwarz 
has been Assistant Superintendent of the road, with headquarters in Syra- 
cuse. 

Syracuse, Clicnaugo and Nc7v York Railroad. — Articles of incorporation 
of this company were filed on the i6th of April, 1868, the incorporators 
being James P. Haskin, Elisha C. Litchfield, Henry Ten Eyck, John W. 
Barker, Dennis McCarthy, George F. Comstock, Hiram Eaton, John Green- 
way, James J. Belden, S. D. Luce, J. I. Bradley, John M. Wieting, and 
Alfred A. Howlett. J. M. Wieting was elected president, and the capital 
stock was placed at $100,000. Work was begun on the line in 1870, and in 
1872 a portion of the road was opened for traffic, the remainder being fin- 
ished and opened in 1874. Harlow W. Chittenden succeeded J. M. Wiet- 
ing as president in 1871, and in 1872 A. A. Howlett was elected to the 
office. In the year 1883 the road having passed into the hands of the 
North River Construction Company, which failed in the building of the 
West Shore railroad, it was turned over as one of the assets of the Construc- 
tion Company to the control of the West Shore, and with that line in Decem- 
ber, 1885, to the control of the New York Central and Hudson I^iver com- 
pany. A separate organization is, however kept up, and J. P. Bradley, 
Superintendent of the Western Division of the West Shore road, is also 
superintendent of this line. 



The West Shore and Bumalo Raii,k(pai). 413 



The city of Syracuse was bonded in aid of the road and a history of the 
trouble and difficulties, and litigation incurred during Mr. Ilowlett's ad- 
ministration would fill a volume. The original stockholders received only 
about twenty-one cents on the dollar of their investment. The failure of 
the Midland road, with which the Chenango \'alley line connected and on 
which itdepended for through freight, was an important element in the 
failure of the latter. 

Syriuiisc Northern Jurr/rotJi/.— The project of building a railroad to open 
communication between Syracuse and the lumber districts to the north and 
north east and connecting with Watertown, was di.scussed in Syracuse and 
elsewhere as early as 1851, and the matter was not allowed to rest entirely 
for a number of years. The final unsuccessful effort was made in 1862, the 
failure being then attributable chiefly to the breaking out of the war. But 
after the close of the great conflict and when money was plenty, the 
project was again revived and a company was chartered in 1870, with a 
capital of $1,250,000. The directors were Allen Munroe, E. VV. Leaven- 
worth, E. B. Judson, Patrick Lynch, Frank Hiscock, John A. Green, Jacob 
S. Smith, Horace K. White, Elizur Clark, and Garret Doyle, of Syracuse ; 
William \i. Carter, of Ikewerton ; James A. Clark, of Pulaski; Orin R. 
Earl, of Sandy Creek. The officers were as follows: Allen Munroe, Presi- 
dent: Patrick H. Agan, Secretary; E. B. Judson, Treasurer; A. C. Powell, 
Engineer. The survey was made and on the iSth of May, 1870, work was 
begun. The road was openeil on the 9th of November, 1871. It was 
operated until 1S75 when it was purchased b)- the Rome, Watertown & 
Ogdensburg Company by whom it is now managed and owned. The reader 
has already learned that Syracuse loaned $500,000 in aid of this road, for 
which it took bonds for the amount at par. 

T/ie AVtt' I'crX', IVtsf S/iorc mid Buffalo Railroad. — This company 
was chartered on the 14th of June, 1881, and the New York, Buffalo and 
West Shore Railway Company was afterwards formed under the laws of 
New York and New Jersey, by consolidation of the original compan\- with 
the North River Construction Company. The original capital stock was 
$40,000,000, and the first officers were Horace Porter, President ; Charles 
Hurd, P'irst Vice-President; Theodore Houston, Second Vice-President; 
Alex. Taylor, Secretary and Treasurer ; Charles Paine, General Manager. 
The road was opened from Weehawken to Syracuse on the 1st of October, 
1883, and to Buffalo January i, 1S84. On the 2d of October, 1885, judg- 
ment of foreclosure and sale of the road was entered in the Supreme Court 
of the State of New York. The property was sold at auction and on the 
5th of December was transferred to the purchasers, J. Pierpont Morgan, 
Chauncey AL Depew, and Ashbel Green, as joint tenants. The road was 
then at once leased to the New York Central Company. 

In July, 1S84, D. B. McCoy was appointed Superintendent of the Buf- 
falo division of the West Shore road, relieving Superintendent Merrill ; this 



414 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



division then extended from Buffalo to Syracuse, with headquarters at the 
former city. H. W. Gardner was Superintendent of the Mohawk division, 
from Syracuse to Coeyman"s Junction on the Hudson river, from 1884, to 
April, 1885, when the Mohawk division was absorbed in the Hudson river 
and Buffalo division which terminated at Frankfort, with Superintendent 
McCoy's ofifice at Newark. In April, 1888, his office was removed to Syra- 
cuse and his authority extended to Coeyman's. J. P. Bradfield was made 
Superintendent from there to Weehawken. 

STREET R.MI.WAYS. 

The city of Syracuse had grown to a large community before men came 
forward who had sufficient faith in street railways to invest their money in 
one in this city. The project had, however, been often discussed, of build- 
ing a line between the First ward and the Erie canal at Salina street, and it 
finally assumed definite shape in i860, when the Central City Railway was 
incorporated. The route was designated in the charter as through Lodi, 
Lock, and Wolf streets, but it was subsequently changed to Salina street. 
The road was built during the first half of the year and was opened in Au- 
gust, with a public demonstration. This was the first street railway in the 
city. The line was extended to the lake in or about 1872, and a branch 
line was built from North Salina street along Court street to 3d North 
street in 1887. The road passed under control of the People's Line April 
4th, 1889, and is continued through Wolf street to the outskirts of the city. 
Total length of the line is 5 4-5 miles. 

On the 4th of May, 1863, a law passed authorizing Alfred Hovey, Ed- 
ward B. Wicks, William D. Stewart, John \V. Barker, D. P. Wood, A. C. 
Powell, D. Bookstaver, and G. P. Kenyon, to lay tracks for a street railway 
in Furnace and Bridge streets to Hemlock, thence to p-ayette and thence 
to Salina street. This road was incorporated as the Syracuse and Geddes 
Railway Company in 1863, and the construction began at once. The capi- 
tal stock was $50,000. Charles Tallman was the first President of the Com- 
pany, and R. N. Gere, Vice-President Upon the death of Mr. Tallman, 
Mr. Gere was made President and has held the ofifice ever since. The first 
Secretary and Treasurer was D. Bookstaver. but in 1865 he was succeeded 
by R. A. Bonta, who has since held the ofifice. 

In the same month last mentioned (May, 1863) an Act of Legislature 
granted authority to Hamilton White, L. H. Redfield, Charles A. Baker, 
Jonathan Hall, James Noxon, Henry D. Hatch, Josiah Brintnall, and P""air- 
fax Wellington, to build a street railway from Church street, on North 
Salina street to Oakwood Cemetery and Brighton, through South Salina 
.street. This organization became the Syracuse and Onondaga Railway 
Company, and its line was formally opened on the 25th of July, 1S64. This 
road now belongs to the People's Railroad Company. 



The Street Railways ok Syracuse. 415 



The Genesee and Water Street Railway Company was incorporated 
April 2d, 1850, the capital stock being $60,000. The first Board of Di- 
rectors were James W Haskin, George F. Comstock, Ira H. Cobb, George 
Crouse. George J. Gardner, William H. H. Smith, James Noxon, Austen 
Myers, H. O. ^'ilkins, O. T. Burt, R. G. Wynkoop, John G. Bridges, and 
Caleb VV. Allis. The Chestnut (Crouse Avenue) branch to near the Uni- 
versity was built in 1873, and about the same time the main line was ex- 
tended from Beech street eastward to Wescott street. The road was origi- 
nally a belt line extending through Genesee, Beach, and returning through 
Water street ; but in the fall of 1868 the Water street track was taken up 
and laid in Genesee, Warren, James, Hawley, Green, and Lodi streets, as 
the Fourth Ward Railway. This road now forms a part of the system of 
the Consolidated Street Railway Company. 

The Fifth Ward Railroad Company was organized in 1867, with a capi- 
tal stock of $50,000. The line was first opened in 1868 with the following 
officers: Dudley P. Phelps, President; Lester J. Greenwood, Secretary 
and Treasurer; David Field, Superintendent, and extends from Railroad 
street through Clinton, Walton, West, Gifford, Geddes, and returning in a 
belt line through Delaware, Holland and Niagara to Gifford. Its total 
length is three miles. The officers in 1886 were P. B. Brayton, President ; 
O. C. Potter, Secretary and Treasurer: Hugh Purnell, Superintendent. 
The last officers were: H.S.White, President; S. B. Merrill, Secretary 
and Treasurer; Hugh Purnell, Superintendent. These officers, with W. C. 
Brayton, H. K. White, Clarence Tucker, E. W. Marsh, constituted the 
Board of Directors. This road now forms a part of the system of the Con- 
solidated Street Railway Company. 

The Seventh Ward Railway line was established in 1886, with a capital 
stock of $50,000, and with the following officers : E. F. Rice, President ; 
E. I. Rice, Secretary and Treasurer; Frank Purnell, Superintendent. The 
route is through Fayette from Sdlina to Montgomery, to Jefferson, to 
Grape, to Kennedy, to Renwick avenue, to Oakwood cemetery. In 1889, 
the Eleventh Ward Road was organized by substantially the same officers 
and company, and its tracks were laid on the line of the Seventh Ward road 
to Montgomery street, on which they continue to Burt, to Cortland avenue, 
to Midland avenue, to Colvin street, to Mulberry, to Elizabeth, to Baker 
avenue, and thence to Kennedy street, forming a belt line with the Seventh 
Ward Road. The capital stock is $150,000. The Directors were E. F. Rice, 
E. B. Judson, jr., Louis Marshall, H. S. White, J. N. Knapp, D. K. McCar- 
thy, Daniel Candee. These two lines were the first in the city to adopt 
regular ten minute time. They have now passed, with several other roads, 
under control of the Consolidated Street Railway Company. 

The Third Ward Railway Company was organized in 1886, and the road 
was put in operation in 1888. Its line extends from Salina street on West 



4i6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Genesee to West street ; thence to Park avenue, and to Willis avenue and 
Sixth North street, and terminates at the Solvay Process Company's works. 
The latter extension was made in 1889, and a branch was opened on the 4th 
of July of that year from West Genesee street to the lake shore. The 
total length of the line is 3 4-5 miles. It is operated by electricity under 
the Thompson-Houston system, and has also passed into the control of the 
Consolidated Company. The last officers were: Walter S. Wales, Presi- 
dent and Treasurer; H. McGonegal, Secretary; S. D. Lake, Superin- 
tendent. 

The Woodlawn and Butternut Street Railway Company was organized 
in 1866 with a cajjital stock of $30,000. Its route is from North Salina 
street at the junction of James, to Butternut street, and through Butternut 
to Manlius street and thence to Woodlawn cemetery. The ofificers who 
held their positions from the first were: J. F. Kaufman, I'resident ; 
L. House, Vice-President ; Frederick Erhard, Treasurer ; William Dopffel, 
Secretary; Peter Kappesser, Superintendentj^ These with John Gebhardt, 
John Moore, Theodore Hipkins, John Dunn, Henry Weinheimer and G. 
Schieder, were the directors. This road forms a part of the system of the 
Consolidated Street Railway Company. 

The People's Railroad Company was organized in 1887, with a capital 
stock of $300,000, and the road was opened in 1889. The total length of 
its tracks is 10 2-5ths miles. With its various connections it extends from 
Onondaga Valley to Salina, and is in all respects thoroughly equipped. A 
handsome pier and pavilion has been built for its patrons at Salina, and in 
the beginning of 1890 it absorbed tlie Valley road extending from Brighton 
to that point. Its officers are: Joseph R. Swan, President; Samuel A. 
Beardsley, Secretary; Charles H. Childs, Treasurer; H. H. Durr, Superin- 
tendent ; Charles H. Childs, Samuel A. Beardsley, Joseph R. Swan, Henry 
H. Durr, Thomas Hunter, Frank J. Callanen, Daniel E. Jones, Daniel 
Candee, Frank B. Klock, directors. 

The Fourth Ward Railroad Company was organized on the 21st of Ma)', 
1888, with J. Emmet Wells, President : John Greenway, Vice-President; 
George Wells, Treasurer; Charles W. Andrews, Secretary. The car tracks 
in East Water street, laid by the Genesee and Water Street Company, 
were acquired by the Fourth Ward Company and form a portion of its road, 
being taken up and relaid for that purpose. The original line extended 
from Hanover Square up Warren and James streets to Burnet street, down 
Burnet to Catherine, up Catherine to Green, and in Green to Lodi, and up 
Lodi to Willow; but soon after the organization of this company the route 
was changed, the line going up James to Hawley, down Hawley to Green 
and thence to Lodi to Willow ; while a branch starts from the intersection 
of Catherine and Hawley and extends down Hawley to Lodi, down Lodi 
to Burnet Avenue and thence to the city line. The franchise of the Bur- 



-i*-«-r=iar.-. 









The Bench and Bar of Svracuse. 417 



net Street Car Company (granted in June i8S6 ) in Burnet avenue was ac- 
quired for this branch. The line as a whole has now passed, with others 
mentioned, under control of the Consolidated Company. 

The Syracuse Consolidated Street Railway Company was organized 
with a capital stock of $1,250,000, and it embraces all the roads in Syracuse 
excepting the Central City, the Syracuse and Onondaga and the People's 
Line proper. Nine of the first Board of thirteen Directors are Syracusans, 
as follows: John Dunn, jr.. Manning C. Talmer, Louis Marshall, Theo- 
dore L. Poole, Fred C. Eddy, Hamilton S. White, William S. Andrews, 
Bruce S. Aldrich, and John H. Kaufmann. 



CHAPTER XXVL 



THE r.KN'CII AND BAR OF SVKACUSF. 

Early History of the Bench and Bar of America— The Courts of the State of New York— Ap- 
pointment of .\ssoci.ite Judges of the Supreme Court— The Supreme Court— The Old Supreme and 
Circuit Courts— The Eight Judicial Districts— The Court of Common Pleas— District Attorney— 
The First Court House — Rivalry for a New Court House in Salina and Syracuse — The Compromise 
— The Last Court House— Its Enlargement— The Court of Appeals Library— Biographic Sketches 
— The Present Bar. 

ALTHOUGH as a distinct county our records are comparatively recent, 
the early history of our Bench and Bar takes us back to judicial sys- 
tems very different from those with which we are now familiar, and very 
similar to those of England. For the ]5ritish governors, after the peace of 
Westminster, introduced such of the courts of the mother country from 
time to time as seemed adapted to the new colonies; and although our 
Constitution of 1777 abolished such as were hostile to the democratic sent- 
iments of the new era, it preserved with considerable entirety the legal 
fictions and the judicial systems of its inheritance. It was thus that our 
new county found in existence such courts as the Common Pleas, Chancery, 
Court of Probate, Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction 
of Errors, and others long since abolished or merged in those of the present 
day. The old Court of Assizes and Court of Oyer and Terminer had 
already passed away, and the Federal Constitution had taken from the 
State the Court of Admiralty ; but most of those mentioned above still 
attested our early relations with the complex system of England. 
53 



4i8 Mknujkial IIistokv of Syracuse. 



During the exciting times succeeding the administration of the tyranni- 
cal Governor Andros, and just after the execution of Leisler and the arrival 
of Governor Sloughter, and while the charter of liberties was agitating our 
colony, the Court for the Correction of Errors and Appeals was established. 
It consisted of the Governor and Council, its powers resembling those of 
our present court of final resort. The Revolution necessitated a change 
which gave rise to the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correc- 
tion of Errors. The Constitution of 1846, which made so many changes in 
our judicial system, entirely remodeled this Court. It divided it in fact, 
creating the Court of Appeals in place of the Court for Correction of Errors, 
and leaving the Court for the Trial of Impeachments still composed of the 
Senate and its President, together with the Judges of the new Court. The 
convention of 1867-68 reorganized the Court of Appeals, and in 1869 the 
people ratified the change, which resulted in the present court of final resort. 
On account of the great mass of accumulated business, a Commission of 
Appeals was created in 1870, continuing until 1875, possessing substantially 
the powers of its sister court, and designed to relieve the latter. 

In 1888, the Legislature passed a concurrent resolution that section 6 of 
Article 6 of the Constitution be amended so that upon the certificate of 
the Court of Appeals to the Governor of such an accumulation of causes 
on the calendar of the Court of Appeals that the public interests required 
a more speedy disposition thereof, the Governor may designate seven Jus- 
tices of the Supreme Court to act as Associate Judges for the time being, 
of the Court of Appeals, and to form a second division of that Court, and 
to be dissolved by the Governor when the said causes are substantially dis- 
posed of. This amendment was submitted to the people of the State at 
the general election of that year and was ratified, and in accordance there- 
with the Governor selected seven Supreme Court Justices, who were con- 
stituted the Second Division of the Court of Appeals. 

The Supreme Court as it now exists is a combination of very diverse 
elements. The Court of Chancery, the Court of Exchequer, the Court of 
Oyer and Terminer, the Probate Court, the Circuit Court, and the Supreme 
Court proper, have all been combined to make up this important branch of 
our system. But during our early county history several of these courts 
existed independently of each other, some of our early lawyers being among 
their leading members. The Court of Chancery, which had been organized 
when the Court of Assizes was abolished in 1683, was the beginning of the 
equity branch of the present Supreme Court. It was reorganized shortly 
after the Revolution and, with some slight modifications by the Constitu- 
tion of 1821, and by subsequent enactments, it continued until 1846, when 
it was merged in the new Supreme Court. Its descendant is our Special 
Term, the presiding Judge representing the Vice-Chancellor, the duties of 



The Old Supreme and Ciuctrr Courts 419 



Chancellor being filled by the General Term Bench. The Court of Ex- 
chequer, having been erected in 1685, was made a branch of the old Su- 
preme Court just after the Revolution, and so continued until finally abol- 
ished in 1830. In our earliest colonial history there had been a Court of 
Oyer and Terminer, but it was discontinued during the time of King Wil- 
liam, its name, ho\ve\er, surviving to designate the criminal part of the Cir- 
cuit. This brings us to the old Supreme and Circuit Courts, with which the 
Court of Chancery united under the Constitution of 1S46, to complete the 
principal branch of our present system. In the early part of the century 
the Supreme Court of this State consisted of five Justices. It had been 
the practice to hold four terms a j-ear, two in Albany and two in New York. 
But previous to that time, and in the closing years of the last century, the 
Circuit system was established somewhat on the plan of that of England. 
It was enacted that the Judges should, during their vacations, hold courts 
in the various counties of the State, and return the proceedings to the Su- 
preme Court when it convened again, when they should be recorded and 
judgment rendered. A few years later the system was simplified by the 
division of the State into four Judicial Districts. To each of these districts 
was assigned a Judge whose duty it was to hold Circuits in each of the 
counties therein at least once in each year. It had already been enacted 
that the Courts of Oyer and Terminer (the criminal part of the present 
Supreme Court) should be held at the same time and place as the Circuit, 
and should consist of the Circuit Judge, assisted by two or more of the 
Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the county. This Circuit system 
was very similar to the present, except that our Special Terms are substi- 
tuted for the Court of Chancery. 

After the constitution of 1S21, the State was divided, as at present, 
into eight Judicial Districts, each being provided with a Circuit Judge, in 
whom were vested certain equity powers, subject to appeal to the Chancery 
Court ; while the Supreme Court proper held much the same position as 
the present General Term. In 1846 the new Constitution abolished the 
Court of Chancery, giving the powers theretofore held by it to the Supreme 
Court, which it reorganized substantially as it exists to-da)'. Such is the 
historj' in brief of the higher Courts of this county and State. 

The system of local judicature was also changed to correspond with 
that of the State at large. The Court of Common Pleas, organized con- 
temporaneously with the Colonial Court, for the Correction of Errors and 
Appeals, has given way to the County Court ; while the offices of County 
Judge and Surrogate have been combined where the county population 
does not exceed forty thousand ; this last provision does not, of course, 
apply to Onondaga county. 

During the eighteenth century, the Court of Common Pleas consisted 
of a First Judge as.sisted by two or more associates, all of whom were ap- 



420 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

pointed by the Governor. Its powers were very similar to those of the 
present County Court, the Associate Judges corresponding to the Justices 
of Sessions on our present criminal bench. The Constitution of 1846 
abolished the Court of Common Pleas, and created the County Court and 
Court of Sessions as they exist to-day. 

The Surrogate's Court has undergone less changes during the history of 
the Syracuse bench than any of the others. In the early times, even be- 
fore the Dutch supremacy gave way to the English, there had been a short- 
lived Orphan's Court. Then the English government introduced the Pre- 
rogative Court, which in turn was superseded by the Court of Probates 
after the Revolution. Surrogates were then appointed in each county, 
having much the same powers as at present, from whose judgment appeals 
to the Court of Probates lay. This was the system down to 1S23, when the 
Court of Chancery took the place of the Court of Probates, as to appeals, 
but the ofifice of Surrogate remained as before. 

Our Justice's Courts and Courts of Special Sessions have remained sub- 
stantially unchanged since the Colonial period, and therefore need no e.x- 
tended description. 

It will be of interest in this connection to know that the ofifice of Dis- 
trict Attorney has also undergone considerable change. Early in the cen- 
tury the State was divided into seven districts, for each of which there was 
an Assistant Attorney-General. The present ofifice, as distinct from the 
Attorney-Generalship, was created in iSoi. Since 181 8, each county has 
had its own District Attorney, the name being preserved in its original 
form, 

Tlie Court House. — We have said in an earlier chapter that the first 
court in Onondaga county was held in the corn house of Comfort Tyler in 
1794. There was then no Court House and no place of confinement for 
criminals in the county. A jail was finished in Whitesboro in 1804 and the 
Legislature had passed an Act giving this county the right to use the near- 
est jail. The few criminals of the county were accordingly transferred to 
Whitesboro down to the date of the completion of the first Jail and Court 
House at Onondaga Hill. 

The earliest movement towards securing a local Court House and Jail 
was made in 1801, through the passage of an Act by the Legislature, under 
date of April 7, giving the Board of Supervisors power to raise $3 000 for 
the purpose in view. A fierce spirit of rivalry between the village in the 
Valley and that on the Hill had already been awakened, which would now 
appear almost amusing if we did not know that it was such a very serious 
matter at the time. The county records were kept at the Valley and the 
people there brought every possible influence to bear in favor of placing the 
county buildings at that point ; it was more accessible, they claimed, and 




// ^ii^>i^.<,c^{yCy\^ yXt-^'^^'^^^'^^ 



Building of the First Court House. 421 

more desirable in every way for the county seat. At the same time the 
residents on the Hill claimed the healthfulness of their site, the bright 
prospects of their village, and so on, as the best of reasons why the Court 
House should be located there, and they succeeded ; hence the passage of 
the Act mentioned. 

Steps toward the erection of the building were at once taken. Elisha 
Lewis, Medad Curtis, and Thaddeus M. Wood were appointed Commission- 
ers to have charge of the whole matter. The location selected was a square 
piece of ground near the center of the village, now partially vacant; it was 
then covered by a heavy growth of timber. This was partially cleared off 
through the efforts of a "bee," and a contract was let to William Bostwick, 
of Auburn, to put up the frame and enclose the structure. It was a wood 
building fifty feet square, two stories high, with square roof sloping to the 
four sides of the building. Mr. Bostwick finished his contract in 1802. A 
temporary floor was laid so that the courts could be held there in 1803. 
This condition of things remained until the beginning ot 1804, when the 
citizens of the county felt that they could prudently finish the building. 
The Commissioners accordingly contracted with Abel House to do the in- 
side carpenter work, excepting the jail cells, and with a Mr. Sexton, of New 
Hartford, to do the mason work. The court room occupied the second 
floor, and this, with apartments for the jailor's family, were finished at that 
time. A year or two later, a contract was made with Roswell and Sylves- 
ter Tousley, of Manlius, to do the iron work on the cells at the price of two 
shillings per pound. The cells were not entirely finished until 1810. They 
were made of oak planks fastened together with wrought iron spikes. The 
doors were made of like material, with a "diamond" in the center to admit 
light and for passing in food. In rear of the cells were painted windows. 
A stairway led from the hall to the court room above, directly in front of 
the entrance to which was the Judge's bench, semi-circular in form. 

The whole cost of this building was $10,000. It could probably be built 
now for one-half that sum. James Beebe, a revolutionary soldier, was the 
first jailor, and was succeeded by Mason Butts. The building was used for 
its original purposes until 1 829, and after being gradually denuded of boards, 
windows, etc., throughout a number of years, it was finall)' torn down. 
The village of Salina was organized in 1824. The villages at the Hill 
and in the Valley had grown considerably by that time, especially that on 
the Hill, through its prestige as the county seat. Active rivalry existed be- 
tween these three points. Salina had her salt works and her prospects ap- 
peared e.xcellent for outstripping her rivals, and in her rivalry with the Hill, 
received at least the silent acquiescence of the people of the Valley. These 
conditions continued and, perhaps, in an aggravated form, in the contest we 
are about to describe. 



422 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



By the date last mentioned the lusty young settlement of Syracuse had 
stepped into the arena and lifted up her voice as a candidate for the recep- 
tion of the county buildings. The place was not then quite so numerously 
populated as Salina, but it was organized as a village in 1S25, and the new 
canal and the untiring push of the men of the "Syracuse Company "' (who 
are really most to be credited for there being any Syracuse) gave the village 
a prestige and influence not to be despised. The effect on the people of 
Salina was like a red blanket before an enraged bull. With them it became, 
"anything to win the Court House from Syracuse." As we have said, the 
Valley rather sympathized with Salina, while the Hill insisted on retaining 
what its people saw was its only element of growth and importance. So it 
was now almost a quadrangular contest. The citizensof the Hill succeeded 
in 1S25 in getting a bill through the Legislature providing for the retention 
of the Court House in their village ; but Governor Clinton, through the in- 
fluence of the Syracuse Compan)-, vetoed the bill. Meetings were held in- 
the several villages, at one of which B. Davis Noxon, then a leading lawyer 
at the Hill, advocated the raising of a sum of money sufificient to put the 
Court House in perfect repair, thus abolishing, as he claimed, all reasons 
for removal. Efforts had been made to elect for the Board of Supervisors 
of 1826, men who were in favor of retaining the county seat at the Hill. 
"Accordingly, in 1826," says M. C. Hand in " From a Forest to a City," 
pp. 190-91, "at a meeting of the Supervisors, a resolution was passed 
to present a bill to the next Legislature, asking its passage of a bill 
empowering the Supervisors of Onondaga county to levy a tax for the pur- 
pose of building a new Court House at the Hill. This resolution was 
brought before the Legislature as early as January, 1827. The people at 
the Hill had instructed Daniel Moseley, their representative, who was a 
lawyer then residing at the Hill, to look after their interests in the matter, 
as he was personally interested. When it became known that the initiatory 
steps had been taken to rebuild, Moses D. Burnet, John D. James, and a 
few others, met at the office of the Syracuse Company, taking care that the 
outside parties should not be advised of their movements. Mr. Burnet 
was made chairman, and on taking the chair stated that the object of the 
meeting was consultation on the best course to be pursued in order to 
defeat all competitors for the location of the Court House, and to estab- 
lish the county seat at Syracuse. After the most careful deliberation of 
this body of able schemers, it was resolved that a sufficient number of ca- 
pable canvassers should be placed in every town in the county, to obtain 
the signatures of as many tax-payers as possible, petitioning the Legislature 
to establish the Court House at Syracuse. So effectually was this plan car- 
ried out that a canvass of the whole county was made before the opposition 
could take measures to counteract it. The petitions of a large majority of 



Till-; County Seat RKMcjviin ra Syracuse. 423 

the tax-payers of tlie county, praying that the Court House might be lo- 
cated at Syracuse, came pouring in at Albany until the legislative halls 
were deluged with tiiem. The consideration of the bill was postponed from 
time to time, and earnest speeches were made by several different members 
for and against its passage. Prominent among the latter were Mr. 
Livingstone and Mr. Moseiey, but their speeches seemed more an ap- 
peal for sympathy, than sound argument. They claimed that many had 
located at the Hill because it was the county seat, and to remove it to 
another locality would be an injustice to that class. That the removal 
would be a greater damage to the people of the Hill, than it would benefit 
Syracuse, as that place had other advantages, such as water power and the 
canal, while the location of the Court House on the Hill was their only 
attraction, and to remove it would create ' an eternal Sunday.' Final action 
was reached on March 19, 1827, when the bill was passed to locate the 
buildings in Syracuse." 

It will be correctly inferred that there was the bitterest feeling among 
the residents at the Hill over the result of this contest, and the language 
that was used by them and in the newspaper then published there, while 
eminently forcible and expressive, was not always courteous and polite. 

The end of the difficulty was not yet. A site had to be selected and 
agreed upon, and over this problem Salina and Syracuse continued the 
spirit of rivalry and opposition to each other, which had so long been active. 
Syracuse, backed by the enterprising Syracuse Company, made most gener- 
ous ofTers of land and money, and the agent of the Company offered the 
entire block surrounded by Salina, East Fayette, Warren and Washington 
streets, excepting the lot already given to the First Presbyterian Society 
(site of the McCarthy stores.) The Company also offered to furnish a lot 
for a jail on the corner of Warren and Fayette streets. In addition to this 
General Amos P. Granger offered to build a fire proof structure for a clerk's 
office and to give $1,000 in cash to be used on the Court House. 

On the part of Salina, Supervisor Knapp tendered to the county the 
block of land bounded by Salina, Division, Towsend, and Ash streets, then 
owned by Dr. Kirkpatrick, a very insignificant offer beside that of Syracuse. 
But in making the donation before the Board of Supervisors, Mr. Knapp 
made a speech, insinuating that money had been wrongfully used to secure 
influence in favor of Syracuse in getting the county seat removed from the 
Hill, and finally proposing that the only safe, practicable, and reasonable 
way out of the difficulty was to place the county buildings midway between 
Syracuse and Salina, thus conciliating both places. He concluded his argu- 
ment by urging that as Syracuse would probably grow rapidly on account 
of the canal, while the salt interest would surely render Salina a permanently 
prosperous village, the jealousy of the two places would soon be outgrown 



424 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



and the villages incorporated together, when the location of the public 
buildings midway between them would be found to be just the proper ar- 
rangement. 

A vote on the question was promptly taken and resulted in S to 6 in fa- 
vor of Mr. Knapp's scheme, and the Court House was located on lot 276, in 
consideration that Salina give a clear title to the land and $1,000 in cash to 
the undertaking. Salina considered this a great victory and rejoiced ac- 
cordingly. If she could not have the Court House wholly to herself, she 
was glad to be instrumental in keeping it out of the center of Syracuse. 
Conservative and far-seeing people regretted the result of the agitation and 
accurately prejudged the consequences. The vicinity of the site chosen 
(corner of Division and North Salina streets) was only thinly settled, main- 
ly by coopers, not a sidewalk was laid in that section, and the offices of all 
the attorneys were, and would continue to be, at a long distance from the 
Court House. But the die was cast and the building was erected. John 
Smith, Thomas Starr, and Samuel Forman, were appointed Commissioners, 
with power to procure plans and specifications, and the County Treasurer 
was empowered to borrow $20,000 in two annual installments of $10,000 
each. 

The Commissioners decided to build the Jail of stone fifty feet square 
and two stories high, with a hall and stairs in the center. The south half 
was designed for the jailor's dwelling, and the north half for strong stone 
cells, and the second story, over the cells, was appropriated to cells for 
debtors, witnesses, etc. The Court House was to be built of brick, sixty 
feet square, with large columns on the west side, and two stories high. The 
first story was divided by a hall into four apartments, one in each corner, 
for the use of the grand and petit juries, and other purposes. The court 
room occupied all of the second story except the landing of the stairs and 
two petit jury rooms in each corner. The judge's seat was on the south 
side, opposite the landing of the stairway. These were the county build- 
ings the Commissioners decided upon, and they invited bids for their erec- 
tion. In the spring of iS2g, the bids were received according to the speci- 
fications and plans. John Wall was given the contract for building the 
Jail, which was completed early in the year 1829. L. A. Cheney and Sam- 
uel Booth received the contract for the mason work, and David Stafford the 
contract for the carpenter work on the Court House, and it was finished in 
the year last mentioned. The first court was held there on May 13, 1830, 
Judge Karll presiding. The total cost of the building was over $27,000. 
The bitterness felt at the Hill led to charges by some of the citizens that 
the Building Commissioners had proved recreant to their trust through ex- 
travagance and dishonesty, and a Commission of Investigation was ordered, 
but the Building Committee was exonerated. The building was quite an 




•c^.-*y^CJI»na»vN ^ 




Efforts to Removk the Couut House. 425 



imposing one for that period and could be clearly seen up Salina street, 
from as far south as Onondaga street, it having the appearance from the 
south of standing in the middle of the street. 

The numerous and almost intolerable inconveniences of having the 
county buildings in a location remote from both of the most important 
villages in the county, soon became apparent. Distant from law offices, 
from hotels, and only to be reached by a long walk over poor sidewalks 
and muddy streets, the wonder now is that the situation was endured, as it 
was, for nearly twenty years. 

The general dissatisfaction became so great by about the year 1845 that 
various measures were soon projected for removal of the buildings nearer to 
the center of Syracuse. General Amos P. Granger made an offer to the 
Board of Supervisors to erect a good Court House on any suitable lot in the 
heart of the city, in consideration that he should have the old site and 
$20,000 in cash. In 1847, ^ delegation comprising James R. Lawrence, 
John Williams, and Peter Outwater, met the Board of Supervisors and pre- 
sented strong arguments for the removal of the Court House. In 1853, 
Hon. Sanford C. Parker, then Supervisor from VanBuren, offered a resolu- 
tion, which he supported by a speech, that the city and county should unite 
in putting up a building suitable for a Court House, Clerk's Office, City 
Hall, etc. None of these propositions crystallized and the subject was sub- 
stantially dropped until 1855. O" the 3d day of December of that year, 
Mr. Midler, Supervisor from DeWitt, offered a resolution of inquiry on the 
subject, proposing to instruct the Committee on " Court House and Clerk's 
Office," consisting of T. C. Cheney, E. A. Williams, and Joel Fuller, "to 
e.xamine and report the expense of building a new Court House, and what 
the premises where the one stands will sell for." The resolution was adopted 
and the committee submitted their report, strongly advising the erection 
of new buildings in a more suitable locality and concluding with a resolu- 
tion proposing "that a committee of three should be appointed whose 
duties shall be at some subsequent meeting of this Board to report a plan 
for the sale of the present Court House premises — to examine and report 
upon a suitable site or sites for a new Court House and the terms on which 
a title thereto can be secured to the county. And also plans and estimates 
for a new Court House." 

Such a committee was named and consisted of Luke Wells, T. C. Cheney 
and D. T. Moseley. A majority report of this committee recommended a 
new site and new Court House. Mr. Moseley dissented on the ground that 
the tax payers were unfavorable to the measure. In the Board the report 
was tabled on the same ground, and the next day the Board adjourned j/««? 
die. The "Court House question" seemed to be settled; but it was not. 
Early in the naorning of the 5th of February sqrne person with the public 
54 



426 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



welfare at heart (whether he reahzed it or not), set fire to the old Court 
House and it was burned to the ground. What was before a question of 
policy, was now one of necessity. A special meeting of the Board of Super- 
visors was held on the 13th of February and a committee consisting of T. 
C. Cheney, George Stevens, and William F. Gere was appointed to report at 
another meeting relative to location and price of lots offered as sites for the 
new Court House. The result of this action was the e.xchange of the old 
site with Colonel Voorhees for the site of the present Court House on 
Clinton square. 

Plans for the new Court House were drawn by H. N. White, the esti- 
mated cost of the building being $38,000 The Board of Supervisors 
appointed Timothy C. Cheney, Luke Wells, and D. C. Greenfield as a 
Building Committee, and a contract was awarded to Cheney & Wilcox at 
$37,750, the contractors to have the materials left from the old Court House 
and Jail. The building is of Onondaga gray limestone and was finished in 
1857. For many years it answered its purpose well, but various important 
changes have since been made in the interior, particularly for the improve- 
ment of the acoustic properties of the court room. 

As the county grew in population and the business of the courts in- 
creased, additional accommodations became necessary and in 1883, steps 
were taken towards furnishing them. A committee of the Board of Super- 
visors of that year was appointed, consisting of N. S. Gere, John M. 
Strong, D. M. Lanigan, and A. C. Palmer, to report on the subject, the full 
Board having been already requested by Justices Vann, George N. Kennedy, 
and Judge A. J. Northrup to take action in the matter. The report of the 
special committee named resulted in the following resolution : That the 
Committee on County Buildings be and are hereby directed to have con- 
structed on the land between the Court House and Clerk's Office, a build- 
ing for the Supreme Court Library upon the plans this day submitted by 
the special committee, and that the County Treasurer be directed to bor- 
row on the credit of the county $15,000 to pay for the same. 

This action resulted in the erection of the addition in rear of the Court 
House, in which were placed the Court of Appeals Library, the Chambers 
of Justices Kennedy and Vann, and in the basement the offices of the 
County Superintendent of the Poor, and the Coroner. This gave the libra- 
ry convenient and commodious quarters. In the year 1889, about $5,000 
were expended in putting a new roof on this building, raising it higher, and 
thus providing better light and ventilation. 

The Court of Appeals Library. — About the year 1S30 the "Chancellor's 
Library," as it was known came into existence by act of the Legislature, 
the unclaimed funds of the old Court of Chancery being devoted to its 
purchase. The Constitution of 1S46 abolished the Court of Chancery, and 



BioGkAriiiCAi. Ski/k iiKS. 427 



a law passed on the 9th of April, 1849, gave the custody of the accumulated 
library to the Court of Appeals in these terms: "The Library called the 
Chancellor's Library shall continue to be a public library under the name of 
The Library of the Court of Appeals." This act authorized the Judges of 
the Court of Appeals to divide the library and locate it in two suitable 
places west of the State capital. The Court appointed George F. Comstock 
and Samuel L. Selden a committee for that purpose, both of whom were 
afterwards Judges of that Court. The general basis of the division was 
that all " duplicate books, and such others as the Judges may think proper" 
should be taken for the new libraries. The act also proviiled that three- 
fourths of the fund of interest that had accumulated in the Court of Chan- 
cery, and known as the Chancellor's Library Fund, should be devoted first 
to the expenses of carrying out the provisions of the law, and then to the 
enlargement and improvement of the Library. The division was properly 
carried out and the books thus devoted to the Syracuse library were brought 
here and disposed in a large room on the first floor of the Court House, 
and the remainder were taken to Rochesterand the other library established 
in that city. 

With the completion of the addition to the Court House before de- 
scribed, in 1884, the library was removed to its present commodious 
and handsome room. Since the library was established here, many valuable 
additions have been made to it and it is constantly growing in importance 
and value. The librarians ha\e been William H. Moseley, Richard Wool- 
worth, C. H. Sedgwick, and the present incumbent, T. L. R. Morgan, who 
assumed the position in 1885. 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 

LeRov Morgan, born March 27, 18 10, in the town of Pompey, Onon- 
daga county, N. Y. His parents were Lyman and Melissa Morgan. He 
died May 15, 1880, in Syracuse, N. Y. In 1830 he graduated from the 
Pompey Academy, an institution justly celebrated for its high standard of 
scholarship. He began the study of law in 1830 in the office of Hon. Dan- 
iel Gott, and taught school and continued his law studies in the office of 
Hon. Samuel L. Edwards, of Manlius, until his admission to practice in the 
Court of Common Pleas in 1S33. The next year he became an Attorney 
and Counselor of the Supreme Court of the State. He continued the 
practice of law in the villages of Manlius and l^aldwinsville until 185 i when 
he removed to Syracuse. From 1843 to 1848 he held the office of District 
Attorney of this county, receiving the appointment from Governor Silas 
Wright, and discharged the duties with marked ability and fidelity. In 
1849, he entered into partnership with David D. Hillis, one of the most elo- 
quent advocates of his day, and remained with him until the death of Mr. 



428 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Hillis in 1859. I" November of that year he was elected a Justice of the 
Supreme Court after one of the most severe and bitter contests at a nomi- 
nating convention in the history of the State. So satisfactory to the bar 
and people was his administration of this high office, that on the expiration 
of his term he was re-elected for another eight years without opposition. 
He was Judge of the Court of Appeals, ^-.r officio, from January i, 1866, to 
1867. Upon the expiration of his second term in 1875 he resumed the 
practice of his profession and was largely employed in references and as 
counsel up to the time of his death in 18S0. 

The peculiar traits of Judge Morgan's character were his great industry 
as a lawyer and judge, and the independence and perfect fidelity which 
characterized the discharge of his professional and judicial duties. He was 
the leading counsel for the defence in the famous Jerry Rescue trials, and 
also in the celebrated murder trials of Carson, McGuire, and Fyler, held in 
this county in the '50's. In private life he was as much beloved as he was 
honored in public. He was always genial, approachable, and amiable, and 
the junior members of the bar remember with gratitude his unfailing pa- 
tience with them in their first efforts to practice in court. Resolutions 
commemorating his learning and ability as a judge and his worth as a citi- 
zen were passed at the meetings of the bar in the several counties of this 
Judicial District. The bar meeting in this county, presided over by the late 
Judge Pratt, was very largely attended and the eulogies delivered by the 
judges and lawyers evinced the respect and love of all who knew him. 
Judge Morgan left surviving, Elizabeth Slocum, his widow, T. L. R. Mor- 
gan, and F. J. Morgan, his sons, and Mrs. N. M. White, and Mrs. Ellen 
M. Leary, his daughters. 

Hon. Samuel L. Edwards, one of the early and conspicuous mem- 
bers of the Onondaga County bar, was born in the town of Old Fairfield, 
Conn., February 14th, 1789. He lived there until 1812, in which year he 
graduated at Yale College, receiving the degree of A. B. On the 30th of 
August, 1834, he received the degree of A. M. from the same institution. 
Soon after his graduation he removed to Manlius and began the study of 
law with Randall & Wattles. After he was admitted to the bar he pur- 
chased Mr. Wattles's interest in the firm and continued as the partner of 
Mr. Randall a number of years. He was admitted to practice as attorney 
in the Supreme Court in 181 5 and as counselor in the same in 1821 ; also to 
practice as solicitor in chancery in 1821 and as counselor in 1823. In all of 
these courts he acquired a high reputation and an excellent measure of suc- 
cess. He held several town offices and in 1 823 was elected to the Assembly, 
where he continued two or three sessions. He was appointed First Judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas for Onondaga county in 1831, and in 1833 
was elected to the Senate, where he served eight years. He then retired 



BiocKAiiiicAi, Sketches. 429 

from public office and practiced his profession until a short time before his 
death. It was said of Judge Edwards that " as a lawyer he was studious, 
careful and painstaking, and being a man of good abilities, was always ready 
for the trial of the cases entrusted to his charge, and was rewarded with a 
full share of the success which never fails to attend careful preparation and 
studious and persevering industry." Judge Edwards died at his home in 
Manlius on the 7th of April, 1877. 

David Duncan Hii.i.is — Died in Syracuse, N. Y., February 20, 1859. 
He studied law with James R. Lawrence, at Camillus, was admitted in 
1832 and practiced there until he removed to Syracuse in 1837. Judge 
Pratt studied in Mr. Hillis's ofifice, entering as a student in the spring of 
1834, and after the removal to Syracuse, HiUis & Pratt formed a partner- 
ship which continued until 1843. I" February,- 1844, Hillis was made Sur- 
rogate of this county, and he afterwards formed a partnership with Mr. 
Sessions which continued until 1850, when the firm of Hillis & Morgan was 
formed and it continued until the death of the former. During his twenty 
years of active practice, Mr. H. took a leading position as a lawyer, with 
such men as Noxon, Lawrence, Ruger, and others, and he equalled any 
member of the bar of those days as an advocate. He was associated with 
Judge Morgan in the defence of the celebrated Jerry Rescue trials, which 
were prosecuted by James R. Lawrence, then District Attorney of the 
Northern District of New York, and also in the defence of the murderers, 
Fyler, Carson, and McGuire, tried at the Onondaga Oyer and Terminer. 

Mr. Hillis was the most social and kindly of men. He was a communi- 
cant of the Episcopal church and upon his decease the entire county bar 
attended a meeting to commemorate his virtues. Judge Pratt presided and 
Judge Ruger was secretary. Resolutions prepared by Hon. T. T. Davis 
were adopted. Of Mr. Hillis's associates, Lawrence, Pratt, Davis, Mor- 
gan, Sabine, Shelden, and Gen. Nye are dead. 

James Robbins Lawrence was born in Norfolk, Litchfield county, 
Conn., 'on the i ith of Sept., 1790. When he was five years old his father 
removed to Oneida county and there died suddenly, leaving a large family 
of small children. James R. attended the common schools and with the 
aid of a small patrimony of about $500 was able to attend the Hamilton 
Academy, from which he graduated in 1810. He then began the study of 
law with Medad Curtis, the pioneer attorney at C)nondaga Hill. In the old 
Court House there some of the best talent in the State often met, and in 
the close study which he devoted to his profession and the practice in those 
early courts, Mr. Lawrence laid the basis of his subsequent success at the 
bar. Soon after his admission to the bar he removed to Camillus and with 
his brother. Grove Lawrence, built up a very large and lucrative practice for 
that period. In the year 1840 he came to Syracuse and remained in active 



430 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



practice about forty years. It has been written of him that " no man at 
the bar had uniformly better success than he in the conduct of his cases. 
Able as a legist, he shone as an advocate ; with a commanding presence, a 
persuasive eloquence, and withal quick at repartee and abounding in humor, 
he was almost resistless before juries." He was made the first County Judge 
under the new' constitution, and served from 1S47 to 1S50 with great ac- 
ceptability. In September, 1850 he was appointed by President Fillmore 
United States Attorney for the District of Northern New York. Judge 
Lawrence was repeatedly elected to the Assembly in the exciting period 
between 1830 and 1S40, in which body he distinguished himself as a de- 
bater and in the great fund of general information of which he showed 
himself the'master. He continued to take an active part in politics through- 
out his life, connecting himself with the Republican party when it came 
into existence, and giving his best efforts to the government in its trying 
war period and afterwards. It has been written of Judge Lawrence by one 
who knew him well that " as a lawyer he was erudite, accomplished and 
persuasive; as a politician, patriotic and influential; as a citizen, enlight- 
ened and judicious ; as a husband and father, affectionate and indulgent. 
About seven years before his death Judge Lawrence became totally blind, 
but he bore the great affliction with patience and equanimity. He died 
on the 2 1 St of March, 1874. 

B. Davis Noxon was born in Poughkeepsie in the year 1788, and was 
the son of a' physician. He received an academic education and studied 
law with Philo'.Ruggles. In the latter part of the year 1809, he went to 
Marcellus and began practice, and a few years later removed to Onondaga 
Hill, and there his professional life really began. The litigation connected 
with the military lands engaged his early attention and among the then 
powerful lawyers of the State, Mr. Noxon soon won a foremost position. 
It has been written of him that " In knowledge of this branch of the law, 
in careful preparation, in the acumen necessary to mark every nice dis- 
tinction, in the skill rtquisite to detect and expose fraud and perjury ; in 
boldness, tact, pertinacity ; in his hard logic for the court and his skillful 
appeals to juries, he was in the front rank of his profession. Experience 
in the trial of such causes made him a complete and thorough lawyer, and 
he stood almost without a peer or rival in real estate law throughout his 
professional life. * * Mr. Noxon studied the cases which shaped and 
settled the law of the State as they arose. In all his career he was distin- 
guished for his accurate knowledge of the adjudged cases, their reasons, 
their distinctions and their limitations; and no man had a better memory 
to retain or nicer skill to use this knowledge." Mr. Noxon was not only a 
distinguished real estate lawyer; his mind was versatile and he was equally 
ready, or nearly so, in other branches of the profession. He was quick- 



BiOGRAriircAL Sketches. 431 

witted and ready, as well as strong in the trial of causes. He was a master 
of invective, always honest, if perhaps sometimes carried to excess. Mr. 
No.xon removed to Syracuse with the transfer of the courts in 1829, and 
with the late E. W. Leavenworth formed the firm of Noxon & Leaven- 
worth. For several years this was the leading law firm of the village. He 
was seldom a candidate for office, yet he held political views of a clear and 
decided character, upon which he never hesitated to express himself upon 
all proper occasions. Upon the death of Mr. Noxon on the 13th of May, 
1S69, the bar of Onondaga county met and paid the highest eulogies to the 
deceased, in addresses and resolutions. 

John Wilkinson was born in Troy, N. Y., September 30, 1798. 
In the next year his father removed to the town of Skaneatelcs, making 
the journey on foot and leading a cow. The family rode on a sled drawn 
by oxen. When twelve years old John Wilkinson was sent to Onondaga 
Academy, which was then the nearest classical school to his home. His 
studious habits attracted the attention of Joshua Forman and after gradu- 
ation he was taken into the law office of Forman & Sabine as clerk and stu- 
dent. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1819, and settled in Syra- 
cuse as the first lawyer. In the same year he, in company with Owen 
Forman, surveyed and laid out into village and farm lots the Walton Tract, 
under instructions from Judge Forman. When the survey was finished, Mr. 
Wilkinson built a small office on the Globe Hotel site, and was ridiculed for 
locating so far out in the fields. In 1820, Mr. Wilkinson was appointed 
postmaster and held the office until 1840. In 1825, he was elected the first 
clerk of the village. In the same year he was chosen one of the directors 
of the Onondaga County Bank at its organization and held the office until 
the institution closed its affairs. He was president of the Bank of Syracuse, 
organized by himself and the late Horace White, and continued in that office 
until his death. During a later period he became prominently connected 
with early railroads. He was president of the Syracuse and Utica railroad, 
was elected Member of Assembly in 1834 and 1835, and occupied a fore- 
most position in that body. After the organization of the New York Cen- 
tral Railroad Company he was appointed its counsel. He was director of 
the Hudson River railroad, the Buffalo and State Line railroad, the Oswego 
and Syracuse railroad and the Rochester and Syracuse railroad, the last two 
having been projected by him and built by Construction Committees of 
which he was chairman. Later he was president of the Michigan Southern 
and Northern Indiana railroad, and was connected with other lines. After 
the death of Oliver Teall, Mr. Wilkinson was made president of the Water 
Company. 

While the magnitude of the railroad and other interests in which Mr. 
Wilkinson was engaged drew his attention in a large degree away from his 



432 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



profession, he still held an eminent position in the county bar, and en- 
joyed the fullest respect and confidence not only of his associates in the 
legal profession, but of all his acquaintances — a fact that is amply substan- 
tiated by the large number of estates entrusted to his care. No trust 
placed in him was betrayed or neglected in any respect. He died in 1862. 

Neiiemiah H. Eari.I. was born October 5, 1787, in Whitehall, N. Y., 
and came to Onondaga county about 1793, with his father. Gen. Robert 
Earll. The family, lived at Onondaga Valley about nine months and then 
removed to Skaneateles, where they lived until 1804. In that year the son 
entered Fairfield Academy and left it two years later equipped with a good 
education. He began the study of law in the office of Daniel Kellogg, at 
Skaneateles, and afterwards studied in theofificeof Thaddeus M. Wood and 
George Hall. He was admitted to practice in the Court of Common Pleas 
in 1809, shortly after which he removed to Salina and entered into partner- 
ship with Judge Daniel Moseley and John ?. Sherwood. In 1812, he was 
admitted to practice in the Supreme Court. He then joined the army and 
was stationed at Oswego, holding the office of Adjutant. In 18 14, he re- 
sumed practice at Onondaga Hill where he rapidly gained reputation and 
business. In 1816, he was appointed post master and in the same year was 
elected Justice of the Peace, filling that position until 1S20. In 1823, he 
was appointed First Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which office he 
held until 1 831, when he resigned and was appointed Superintendent of the 
Salt Springs. This position he filled until 1S36, when he resigned and en- 
gaged in milling business with his brother Hezekiah, at Jordan. Two years 
later he removed to Syracuse. In 183S, he was elected by the Democrats 
to the 26th Congress and was renominated and defeated in 1840. He lived 
as a private citizen from that time until i860, when he removed to Mott- 
ville and died there in 1872. He was greatly respected for his well known 
integrity, his excellent business judgment, and his wise and judicious ad- 
ministration as judge. 

Thomas T. Da\ is was born in Middlebury, Vt., August 22d, 1810. 
About seven years later his father was called to the presidency of Hamilton 
College and removed thither. The son graduated from that institution in 
1831, with high honors. He then began the study of law in Syracuse in 
the office of his brother, Henry Davis, and after his admission to the bar 
formed a partnership with him, which continued until 1844 and was termi- 
nated by the brother's death. He soon afterward formed the partnership 
with James S. Leach, which continued to the end of his professional life. 
In 1862 he was nominated for Congress by the Republicans, was elected 
and re-elected ; in that body he gained a high position on important com- 
mittees. It has been written of Mr. Davis that " He was distinguished at 



BlOGRAnilCAI, SKETniES. 433 



the bar for his deep, extensive and critical knowledge of the law, and the 
court listened with great respect to his clear exposition of legal principles. 
He possessed great business sagacity, and was gifted with a facile and grace- 
ful pen and was often called upon in times of great popular feeling to clothe 
in his vigorous and well chosen words and eloquent sentences, the emotions 
which filled the popular heart." Mr. Davis died on the 2d of May, 1.S72. 

Daniel Pratt was born in Greenwich, Washington Co., N. Y., in 1806. 
He graduated from Union College in 1833 and in the same year came to 
Onondaga county and studied law in the office of David D. Hillis, of Ca- 
millus. In February, 1843, he was appointed First Judge of Onondaga 
county and four years later was elected Judge of the Supreme Court; in 
1851 he was re-elected to the same ofTice. At the close of this term he re- 
tired from the bench, in the enjoyment of the fullest confidence of his com- 
peers in his judicial ability and his unswerving integrity. During his services 
as Judge he was honored with the degree of LL. D., by both Hamilton 
and Union Colleges. On January i, i860. Judge Pratt resumed law practice 
in partnership with the late D. J. Mitchell, and two years later Wilber M. 
Brown was admitted to the firm. During the succeeding fifteen years this 
firm was in the front rank of the profession in Syracuse. Judge Pratt was 
appointed one of the Commissioners for revising the State Constitution and 
in 1873 was elected Attorney-General. While Judge Pratt was not brilliant 
and powerful as a speaker, his mind was most admirably disciplined and 
stored with great wealth of legal knowledge, which was always at command, 
and gave him strength in the trial of important causes demanding ability of 
that character. He died July 23, 1864. 

Israel Selden Spencer died in Syracuse on the 12th of March, 1885, 
while seated in his oflfice chair. Judge Spencer was born in Camden] 
Oneida county in 1S15. He .studied his profession in Canastota and was 
admitted to the bar before he attained his majority. In 1845, he settled in 
Syracuse, and soon afterward formed a partnership with a Mr. North under 
the style of Spencer & North. In 1850, the firm was dissolved and Mr. 
Spencer was elected County Judge and served as such until 1854. To the 
duties of this position Judge Spencer gave that degree of careful attention 
that characterized all of his professional work. After his retirement from 
the bench. Judge Spencer gave his undivided attention to his practice, de- 
voting most of his time and energy to matters pertaining to land convey- 
ances, the settlement of estates and kindred work. In this department of 
legal practice Judge Spencer was an acknowledged authority and his services 
were sought in many important cases. About the year 1870, Judge Spencer 
traveled extensively in Egypt and Palestine, and on his return prepared a 
very interesting lecture on his travels on the Nile, which he delivered in 
Syracuse and elsewhere. He was a great lover of books and possessed 
55 



434 Memorial History ok Svkacuse. 

nearly complete and very valuable files of local newspapers, which have 
been donated to the Central Library. 

Johnson Hall, came to Syracuse from Lafayette in 1838, where he 
had been postmaster many years. His connection with the Judiciary of 
the county came through his appointment as Associate Judge, with the 
late Hon. Grove Lawrence and Oliver R. Strong. In this capacity 
Judge Hall's sterling integrity, accurate judgment, and innate sense of 
justice gave him an honorable position. Judge Hall represented Onondaga 
county in the State Legislature in 1830; was elected Sheriff in November, 
1831. During the first ten years of his life in Syracuse he was connected 
with the hardware firm of Rhoades & Sherman. Judge Hall was a staunch 
Democrat in politics. His death occurred October 27th, 1S70.. 

Oliver R. Strong, the Onondaga pioneer, was born August 5th, 1781, 
in Lebanon, Windham county, Conn. In 1802, when he was twenty-one 
years old, he followed the growing tide of emigration westward, and made 
his stopping place at Onondaga Hill, where he found the family of Ellis's, 
who were his relatives. He was soon employed to teach the first school at 
that place, his salary being five dollars a month and board. The school 
throve, however, and his pay was soon doubled. In 1803, he was appointed 
under sheriff of the county, by the then sheriff, Elijah Phillips, and contin- 
ued in the position under the next sheriff Robert Earll. In 1808, he was 
appointed County Treasurer and held that office nearly twenty-five years. 
In 1812, he began mercantile business at the Hill and was a little later asso- 
ciated with his brother Hezekiah. In 1830, he was associated with John 
Wilkinson in the establishment of the " Onondaga County Bank," of which 
he was president fourteen years. In 1834, he was elected to the Assembly, 
serving one term, refusing a re-election, and in 1S38 was appointed Associ- 
ate Judge of Common Fleas and held the office many years. In 1810, Judge 
Strong was married to Margaret McLaren, of Manlius. She died in 1827, 
leaving three sons and three daughters. About the year 1850 he retired 
almost entirely from the active business of life, bearing the esteem and con- 
fidence of the entire community. He died at the residence of his son. Col. 
John M. Strong, in this city on the 3d of October, 1872. 

Joseph Mullen was born near Dromon, County Down, Ireland, Au- 
gust 6th, 181 I. He came to America with his parents when he was nine 
years old, and settled at Brownsville, Jefferson county, N. Y., but soon 
afterward removed to Watertown, which was his place of residence until his 
death. He learned the printer's trade and for a time studied at the Union 
Academy at Belleville. In 1831 he entered Union College and graduated 
in 1833. From that time until 1836 he acted as principal of Belleville 
Academy and in 1837 was admitted to the bar. He practiced in Water- 



Bi(x;kai'IIicai. Skkti hks. 435 



town until 1841 when he was appointed Examiner in Chancery and held 
that position two years. He also held the office of District Attorney and 
Commissioner in Bankruptcy. In 1847, ^^ was elected to Congress. In 
1857, he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court in the Fifth Judicial 
District and was twice re-elected without opposition, holding the office 
until the close of 1881. When the General Term departments were organ- 
ized in 1870, Judge Mullen was appointed Presiding Justice of the Fourth 
Department, embracing the Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Judicial Districts. 
He continued in this position until disqualified by age. He was retired 
January i, 1881, and was succeeded by Judge Irving G. Vann. The degree 
of LL.D.. was conferred upon Judge Mullen by both Hamilton and Union 
Colleges. Judge Mullen was held in the highest esteem as a jurist and his 
opinions always carried great weight. His legal knowledge was broad and 
comprehensive and his judgment singularly clear and correct. 

Joseph F. S.ABINE, son of William H. Sabine, the pioneer lawyer of 
Onondaga Valley, was born in March, 1814. He graduated from Yale Col- 
lege in 1836. He soon afterward began the study of law with the late 
James R. Lawrence at Camillus, was admitted to the bar in 1838 and entered 
into partnership with Mr. Lawrence. The firm removed to this city in 1839, 
and enjoyed a successful practice for a number of years. The Jerry Rescue 
trials came on before him as United States Commissioner. Mr. Sabine's 
health was not robust and for many years in the latter part of his life he 
spent his winters in the south and did not actively follow his profession. 
He engaged quite largely in real eseate operations, in which he was very 
successful, it has been said of him that " he was an excellent companion, 
a warm friend, a devoted churchman, and an exemplary man and citizen." 
He died at his residence on Warren street, June 4th, 1874. 

Nath.vmel B. Smith was born in Farmer Village, N. V., October 12, 
1819. He early prepared himself for college and at the age of twenty-one 
years graduated from Hobart with high honors. He began the study of 
law in the office of Benjamin Johnson, in Ithaca, and finished with Judcre 
Barto, at Trumansburg. He was admitted to the bar in May, 1844, and 
practiced with Judge Barto until 1S55, when he removed to Syracuse. Two 
years later he formed a partnership with DeWitt C. Markham, which firm 
continued until 1869, when his son, Cornelius W., was admitted, the style 
becoming Smith, Markham & Smith. It has been written of Mr. Smith 
that he "was a gentleman of very superior legal attainments and thoroughly 
conscientious. His counsels were never based on uncertainties, and he 
would sooner lose a client than deal in deception. He was exceptionally 
well versed in the laws of the United States and in the practice of the 
United States courts. His literary tastes were very refined and his great 
strength of mind enabled him to store it with the choicest of gleanings." 



436 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Mr. Smith was for several years a member of the Board of Education and 
during his last term its President. He died in April, 1875. 

James Noxon, Judge of theSupreme Court of the Fifth Judicial Dis- 
trict, was born at Onondaga Hill, N. Y., in 1817. His father was B. Davis 
Noxon, who was a prominent member of the Bar of Central New York. 
The son prepared for college at Pomeroy Academy, and entered Hamilton in 
1834. He remained two years, when he went to Union, where he graduated 
in 1838. He returned to Syracuse and studied law with his father. After 
his admission to the bar, he entered the firm of Noxon, Comstock & Leav- 
enworth, and subsequently became connected with that of Noxon & Put- 
nam. In 1843, he and his brother, B. Davis Noxon, Jr., formed a copartner- 
ship. Later he was a partner of Sidney T. Fairchild, of Cazenovia. He 
was a partner of George D. Cowleswhen elected judge. As a lawyer. Judge 
Noxon was prominent as a referee. He was elected State Senator from 
Onondaga in 1856 and re-elected in 1858. He was nominated for Supreme 
Court Judge, in September, 1875, to succeed Judge Morgan, and was elected 
in the November following for the full term of fourteen years by a large 
majority. Judge Noxon was estimated throughout this District, not as a 
great lawyer or jurist, but as a faithful, hardworking and conscientious judge. 
He was highly esteemed for his affability with members of the bar and all 
who were connected with his court ; and his memory will stand as an ex- 
ponent of the mild rather than the severe method of administering justice. 
There are many things connected with his brief career on the bench which 
excite the liveliest sympathy of the bar, and it is safe to say that Judge Nox- 
on will be always remembered with kindness and respect. 

William James Wallace, was born April 14th, 1838, at Syracuse. 
His parents were E. Fuller Wallace and Lydia Wheelwright Wallace, who 
were among the earlier settlers of Syracuse. He was prepared for college 
with the view of entering Dartmouth, where his father was graduated, but 
having concluded to adopt the law as his profession, it was thought prefer- 
able that he should pursue a course of general preparatory studies under 
the instruction of the Hon. Thomas Barlow, of Canastota. Accordingly, 
he became a member of the family of that gentleman, and studied with him 
for three years before beginning the study of the law. After reading law 
for a year he entered the law school of Hamilton College, of which Prof. 
Theodore W. Dwight was then the preceptor. He was graduated and took 
his degree in 1858 and was then examined for admission to the bar, and was 
recommended for admission. The examining committee consisted of Hon. 
Roscoe Conkling, Hon. Ward Hunt and Hon. J. Wyman Jones. On this 
occasion he made the acquaintance of Senator Conkling, which in after 
years ripened into an intimate friendship that lasted until the death of Mr. 
Conkling. He commenced practice of the law at Syracuse on the day he 



BiOGRArHiCAi. Sketches. 437 

became twenty-one years of age, in partnership with Hon. William Porter. 
Subsequently he had as law partners Levi W. Hall, William C. Rugerand 
Edwin S. Jenney. In 1S73, he was elected Mayor of the City of Syracuse, 
running as the Republican candidate against Hon. Elizur Clark, the Demo- 
cratic nominee. In March, 1S74, he was appointed by President Grant, 
United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York, suc- 
ceeding Hon. Nathaniel K. Hall, of Buffalo, who was appointed to the place 
while Postmaster-General in the cabinet of President Fillmore. In April, 
18S2, he was appointed by President Arthur, United States Circuit Judge 
for the second Judicial District, comprising the States of New York, Ver- 
mont, and Connecticut, succeeding in that office Hon. Samuel Blatchford, 
who was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States. Since that time he has exercised the duties of that ofifice. The de- 
gree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Hamilton College in 1876, and 
by Syracuse University in 1S83. Judge Wallace married for his first wife 
Josephine Robbins, of Brooklyn, who died in 1874. In 1878, he married 
for his second wife Alice Heyward Wheelwright, of New York City. 

Ansel Judd Northrut, the present County Judge of Onondaga 
county, was born June 30, 1833, near Ptterboro, Madison county, N. Y. 
His father, Rensselaer Northrup, of Tyringham, Mass., was brought in 
1805, while a child, by his parents to Madison county, into what was then a 
wilderness. Six generations of Mr. Northrup's ancestors, on both sides, 
were New Englanders. His maternal grandfather, Ansel Judd, after whom 
he was named, was one of the early residents of Watervale, Onondaga 
county. Mr. Northrup was brought up on his father's farm, taught school 
four winters, prepared for college mainly at Peterboro, and Oberlin, Ohio, 
and was graduated from Hamilton College in July, 1858. While in college, 
under Professor Dwight, he pursued law studies to some extent. In 1858-9 
he studied law in Columbia Law School, in the first class instructed by the 
celebrated Prof. Theodore W. Dwight, and took the two years' course in 
one year. In May, 1859, he ^^^ admitted to the bar. He came to Syra- 
cuse a month later, and except for a few months (at the opening of the 
war of the Rebellion) spent in Chicago, where he had some thought of 
establishing himself in his profession, he has ever since resided in this city. 
During his professional practice he has had for partners, at one time Charles 
E. Fitch, who afterward abandoned the law for journalism and is now 
United States Collector of Internal Revenue, residing in Rochester, N. Y. ; 
then James Noxon, who became a Justice of the Supreme Court ; after- 
wards J. Page Munro, deceased, and lastly l-'rcderick S. Wicks, still practic- 
ing in Syracuse. 

In 1870, Mr. Northrup was appointed United States Circuit Court Com- 
missioner for the Northern District of New York by Judge Woodruff, and 



438 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



not long afterward he was made United States Examiner in Equity, both 
of which offices he still holds. He was elected County Judge in 1882, for a 
term of six years and re-elected (with no Democratic nomination against 
him) in 1888, for a second term. Since 1877, he has been one of the Trus- 
tees of the Syracuse Savings Bank. 

During the early period of his law practice, Mr. Northrup did some 
miscellaneous literary work and newspaper editorial writing, and he has at 
various times delivered lectures and addresses on literary and other subjects. 
In 1 S80, he wrote and published a bookentitled, " Camps and Tramps in the 
Adirondacks, and Grayling Fishing in Northern Michigan ; a Record of 
Summer Vacations in the Wilderness." This was followed, in 1 881, by a 
second book, " 'Sconset Cottage Life: a Summer on Nantucket Island." 

Mr. Northrup has always been a Republican in politics, and as such he 
made many speeches during the two Lincoln campaigns He was the first 
Vice-President and afterward became the President of the Loyal League, 
a large patriotic association organized during the war of the rebellion. In 
religion he is a Presbyterian ,and was lay Commissioner from Syracuse Pres- 
bytery to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church held at Sara- 
toga in May, 1890, celebrated for its great debate on "Revision." An ad- 
dress by him on "The Powers and Duties of Elders in the Presbyterian 
Church," delivered before the Elders' Association of Syracuse Presbytery, 
and subsequently issued in pamphlet form, attracted much attention and 
has had quite a circulation. 

In November, 1863, Mr. Northrup married Eliza S. Fitch, eldest daugh- 
ter of the late Thomas B. Fitch. He is a brother of Mrs. Dwight H. Bruce 
and Milton H. Northrup, of the Syracuse Courier. 

George Franklin Comstock was born of Revolutionary ancestry at 
Williamstown, Oswego county, August 24, 1811. His father died while 
George was still young and left no means to provide his son with a liberal 
education. He was distinguished at an early age for his love of books and 
after teaching for a period, graduated from Union College in 1834. lie 
taught for a year the Latin and Greek language in classical schools in 
Utica and moved to Syracuse in 1835. He studied law with the late B. 
Davis Noxon, a lawyer of great distinction in Central New York, and was 
admitted in 1837. He enjoyed a very successful practice for many years, 
and in 1874 was appointed by the Governor as Reporter of decisions of the 
Court of Appeals. He succeeded Judges Denio and Nicholas Hill in that 
appointment. He held this place three years during which he published 
four volumns of decisions of that court. In 1852, he was appointed by 
President Fillmore as Solicitor of the Treasury of the United States, but re- 
tiredfrom the office at the end of the (Fillmore's) administration, and re- 
sumedthe practice of law in the higher courts. 



BioGRAriiKAi. Sketches. 439 



In 1855, he was elected Judge of Court of Appeals and remained on the 
bench six years, during two of vvhicli he was the Chief Justice. He was 
nominated for re-election by the Democrats in 1S61 for same office, but was 
defeated. In 1867, he was elected delegate-at-large to a convention called 
for the revision of the State constitution. An especial effort was put forth 
to reorganize the Judicial system of the State, and especially the Court of 
Appeals. The Judge gave that work his especial attention ; a new judiciary 
article was framed, and was acceptcdby popular vote, while all other work of 
the convention was rejected. In politics Judge Comstock was a Whig, and 
later a Democrat. He mingled somewhat actively in political discussions 
before and after the war of the Rebellion, and his views were decided and 
pronounced against the Republican party's measures and policy. He is 
still actively engaged in his profession, but only in its higher walks. Upon 
his private life no stain has ever rested, and as a citizen he is distinguished 
for the prominent part he has taken in the foundation and care of public 
buildings. 

Ro\vi,.\ND Hill G.VRDNER died in Syracuse, November 12, 1888. He 
was born in Flainfield, Otsego county, in January, iSio. Not long after 
his admission to the bar he came to Syracuse (May, 1843,) with Hamilton 
Rurdick and they entered into partnership which continued twenty-seven 
years. In 1S50, he was elected District Attorney, and during the later 
years of his life he was Indian Agent. Mr. Gardner was all his life an un- 
swerving Democrat in politics, and spoke in public for every Democratic 
presidential candidate from Andrew Jackson to Grover Cleveland. He was 
a ready speaker, with a keen and active sense of humor ; he was a hater of all 
sham, pretense and wrong and could employ invective in the most forcible 
manner, when occasion arose. While Mr. Gardner did not attain to great- 
ness as a lawyer, he carried with him to the last the respect and confidence 
of every member of the county bar.* 

Members of Congress. — Many members of the bar of Onondaga county 
have held the office of Member of Congress, as is indicated below. In the 
year 1794, (Act of December 18, 1792,) Herkimer, Montgomery, Onondaga, 
Ontario, Otsego, and Tioga counties comprised one Congressional District. 
By the Act of March 23, 1797, Cayuga, Onondaga, Ontario, Steuben, and 
Tioga comprised the loth District, and by the Act of March 30, 1802, Che- 
nango, Onondaga, and Tioga were made the i6th District. In the 9th 
Congress, Eri Tracy, of Chenango, was elected to represent the District. 
In the loth Congress, Reuben Humphreys, of Onondaga, represented the 
1 3th District. John Harris, formerly Sheriff of Onondaga county, was a 

* for extended sketches of other members of the legal profession in Onondaga county, the 
reader is referred to the liiographical nepartmcnt of this work. 



440 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



member from the 14th District, and William Kirkpatrick, then Superintend- 
ent of the Salt Springs, represented the i ith District. Eri Tracy represent- 
ed the 16th District in the nth and I2th Congresses (iSogto 1813.) In the 
13th Congress, Hon. James Geddes represented the new District compris- 
ing Onondaga and Cortland counties. In the 14th Congress, (1815-16) 
Victory Rirdseye was Representative; i 5th, James Porter ; i6th, George 
Hall; 17th and iSth, Elisha Litchfield; 19th, Luther Badger ; 20th and 
2ist, Jonas Earll, jr. ; 22d, Freeborn G. Jewett ; 23d, 24th and 25th, Wil- 
liam Taylor; 26th, Nehemiah H. Earll; 27th, Victory Birdseye ; 28th and 
29th, Horace VVheaton ; 30th and 31st, Daniel Gott ; * 32d and 33d, Daniel 
T.Jones; 34th and 35th, Amos P. Granger; 36th and 37th, Charles B. 
Sedgwick; 38th and 39th, Thomas T. Davis; 40th and 41st, Dennis Mc- 
Carthy ; 42d and 43d, R. Holland Duell ; 44th, E. VV. Leavenworth ; 45th 
to 50th inclusive, Frank Hiscock, who was elected United States Senator 
in the winter of 1887-8 for six years; 51st to the present time, James J. 
Belden. 

United States District Court, Northern District of Nciv York. -The 
following have been officers of this Court, resident in this county: Joseph 
F. Sabine, United States Commissioner, 1850; James R. Lawrence, United 
States District Attorney, 1850; Harry Allen, United States Marshal. The 
first Deputy-Marshal was Peter Way, deceased ; William Cahill, appointed 
in his stead, followed by James H. Hinman, Fred Shug, Thomas H. Curry, 
William R. Adams, and William H. Shannon. B. Davis Noxon, United 
States Commissioner, appointed October 22d, 1867; William C. Ruger, 
United States Commissioner, appointed July 8th, 1858; Daniel F. Gott, 
Register in Bankruptcy, appointed May loth, 1S67; A. Judd Northrup, 
LInited States Commissioner, appointed March 22d. 1S70; Daniel F. Gott, 
United States Commissioner, appointed April 2d, 1872; William J. Wallace, 
appointed Judge of the District Court of the United States for the Northern 
District of New York, April 7th, 1874, and appointed United States Circuit 
Court Judge of the Second Circuit comprising New York, Vermont, and 
Connecticut, April 6th, 1882, and is still in office. 

Judges of the Court of Appeals. — The Judges of the Court of Appeals 
who have been residents of this county are as follows: Hon. Freeborn G. 
Jewett, Skaneateles, two years, elected June 7, 1847 ; Hon. George F. Com- 
stock, Syracuse, elected November 7, 1853; Hon. Charles Andrews, Syra- 
cuse, elected May, 17, 1870, fourteen years, was appointed by the Governor 
Chief Judge in place of Judge Folger, resigned November 19, 1881, and re- 
elected Associate Judge November, 1883, fourteen years ; Hon. William C. 

* In 1822, Onondaga alone formed a District, continuing thus until 1832, when Madison county 
was made a part of the District — the 23d. In 1842, it Onondaga was again made a District by itself 
and so continued until the 30th Congress, when Cortland was united with it, as at present. 



BioGRAiMiiCAL Sketches. 441 

Ruger, Cliief Jud<je, elected, November/, 18S2, fourteen years; Hon. Irving 
G. Vann. appointed January i, iSSg, on second division of Court of Appeals, 
from Supreme Court. 

AiGUSTUS G. S. Allis.— liorn in Ca/enovia, January 5, 1831 ; educated in Cazenovia Semi- 
nary, .Mbany Normal School, and Union Collej;e : studied law at Brockport, N. Y., and was admitted 
at Rochester in December, 1S57 ; practiced in Syracuse since i860. He has been Justice of the 
Peace, .Assistant U. S. Assessor, and Member of Assembly, 1868. 

James .V. Ali.is. — Born September 13, 1S40, in Cazenovia ; educated at the Syracuse High 
School and Union College ; studied law in Syracuse in 1870-74 ; admitted in Rochester in 1374, and 
practiced since in Syracuse and has been Justice of the Peace for several years. 

Chari.es W. Andrews.— Born in Syracuse in i86i ; educated in Harvard Law School, grad- 
uating in lS52 ; studied in the office of Knapp & Nottingham, and was admitted to the firm in De- 
cember, 1SS6. 

William S. Andrews.— Born in Syracuse in 1858; educated at St. John's Military .School 
and Harvard, graduating in 18S0; studied also in New York, and admitted in 1SS2; now a member 
of the firm of Knapp, Nottingham & Andrews. 

\Yn.LiAM C. Anderson.— Born .April 10, 1S30, in Otisco, Onondaga county, N. Y.; educated 
at Onondaga .-Vcademy; studied his profession in the Law School at I'oughkeepsie and in Camillus, 
N. Y.; admitted in Utica, January 7, 1857, and practiced in Jordan, Camillus, and since i860 in 
.Syracuse. He was Clerk of the Board of Supervisors in 1S67-S-9, and Supervisor of the Seventh 
ward of Syracuse four terms. 

Charles F. Avlino.— Born January 31, 1S62, at Syracuse, N Y.; educated in Syracuse; studied 
law with Kennedy & Tracy at Syracuse from 1S79 to iSSi, and at the Columbia College Law School 
until June. 18S2 ; admitted at Cleneral Term, Rochester, October, 1882 ; practiced in Syracuse ever 
since ; now a member of firm of Tracy, McLennan & -Ayling ; member of Common Council of Syra- 
cuse during vear 1 890, occupying the position of Chairman of Finance during that year ; resigned 
public office in November, 1890. 

Hiram H. Bacon. — Was born in Rossie. N. Y., March 19, 1S63; educated at Ives Seminary. 
N. Y., and University of Michigan ; studied law at tirayling, Mich., with -M. J. Connine, and ad- 
mitted there; practiced in Onondaga county. 

BiNOHAM N. Bailey. — Was born in the Town of Clay, Onondaga county, in i?4g ; educated 
at Cazenovia Seminary; studied law at Syracuse and admitted in Rochester, October, 1S74 ; prac- 
ticed since at Syracuse, N. Y.; was Clerk of the Board of Supervisors in 1S77 and 1878, and dele- 
gate to last Judicial Convention. 

Henry Baldwin. — Died August 22, 1S63 ; was a soldier of 1S12, agent for the .Syracuse Com- 
pany, and the first Mayor of Syracuse ; studied law with Thaddeus Wood and others ; admitted 
February 28, 1S20. 

Charles G. Baldwin. — Born in Rushford, N. Y., .\ugust 30, 1S46 ; educated in Hamilton 
College ; studied at the Law School in Hamilton College, and was admitted at the same place. He 
has practiced in Syracuse since 1874; of Baldwin & Kennedy. 

Daniel BouKstavf.r. — Bom December ig, 1828, in Montgomery. Orange county, N. Y.; edu- 
cated at Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J.; studied law in Montgomer)-, N. Y., from 1S4S to 
1850; admitted in Brooklyn. N. Y., in 1850; practiced in Dunkirk in 1850 to i860, and since in 
Syracuse. He was Mavor of Syracuse in 1863 and 1864; now Superintendent of Section 6, Erie 
Canal. 

Thi-rston D. Brewster. — Born in Ellisburgh, Jefferson county, N. Y., May 17, 1S4S ; edu- 
cated in common schools ; studied law in Syracuse, with D. F. Gott and H. Hoyt, 1874-77, and "as 
admitted in Syracuse, 1S77 ; practiced in Syracuse since. He was Police Commissioner three years 
and Excise Commissioner three vears. 
56 



442 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Edgar F. Brown. — Born in Yonkers, N. Y., June S, 1867; educated at the University of 
Pennsylvania, and studied law with Stone, Gannon & Pettit, and was admitted at Syracuse, May 2. 
1890, and since practiced in SjTacuse. 

Edwin S. IUttekfield — Born December 17, 1S40, in town of Hridgewater, Pa.; educated 
at Yale College and studied law with Hon. Israel S. Spencer, and was admitted at Syracuse in Oc- 
tober, lS6g, and practiced only in Syracuse ; makes a specialty of medical jurisprudence. 

William R. Chamkf.rlin. — Born in Saratoga county; studied law with Comstock & New- 
comb ; raised Co. B in the I22d Regiment in the late war, and went to the front as its Captain. 
Brevetted Major for honorable service, but resigned on account of illness. Provost Marshal of this 
district in 1S64; has sen'ed as Judge Advocate of the National Guard, and as Assistant Adjutant- 
General ; prominent in politics and represented (leddes in Board of Supervisors ; has been a mem- 
ber of the firms of Hall & Chamberlin. Chamberlin i; Knapp, and Chamberlin & Ayres. 

Jerome L. Cheney. — Born in Baldwinsville. June iS, 1S63 ; educated at the Normal .'school in 
Cape Girardeau, Mo.; studied with Goodelle A: Nottingham, in Syracuse, and wasadmitted in Utica, 
June 2, 1SS4. He has practiced in Syracuse since. 

John G. Clifford. — Born in Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland, January 26, 1S41; educated at 
St. Ann's College, Canada ; studied law in Frederickton, Canada, 1859; there admitted as barrister, 
October, 1S64 ; admitted member of Onondaga County Bar in 1890 ; practiced in Syracuse, N. Y. 

George K. Collins. — Born in .Spafford, Onondaga county; served as First Lieutenant in the 
149th Regiment and participated in some of the bloodiest battles of the war, and brevetted Captain ; 
admitted to the Bar in 1S67 and practiced in Syracuse since; is prominent in the G. A. R. and 
Royal Arcanum. 

George E. Coxgdon. — Born in Jacksonville, Tompkins county, N. Y., July 17, 1S63; edu- 
cated in public schools at Trumansburg and Binghamton ; studied law in .Auburn and Union College, 
and was admitted at Albany, in September, 1S83. He has since practiced in Syracuse. 

George R. Cook. — Born in Cazenovia, N. Y., June 8, 1836; educated at the Yates Polytech- 
nic Institute in Chittenango, N. Y., and Oneida Conference Seminary at Cazenovia, N. Y. ; studied 
law in Chittenango and in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1S58, 1S59. and i860 ; admitted in Syracuse, April 5, 
1S60 ; practiced in Syracuse until elected Surrogate of Onondaga county, in the fall of 1879, and was 
re-elected in 18S5. 

Frederick D. Cummin<;s. — Born in Preble, Cortland county. October 5, 1S56; educated in 
Cortland .Academy, Homer . Academy, and Cornell University; studied law with Jenney, Brooks, Mar- 
shall & Ruger, and was admitted at Syracuse, May 3, l8Sg, and practiced since in Syracuse. 

Howard Percy Denison. — Was born in Parish, N. Y., May 28, 1859 ; educated at the Wes- 
levan University ; studied law in Syracuse, N. Y., from 1885 to 1S87, and was admitted in Syracuse, 
November 17, 1SS7, practicing since in Syracuse. 

James Devine. — Born in Navarino, Onondaga county, October 5. 1S58 ; educated at the On- 
ondaga Academy and .Syracuse University ; studied law in Syracuse, September, 18S3, to February, 
1S86, and wasadmitted in Syracuse, February, 1S86 ; practiced in Syracuse; of Hoyt, lieach. Han- 
cock i\: Devine. 

Geori;e Doheny. — Was born in Syracuse, December 9, 1S44 ; educated in the public schools 
of Syracuse ; studied law in Syracuse, 1S63 to 1866, and was admitted in Syracuse in jS66 ; prac- 
ticed in Syracuse, being a member of the tirm of Hiscock, Gidord is; Doheny and firm of Hiscock, 
Doheny ^ Hi.scock. 

Robert E. Drake. — Born in Tully, Onondaga county, December 24, 1S61 ; educated at the 
Normal School in Cortland and Mt. St. Mary's College, Emmettsburg, Mo.; studied law in Syra- 
cuse, and was admitted in Syracuse, January 15, 1S86, and practiced since in Syracuse. 

Charles H. Duell. — Born in Cortland, N. Y., April 13, 1850 ; educated in the Cortlandville 
Academy and Hamilton College; studied law at the Hamilton College Law School and in New 
York city, and was admitted in Utica, N. Y., in 1872. He practiced in New York city from 1873 
to 1880, and in Syracuse from iSSo to the present ; of Duell, I-aas \ Duell ; specialty, patent law. 



BiOGRAriiiCAi. Skktciies. 443 



George \V. Driscoll.— Bom in Caniillus, April 24, 1857: educated at Williams College; 
studied law in Syracuse, 1881-83 and was admitted in Huffalo, June 14, 1SS3, and since^ practiced in 
Syracuse. 

r.ll.KS R. EVEKSON. — Born at Manlius, N. V., April 7. 185S ; educated in Cazenovia Seminary, 
class '77, and Syracuse University, cl.-iss '81 ; studied law in Syracuse, with Waters, McLennan & 
Dillaye, and admitted at Syracuse, January 16, 1885. He has practiced in Syracuse since ; of Hunt 
& Kverson. 

Foist U. Everhart. — Was bom in the town of Butler, W'ayne county, N. V., June 15, i860; 
was educated at the Clyde High School, Clyde, N, Y. ; studied law in the office of Camp & Dun- 
well, at Lyons, N. Y., from April, 1880, to April, 1SS3, and was admitted to practice at Rochester, 
N. Y., April, 18S3; practiced at Lyons and Sodus, Wayne county, N. Y., from April, 18S3, to Jan- 
uary t, 1S86, and at Syracuse, N. Y., from October I, 1SS6, to the present time. 

C.ARi.KS H. El.l.is. — Born in Yictor. Ontario county, N. Y., August 8, i860; educated in Lock- 
port Union School and C.enesee Seminary, Lima, X. Y.; studied Law in Syracuse, 18S5 to i88g, and 
was admitted in Syracuse in May, i88g. 

Louis E. Fuller. — Was born in Yesper, Onondaga county, N. Y., March 17, 1S62 ; educated 
at Syracuse University; studied law at Syracuse, iS82-3-4,and was .idmitted at Utica, June 17, 18S4, 
and has since then practiced at Syracuse. 

Wil.l.L\M BosTWicK Fuller. — Was born in Hartford, Conn., January 30, 1S64; was educated 
in Syracuse public schools and graduated at the Syracuse University, in 1S8?, degree of A. H.; stud- 
ied in the law office of Chamberlain & Ayres, Syracuse, and admitted at the General Term, Utica, N. 
Y., April 20, 1888 ; practiced in Syracuse since admission. 

John Curtis Fowler. — Born in Peterboro, Madison county, N. Y., October, 23, 1S45 ; edu- 
cated at the Canastota district school, Madison University, and graduated from Hamilton College, 
cla.ss of '65. He studied law at the College, and 1870 to 1871 in the office of his father, Loring 
Fowler, in Canastota, and was admitted in .Mbany, General Term, June 9, 1871 : practiced in Can- 
astota, from 1871 to 1873, ''"d '" Cazenovia, from 1873 to 1S75, and Syracuse from 1S75 to the pres- 
ent time. 

Trima.n' K. Fuller. — Born in Yesper, May 20, 1834 ; educated at the Cortland Academy and 
Union College, graduating in 1857. He studied law about four years previous to 1S54, and seven 
months after graduation in the office of Sedgwick, Andrews & Kennedy, and was admitted in 1867, 
and practiced twelve years with Judge \'ann ; served two and a half years as Captain in the 75th 
regiment ; president of the village of Danforth several years. 

Waldo E. Gilbert. — Born in Phrenix, Oswego county, N. Y., July 26, 1853; educated in 
public schools of Phcenix and Syracuse, N. Y.; studied law in Syracuse, N. Y.; admitted in Roches- 
ter, N. ^'., April 8, 1876; practiced in Syracuse and Manlius since admission. 

GeoRiie W. Gray. — Born at Butternuts. Otsego county, N. Y., in 181S ; educated at Oxford 
Academy ; studied law at Cuba, N. Y., and at New Berlin, N. Y. ; admitted at Albany in 1845, and 
practiced in Brookfield, N. Y., nine years and since in Syracuse. 

Frederick H. Girbs. — Born in Syracuse, N. Y. ; educated in Syracuse schools ; studied law 
in Syracuse, and admitted here in January, 1SS2 ; has since practiced in Syracuse. 

William Gii.kert. — Was born in Columbia, Herkimer county, N. Y., July 26th. 1S27 ; 
educated at Mexico .Academy, N. \'. ; studied law at the Mexico office of Judge Whitney, in 1849 ; 
admitted at Syracuse, October, 1852 ; practiced in Syracuse N. Y. ; Superintendent of Common 
Schools two years ; Justice of the Peace ; Canal Collector one term ; Supervisor Eighth ward two 
years ; Quartermaster of the 185th regiment. 

Charles B. Goodrich. — Born in Hartland, \ermont, February 16, 1853 ; educated in 
Montpelier. Yt., Seminary, and Middlebury College ; studied law in Montpelier, Yt. 1S77 to 1880; 
admitted in Montpelier, iSSoandat Rochester, N. Y., 1882; practiced in West Randolph, Yt., 
1S80-81, and since in Syracuse. 



444 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Andrew II. Green.— liorn in Utica, N. V., Februarj' 5. 1S30; educated in the L'tica Acad- 
emy and Union College, graduating in 1S49 ; took degree of A.M. in 1852 ; studied law in Utica, in 
the office of Spencer & Kernan ; admitted in Utica, January, 1852 ; practiced in Syracuse, 1852 ; in 
Utica, from 1853 to 1S57 ; in St. I'aul, from 1857 to i860, in Syracuse since 1S61. Clerk of the city 
of Utica in 1853 ;-Commodore's Secretary and Judge Advocate of General Courts Marshal in U.S.N., 
Pacific Squadron. Since 1S72 associated in practice of law with Judge Comstock and George K. 
Comstock, Jr. ; City Attorney of Syracuse, 1871-72. 

Frank H. Hiscock.— Was born in TuUy, N. V., April ifi, 1856 ; educated in the schools of 
Syracuse and at Cornell University ; studied law from September, 1875 to June, 1S78 with Hiscock, 
Gifford & Doheny, and at Columbia Law School; was admitted at Kuffalo, N. Y., June, 1878; 
has practiced at Syracuse, and now of the firm of Hiscock, Doheny & Hiscock. Held the office of 
Trustee of Cornell University, elected by graduates of 1S89. 

Melvin Z. Haven. — Was born in 1854, in New Hartford, N. Y. ; educated at Whitestown, 
and studied law in Utica ; was admitted in that city in 1876, and has practiced since in Syracuse. 

Everard a. Hill.— Born in Tompey, N. Y. ; educated in Syracuse at the High School and in 
the University ; studied law in Syracuse and admitted here in 1SS6 ; practiced here since. 

Thomas Hoc.an. — Born in Syracuse, January 7, 1858 ; educated in the public schools of Syra- 
cuse ; studied law with Sedgwick, Kennedy & Tracy, and with Hiscock. (Ufford & Doheny ; admit- 
ted in Svracuse in January, 1879 ; practiced in Syracuse and now of the lirm of Hogan & Stern. 

Frank Hopkins. — Born in Onondaga, N. Y., June 12, 185O ; educated at the Onondaga Acad- 
emy and Syracuse University; studied law in Syracuse, and admitted here in January, iSSo, and 
practiced here since; firm of Hopkins & Bondy. 

Harrison Hovt. — Born in I.aFayette, Onondaga county, X. Y., September 3, 1S36 ; gradu- 
ated from Hamilton College, class '61 ; studied law at Columbia Law School and was admitted at 
Syracuse in April, 1864; practiced in Homer, N. Y., to 1S73, and since then in Syracuse. Was 
District Attorney of Onondaga county, 1881-3. 

Norman Hine. — Born in Hillsdale, Columbia county, N. Y., October 23, 1826; educated at 
the Homer Academy and .\mhcrst College ; studied law in .Syracuse and admitted herein 1850. Was 
Supervisor of the Si.xth ward of Syracuse for five years. 

Charles A. Hammond. — Born in Freetown, Cortland county, X. Y., September, 1S25 ; edu- 
cated in the Cortland Academy and New York Central College, McGrawville, N. Y. ; studied law in 
in Syracuse, 'and admitted here in October, i86g. Has practiced in Syracuse and vicinity. 

Samuel Newell Holmes.— Bom in Richfield Springs May 31, 1823; educated in common 
schools and academy ; studied law at Holmesville and I'rof. Fowler's Law School at Ballston Spa ; 
admitted May, 1850 ; practiced chiefly in Syracuse. 

John C. Hunt. — Bom in Fredon, Sussex county, N. J. ; educated in I.aFayette College, Pa. ; 
studied law in Elmira, N. Y., in Jefferson, and in Syracuse ; admitted in Ithaca in 185: ; practiced 
in Jefferson two years and in Syracuse since May, 1854 ; now of firm of Hunt & Everson. 

Charles E. Ide. — Was born in Phelps, Ontario county, N. Y.; educated at Geneva Classical 
and Union School; studied law at Syracuse, with Kuger, Wallace & Jenney, from 1871 to 1873; 
with F'uUer & Vann from that time until admission ; admitted at the General Term in lUiflalo, June, 
1874; practiced in Syracuse. He was Chairman of the Syracuse Republican Committee in 1885; 
member of the Republican County Committee, Fifth ward, Syracuse, 1887-8 ; member of the firm of 
Costello & Ide, 1877 to 1884, and of Costello, Ide & Hubbard, 18S4 to 18S7, and Ide & Hubbard, 
1887 to 1889 ; now Ide & Newell. 

Edwin S. Jenney. — Born September 5, 1840, and cilucated in various schools and Kalamazoo 
College ; studied law^ with Pratt & Mitchell, in i860, and with W. C. Ruger, 1865 ; admitted in Syr- 
acuse in September 1865, and practiced here since. He was City Attorney four years and has a 
prominent army record ; now of tirm of Jenney, Marshall i: Kuger. 



BiOGRAriiicAL Sketches. 445 



EnwARD O. Johnson.— Bom in S)Tacuse, N. V., February 8. 1862; educated in Syracuse; 
studied law in Syracuse, from 18S0 to 1886; admitted in Syracuse, January 15, 1886, and lias since 
practiced in Syracuse. 

Dknnis U. Kf.ki.ER.— Bom in Cork, Ireland, March 17, 1S42; educated at Kairtield Seminary 
and Michigan University; studied his profession in Herkimer, N. V., 1865 to 1868; admitted in 
Syracuse, November 3, 1868 ; practiced since in Little Kails, N. Y., Kansas City, Mo., and Syra- 
cuse ; member of the Common Council, from the Seventh ward, 1879. 

Wil.l.lAM Kknnedv. — Born in Pompcy in 1852; educated in common schools ; studied law in 
Syracuse, 1S73; admitted at Rochester in 1S76; practiced in Syracuse; of the firm of Baldwin & 
Kennedy. 

Chari.es S. Kent.— Born in Floyd, Oneida county, N. V., November 15, 1852 ; educated at 
the W'hitestown Seminary, Oneida county; studied law with J. D. Kernan, Utica, N. Y., until Feb- 
ruary, 1 88 1 ; and was admitted in Syracuse, January, iS.'^o : practiced in Syracuse since February, 
18S1. 

Clarence V. Kf.llooo. — Born January 19, 1S60, in Cicero ; educated in common schools and 
Ives .Seminary ; studied law in Syracuse with Pratt, Brown & Garfield ; admitted in April in 1881 ; 
practiced in Syracuse; Wilson, Kellogg & Wells. 

John L. Kino..— Born in Springfield. Mass., November 17, 1849 ; educated in Exeter and Har- 
vard College ; studied law two years at the Harvard Law School and two years with Kennedy & 
Tracy ; admitted at Springfield, in 1875, and at Rochester, in 1877 ; practiced since 1S77 in Syra- 
cuse ; President of the Split Rock Cable Road, and Secretary of the TuUy Pipe Line. 

Jay B. Kline.— Was born in Ithaca, N. Y., Januarys. 1853; educated at Ithaca Academy 
and Cornell University; studied law in Ithaca from 1S72 to 1875; admitted in .Mbany, January, 
1875 ; practiced in Ithaca until 1882, and since then in Syracuse. 

Ceylon H. Lewis.— Born in TuUy, N. Y., educated at Colgate Uuiversity ; studied law in 
S)Tacuse. and admitted and practiced at the same place. Was .'\ssistant District Attorney one term 
and District Attorney one term, and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors ; now of the firm of Lewis & 
Wilson. 

Frederick A. Lyman.— Born in Otisco, September 3, 1833 ; educated in common schools and 
Onondaga Academy ; studied law at Marcellus and at law schools in Albany and Poughkeepsie ; ad- 
mitted at Albany, March, 1856; practiced at Marcellus until 1 868, and since then in Syracuse. 
Member of .Assembly, :862 ; Supervisor of Marcellus, 1S63 to 1866; Chairman of the Board two 
years ; District .\ttorney 1869-70-71 ; Supervisor Fourth ward 1872-73-74 ; of Lyman & James. 

Michael F. Lali.y. — Was born October 23, 1862, in Syracuse, educated in the public schools 
of Syracuse ; studied law in .Syracuse from October, 18S2 to November, 1887 ; admitted in Syracuse, 
November 18, 1887 ; practiced here since admitted. 

John O. McMahon. — Born in Caughdenoy, N. Y., November, :866 ; educated at Phoeni.\ 
Academy ; studied law in Syracuse and admitted in 1889 ; practiced in Syracuse since that time. 

Henry Al'cistis Maynard. — Was born in Westborough, Mass., November 18, 1828 ; edu- 
cated at Manson .Vcademy, Mass., and Union College : studied law in Syracuse with L. H. & F. 
Hiscock, and admitted here in 1S61 ; practiced since 1865 in CajTiga and Onondaga counties. Held 
the office of Supervisor of town of Genoa. 

Theodore L. R. Morgan. — Born in Manlius, N. Y., June 17, 1833 : educated in the Acade- 
my at Pompey : studied law in Syracuse, 1S53-57, and was admitted in the latter year ; practiced in 
•Syracuse. 1857-62, and since 1873. Librarian of the Court of Appeals Library, by appointment of 
Board of Regents, 1884. 

E7.EKIEL P. More. — Born in Ro.xbury, Delaware county, N. Y.. in 1832 ; educated in the 
Jefferson Academy ; studied law in Delhi, Delaware county ; admitted in .Albany, 1S53 ; practiced in 
Prattsville. Greene county, Cazenovia, and in Syracuse. Was Supervisor in 1858-60 ; Member of 
Assembly, 1866, and of the Constitutional Convention, 1867. 



44^ Memorial History of Syracuse. 



J. Charles Meldram. — Born in Syracuse July 20, 1856 ; educated in the common schools and 
High School : studied law with Lansing & Lyman, in Syracuse ; admitted at Albany in June, 1S7S, 
and practiced since in Syracuse. 

Hiram I). MesskN(;f.r. — l!orn in DeKuylcr, N. V.. December i, 1857 ; educated at Cincin- 
natus and DeKuyler Academies ; studied law in Dekuyter and Cazenovia ; admitted at Ithaca, N. 
Y. on the 4th of May, 1882 ; practiced in Cazenovia until May, 1889, and since then in Syracuse. 

DoNAi.i) F. McLennan. — Was born October 10, i860, at Lyndon, Cattaraugus county, N. Y.; 
was educated at Ten Broeck Academy and at Alfred University ; studied law at Syracuse, from Oc- 
tober, 1883 ; vi'as admitted at Binghamton in September, 1885, practicing in .Syracuse ; of McLen- 
nan & Messenger. 

Henry E. Miller. — Was born at Mt. I'leasant, I'a., December 13, 1855 ; educated in Mt. 
Union, O., and Cornell University ; studied law in Ithaca, N. Y., 1877 to 1S80 ; admitted in .\lbany, 
N. v., January, 1S80 ; practiced in Ithaca and Syracuse. 

Thomas F. Murphv. — Horn in .Syracuse, N. Y., August 19. 1S50 ; educated in the common 
schools in Syracuse ; studied law with Kuger, Wallace & Jcnney, of Syracuse ; admitted in Syracuse, 
lanuar)' 6, 1S76 ; practiced in .Syracuse. 

Michael M. Mara. — Was born in Tully \'alley. Onondaga county, June 9, 1S59 ; educated 
at the Onondaga Seminary, studied law in the ofiice of Yann, McLennan & Dillaye, and Waters, 
McLennan & Dillaye, Syracuse, from March 1S81 to June 1SS4 ; was admitted at Utica June 20, 
1884; has since practiced at Syracuse. He was Clerk of the Hoard of Supervisors, 1883-84, and 
AssemblyClerk, 1S90. 

Louis Marshall. — Born in Syracuse, N. Y., December 14, 1856; educated in Syracuse High 
.School ; studied law in the office of Smith, Markham & Smith, and Columbia College Law School ; 
admitted at Syracuse, N. Y., January, 187S ; practiced at Syracuse, N. Y., as member of Kuger, 
lenney. Brooks & French ; Ruger, Jenney, Brooks & Marshall ; Jenney, Brooks, Marshall & Kuger, 
and Jenney, Marshall & Kuger. He was member of Constitutional Commission in 1890. 

William Nottinc.ham. — Born in the Town of I'eWitt, Onondaga county, November 2, 1S53; 
educated in the .Syracuse public schools and graduated from the Syracuse University in 1S76 ; stud- 
ied law in Syracuse, from October, 1876, to January, 1879; admitted in Buffalo, June, 1879; prac- 
ticed in Syracuse since June, 1879; president of the Alumni Association in 1SS5-S6. He received 
the degree of A. M., in 1877, and Ph. D., in 1878 ; firm of C.oodelle & Nottingham. 

Edwin Nottingham. — Born in DeWitt, Onondaga county, December 3, 1850; educated in 
Syracuse schools and University; studied law with Chamberlain iV Knapp and Martin A. Knapp, 
1876-78 ; admitted as attorney at Rochester in October, 1878, and as attorney and counsellor at lUif- 
falo in |une, 1879 ; practiced only in Syracuse ; of Knapp, Nottingham & Andrews. 

J. E. Newell. — Born in Davenport, Delaware county, N. Y., October 22, 1859; educated in 
district schools, Ferguson Yillage Academy, Colgate Academy and Madison (now Colgate) Univer- 
sity, and graduated from College, June, 1886 ; studied law with Waters & McLennan, in Syracuse, 
1886 ; admitted at the Ceneral 'i'erm, in Utica, February, 1S89 ; practiced in Hogan & Stern's office 
till February I, 1890. He entered into partnership with Chas. K. Ide, which still continues ; was 
Notary Public and Commissioner of Deeds. 

Ale.\aniier E. Oherlandf.r. — Born in Rochester, N. Y.. May 26, 1861 ; educated in Syracuse 
schools ; studied law in Syracuse in the office of Hunt, Leavenworth A; Weaver, from 1878-80, and 
in Columbia t'ollege Law School in 1881-82; admitted in lUifTalo. June, 1882; practiced since in 
Syracuse ; now Justice of the Peace. 

Charles H. Peck. — Horn in Phteni.v, Oswego county, N. Y., .September 10, 1861 ; educated 
at the PhiL-ni.t .Vcadeniy ; studied law in Syracuse ; admitted October 6, 1S82 ; practiced in Syracuse 
as a member of the firm of Rcigel S: Peck. 

James C. Parshai.l. — Horn in Syracuse, N. Y., June 30, 1859; eilucated in Syracuse Classi- 
cal School and High School ; studied law with Baldwin iS: Farrar, of Syracuse, 1879-S2 ; admitted in 
Rochester, N. Y., October 6, 1882 ; practiced in Syracuse since. 



BlOGRAI'IIICAL SkETCIIKS. 447 



Joshua B. Randai.i, — Born at Sweden, Monroe county, N. Y., September 20, 1818. He stud- 
ied law in Plainfield, Oswego county, N. V., and located in Syracuse about 1870, and was in part- 
nership with his son, W. B. Randall until the death of the latter, in the spring of 18SS. lie died 
suddenly in his office, November 20, 18S8. 

Hknky Riei;ei.. — Born February 22, 1S25, in the Town of Fayette, Seneca county, N. V. ; 
educated in Waterloo and Seneca Falls Acadamies ; read law with lion. William A. Sackett, at 
Seneca Falls, and Noxon, Leavenworth A; t'omstock, Syracuse. 

I'. J. Ryan, — Uorn in the townof LaFayette, January 19,1861 ; educated at Tompey .\cademy 
and St. Bonaventura College, .it Allegany, N. Y. ; studied law with Goodelle & Nottingham and ad- 
mitted at Binghamton September, 18S6 ; practiced in Syracuse since. 

C. Prosser Rl'oer. — Born in SyTacuse November 8, 1861 ; educated at Cornell Universtity 
and studied law at the Columbia Law School ; admitted at Utica in 1883 and practiced in Syracuse 
since ; of firm of Jenney, Marshall & Ruger. 

Wll.l.lAM M. Ross. — Born in Broome county, July 13, 1850 ; educated in common schools and 
studied law in ILirvard Law School and in Judge X'ann's office; admitted in Syracuse, January 
1878. Has been Justice of the Peace. 

Sherm.vn J. RoSK. — Born July 4, 1856, in Syracuse; educated in Syracuse, studied l,iw with 
J. L. Bagg, and admitted October, 1877, in Rochester ; practiced in Syracuse since. 

\Viii.iAM S. Rogers. — Born in Clay, Onondaga county, educated in common schools and 
Onondaga academy ; studied law in Syracuse to 1S64. and admitted at Syracuse, September of that 
year ; practiced since in Syracuse. 

Arthur H. Sheldon. — Born in I'elphi, N. V., July 23, 185S ; educated at Cazenovia Semi- 
nary and studied law at Hamilton t'ollege ; admitted at Utica in iSSi ; practiced in .Syracuse for 
past five years. 

Giles H. Stm.lweli.. — Born at Windsor. X. V., in 1855 ; educated at Windsor Academy and 
Amherst College ; studied law with Tracy, McLennan & Ayling, and admitted in Syracuse May i, 
1881) ; practiced in Syracuse since. School Commissioner of the Tenth ward. 

liENjAMiN J. Shove. — Horn in (ireenc, Chenango county, July 3, 185^ ; educated in the .\uhurn 
High School, and Syracuse University ; studied law in Syracuse and admitted in Rochester, March, 
1SS3 ; practiced in Syracuse to the present time. Has held the office of Clerk of the Board of 
Supervisors, and is Assistant District .\ttorney. 

Georce H. Sears. — Was born in Homer, N. Y., October 8, 1S58 ; educated at Cazenovia 
Seminary and Rochester University ; studied law in Syracuse, and admitted here January 14, 1S86 ; 
practicing since in Syracuse. 

CoRNEl.li's W. Smith. — Born in Trumansburgh, N. Y., May 19, 1S45 ; educated in Syracuse 
public schools, Cortland -Vcademy, and Hamilton College ; studied law in .Syracuse, and admitted in 
l86g : practiced ever since in Syracuse, as a member of the firm of Smith, Markhani cS: Smith, 
Markham & Smith, Markhani, Hoyt & Smith, alone ten years, and now with Howard P. Dennison, 
as the firm of Smith & IJennison. Patent law a specialty. 

Samiel I>. Solomon. — Born March 22, 1863, at Mohawk, Herkimer county; educated in 
High .School and Syracuse University ; studied law in Syracuse and at Columbia Law School ; ad- 
mitted in Utica, .April, 1S88 ; has since practiced in Syracuse. 

Samiel R. Stern. — Born in Syracuse, July 7, 1S55 : educated in public school and High 
-School : studied law with Ruger, Wallace & Jenney ; admitted April 4, 1879. and practiced since in 
Syracuse ; was Assistant District Attorney, first incumbent ; of Hogan & Stern. 

Benjamin Stoi.z. — Was bom October 13, 1867, Syracuse, N. Y.; educated in Syracuse High 
School ; studied law in Columbia College Law School and with Jenney, Brooks, Marshall i\: Ruger ; 
admitted in Syracuse, May 2, 1S89 ; practicing in Syracuse. 

Charles F. Snavlin. — Born at West Monroe, N. Y., March 25, i860 ; educated at Cazenovia 
Seminary and Syracuse High School ; studied law in Parish, Oswego county, and Syracuse; admitted 
at Rochester in April, 18S3 ; practiced only in Syracuse, 



448 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



John L. Stan'dart. — Born in Attica, Ind., January 21, 1859 ; educated in common schools 
and a seminary ; studied law with Sedgwick, Kennedy & Tracy, and admitted to the Bar of Onon- 
daga county in April, 1880, and as Attorney and Counsellor in 18S2 ; has practiced but little and is 
employed in a private capacity by Judge Kennedy. 

Chari.es II. Sedcwick. — Born in Syracuse May 22, 1S46 ; educated at the U. S. Naval .Acad- 
emy and Hamilton College ; studied law in Syracuse and admitted in iS6g : practiced in Syracuse 
and Omaha, Neb. County Judge Douglas county. Neb., 1S75-77. 

William Walter Teall.— Born in town of Manlius, April 23, 181S ; educated chiefly at 
Cazenovia Seminary, Hamilton Academy, Union College, and Yale ; studied law with Ncton & 
Leavenworth and at Yale, and was admitted in L839 ; practiced in Syracuse. Appointed Judge Ad- 
vocate State militia 1835 : appointed Agent of the Onondaga Indians, 1844 ; appointed post-master 
of Syracuse, 1845 ; appointed 1S62 Commissary Subsistence, U. S. army, and Chief Commissary of 
Subsistence Right Grand Division Anny of the Potomac. Mr. Teall has been officially connected 
with several Syracuse banks and other corporations ; in 18S3 was elected a Trustee and Treasurer of 
the Sanderson Brothers Steel Company. 

Van'CE Turtelot. — Born in Herkimer county October 3, 1854 ; educated at Cazeuovia Semi- 
nary and Syracuse University ; studied law in Sjracuse ; admitted here in 1886, and practiced in 
Syracuse since. 

James S. Thorn. — Born in Syracuse January 7. 1854 ; educated in the public shoolsand High 
school ; studied law with lliscock, Cifford cV Dohcny ; admitted in Syracuse, January 7, 1S76 ; 
practiced in Syracuse. 

Frederick W. Thomso.n.— Born January 4, 1867, at Alexandria Bay, N. Y.; educated at 
Cornell University class '87 ; studied law in Syracuse with Hiscock, Doheny i: lliscock; admitted 
in Binghamton September 13, 1SS9 ; practicing in Syracuse, firm of Benedict & Thomson. 

Wn.LlAM G. Tracv.— Born April 7, 1S43 ; educated in Preble, N. Y., and Syracuse ; studied 
law in Syracuse, and at the .\lbany Law school ; admitted June, 1867 ; practiced in Syracuse, N. Y., 
in firms of Sedgwick, Kennedy & Tracy, Kennedy & Tracy, and Tracy, McLennan & .\yling. 

Frederick S. Wicks.— Born in Syracuse, N. Y., April 25. 1S51 ; educated in Syracuse and 
at Yale College ; studied law with A. Judd Northrup. in Syracuse, from July, 1S73, to September, 
1874, and at the Columbia College Law School until June, 1876; admitted at the General 1 erm, 
Buffalo, July, 1876 ; practiced in Syracuse ever since ; at one time of Northrup & Wicks ; Director 
in Mechanics' Bank ; President of Central City Railway Company ; President of the Genesee and 
Water street Railroad Company ; Yice-I'resident John Marcellus Manulacturing Co. 

Samuel H. Wandei.i..— Was born in West Munroe, Oswego county, N. Y., April 19, i860; 
educated at the Central Square Academy ; studied law with I'ardee & Piper, Fulton, N. Y., and 
Hon. I. J. Lamoree, Oswego, N. Y.,; admitted at Rochester, October, 1882 ; practiced in Pulaski, 
N. Y., one year; since then in Syracuse; was assistant of District Attorney of Oswego county, 
1882-83 ; author of several law books. 

Frederick D. Whiie.— Bornin Ann .Vrbor, Mich. ; educated at Cornell University ; also in 
University of lierlin, Prussia; studied law at Columbia Law -School, N. Y., 1882-S4 ; admitted in 
Binghamton, 1884 ; practiced in Syracuse, N. Y. 

Cahs a. Weaver.— Born December 18, 1844, in Verona, N. Y.; educated in common schools 
and DeRuyter Academy, and studied law with Hall & Chamberlain, and Hunt & Green ; admitted at 
Rochester in January, 1871, and practiced only in Syracuse ; is Justice of the Peace ; was in the late 
war. 

Gaukiel W. WisNEK.— Wasborn in Elmira, N. Y., October 8, 1849; graduated at Union 
College, class '71 ; studied law with Sedgwick, Kennedy & Tracy, in Syracuse, 1871-74 ; admitted 
at Rochester, General Term, 1874 ; practiced ever since at Syracuse, N. Y. 

Frank R. Walker.— Born in Mooer's Forks, N. Y., November 2, 1855; educated at .Syra- 
cuse University ; studied law in Syracuse in 1S85-6; admitted in Syracuse, January 14, 1S87 ; prac- 
ticed in Syracuse, 



TlIK MkHICAL I'ROKESSION. 449 



Louis L. Waters. — Bom in Cortland, December 29, 1864 ; educated at the Cortland Normal 
School; studied law at Cortland, 1S84, in Washington, D. C, Columbian University Law School, 
1885-S7 ; admitted in District of Columbia, June, 18S7, and in New York Slate, April, 1888 ; prac- 
ticed in Syracuse ; of W.iters, McLennan & Waters. 

lIoMi-R Weston. — liorn in Ascutneyville, Vt., October 4, 1S41 ; educated in Sprini^'field Wes- 
le)an Seminary, two years at Weslcyan University, and graduated from Vale in 1867 ; studied law 
in the Albany Law School and graduated, 1867-6S ; admitted at Albany in 1868, and at LaCrosse in 
June. 186S ; practiced in Wisconsin, and came to Syracuse in 1875, where he has since practiced. 

CiEOKiiK B. Warner. — Born in Lima, Livingston county, N. V., December 23, 1844 ; educated 
at Genesee College, in Lima, X. Y.; studied law with Ciardner & Burdick, in Syracuse, 1866-67 ; 
admitted in Syracuse in the fall of 1S67 ; practiced in Syracuse from the spring of 1865 to the pres- 
ent time. 

Edward C. Wright. — Born at I'ompey Hill, September 27, 1S90 ; educated at the Munro 
Collegiate Institute, and Hamilton College ; studied law in Syracuse ; admitted in Rochester, 1870; 
practiced in Syracuse. He has held the offices of Supervisor and School Commissioner. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Tin; MKDICAL rKOFESSIOX. 

The Onondaga Medical .Societj — Its Organization — Records of Early Meetings — The First 
Cholera Epidemic — A Complimentary Dinner — List of Presidents — List of Members — The Syracuse 
Medical Association — Proceedings at Various Meetings — Officers of the Association — Biographical 
Notes — The Homceopathic Medical Society. 

THE Onondaga County Medical Society was organized at the Court 
House at Onondaga Hill on the 1st day of July, 1806. William Adams 
was chairman of the meeting, and Walter Colton, clerk. John H. Frisbie 
was elected the first President of the society ; Gordon Needham, Vice-Pres- 
ident ; Daniel Tibbits, Treasurer ; Walter Colton, Secretary. There were 
present at that first meeting, Drs. William Adains, Deodatus Clark, John 
H. Frisbie, Gordon Needham, Smith Weed, Jesse Searle, James Jackson, 
Daniel Tibbits, Isaac Benedick, Salmon Thayer, and Walter Colton. 

Resolutions were adopted providing for a society seal, books, etc., and 
the meeting adjourned to the first Tuesday in October of the same year 
at the same place. At this meeting a Board of Censors was chosen and it 
was resolved that thereafter no per.son should be admitted to membership 
in the society unless he had passed an examination by the Board, which 
consisted of the following Physicians: John Miller, Bildad Biren, Samuel 
Porter, Daniel Tibbits, and James Jackson. 
57 



450 Memorial History ok Syracuse. 

Dr. John H. Frisbie was chosen to represent the society at the meeting 
of the State Medical Society. A committee was chosen to prepare By-Laws, 
and Dr. Daniel Tibbits was appointed to deliver an oration at the next 
meeting. Among the members admitted at this meeting were Drs. Daniel 
Hubbard and David Holbrook, who had previously located at Jamesville as 
the first settled physician in Onondaga county. The meeting adjourned to 
the first Tuesday in January, 1807. 

In compiling this necessarily brief record of the proceedings of this 
society we can only select such items as seem of enough importance to ren- 
der them worthy of preservation in such a work as this. 

Dr. Tibbitts' oration, to which we have alluded was upon the subject, 
"The Inflammatory State of Fever," and was, of course, the first disserta- 
tion before the society. He was voted thanks for his able effort. 

It would seem that members did not attend punctually the yearly meet- 
ings and in October, 180S, it was resolved that any member remaining away 
from a meeting should pay into the treasury fifty cents. 

At a meeting held August 3d, 18 12, the preparations were made for a 
new code of by-laws. Several committees were appointed during the 
early years of the society to investigate and prosecute persons who were 
practicing medicine without proper authority. 

The records do not indicate that meetings were held from 181 8 to 1822, 
except one in 1820. At the meeting of June, 1822, new activity seems to 
have been exhibited. The by-laws were overhauled, a new seal authorized, 
the purchase of fifty diplomas for the society ordered, and the Censors 
were called upon to prosecute all who were practicing without proper 
authority. 

In June, 1823, Drs. Kendrick and Coburn were appointed to "draft a 
system of Medical Ethics for this society." In 1825 it was resolved that a 
part of the society's funds should thereafter be given as premiums for prizes, 
the amount to be decided by a majority of the members present. These 
prize questions were to be selected by a committee, and another committee 
was appointed to decide on the merits of the dissertations on such questions. 
The sum of $5.(Xi was voted for the best dissertation on " Some Chronic 
Disease." Dr. Jonathan Day, was awarded the premium. Dr. Day died in 
1 83 1, at which time he was Secretary of the society. 

Resolutions were passed in 1830 strongly condemning the use of ardent 
spirits, except for medical purposes, and that "we will so far as is consistent 
with the duties of our profession, avoid prescribing alcohol in any form 
which may endanger the temperate habits of our patients." 

July 6th, 1832, a special meeting was called to devise the best means of 
preventing the Asiatic cholera. The State Medical Society had issued a 
circular on the subject, wiiich was the occasion of the action. Drs. Clarj' 



Action to Pkkvknt Ciioi.kka. 451 



and Day were appointed a committee to "draught such remarks expressive 
of the opinion of the society as they deemed proper to publish to the 
inhabitants of the county." This action resulted in the adoption of the 
following resolutions which were made public: 

KesoheJ, That a committee of three lie chosen to draught such remarks expressive of the 
opinion of the society, as they deemed proper to publish to the inhabitants of the county. This 
committee was composed of Drs. Taylor and Day. 

The following was also unanimously adopted : 

WiiKREAS, The Asiatic cholera has made its appearance in New York, .ind is also reported to 
have occurred in Albany ; in consequence of its near approach, its habit of following the main channel 
of communication, such as rivers and canals, roads and the like, it is rendered extremely probable 
that our county, in some of the villages will be visited with this dreadful scourge. We, the mem- 
bers of the Onondaga Medical Society, deem it our duty, and we take pleasure in submitting a few 
such remarks as are deemed important to prepare our citizens in body and minds for the reception 
of this fell disease. .\nd lirst we remark that we know of no means of preventing its approach and 
attack. Like other epidemics its cause is latent neither perceivable by our senses or capable of be- 
ing operated upon so far as we know by any remedial agent. No means that human ingenuity, 
skill or philanthropy could suggest have yet stayed its progress. We then can recommend such 
measures only as will tend to remove the exciting causes and mitigate the severity of the scourge, 
such means as will have a beneficial effect upon individuals and the atmosphere and such a course as 
is practicable and easy of application in case of an attack : 

ist. — Cleanliness in our person, about our houses, cellars, out houses, and streets, is a matter 
of indispensable importance. All nuisances and filthy accumulations should be removed, all offen- 
sive smells arising from sinks, out houses, stagnant pools, and all other sources not capable of being 
removed, should be corrected by the free use of chloride of lime and soda or of quick lime. The 
more pure and wholesome we keep the air we constantly breathe in the above ways the less malig- 
nant and extensive may we expect the disease will be. .As the intemperate have ever been found 
the more ready and easy victims of the disease it is earnestly recommended to all to abstain from 
ardent spirits, (except as medicine) to be temperate in diet, and especially in the use of sub-acid and 
unripe fruits and uncooked vegetables, which by many are indulged in at this season of the year. 
.Mso to be cautious of exposure to the colder air of the evening and night without being sufficiently 
guarded with clothing. This exposure and consequent check of the secretions of the skin, is the e.\- 
citing cause of most of the disordered bowels that ordinarily occur at this season of the year. Hence, 
we infer that carelessness and inattention to this point would be among the most e.xciting causes of 
cholera. The mind, too, has a vast influence in exciting disease at all times, and especially so dur- 
ing the prevalence of the epidemic. Too much care cannot be taken to keep the mind calm and un- 
nirtled from any cause that is depressing in its effects, whether it be fear of cholera, or its effects on 
community and business. There are strong reasons for believing that fear hail more agency in the 
production, extension, and malignancy of cholera in ijuebec and Montreal than any other of the ex- 
citing causes. It will be noticed by those who have read the letters of those medical men (sent from 
the State to make observation and collect facts in regard to cholera) that very much depends upon a 
judicious management of the premonitory symptoms. \Vc advise persons laboring under any dis- 
ease (supposed to be premonitory of cholera) to have immediate recourse to the advice of a physician, 
rather than depend upon the nostrums and specifics now going the rounds of the public newspapers. 
In fine, it behooves us all and severally to meet the scourge (should it come among us) like rational 
beings and bear it, and treat it, and render the assistance to the needy, in the full possession of our 
powers, mental and corporeal, knowing that there are means which, if used early and judiciously, 
the fell scourge may be shorn of much of its power to attack and destroy. We can assure any fel- 
low citizen that attention to these particulars is well calculated to have a beneficial influence, not 
only as regards cholera, but in the prevention and mitigation of fevers and all malignant disease, and 
that as a Society, as well as individually, we will avail ourselves of all means in our power to obtain 



452 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

correct information as to the most successful treatment of cholera, and endeavor to act in unison 
and harmony upon this important subject. 

In this connection a central committee was appointed to procure such 
approved publications on this subject as were deemed valuable, and it was 
made the duty of every member of the society to report to that committee 
ever}' case of cholera which might occur in his practice, and his opinion of 
the disease and history of the treatment. Other committees were also ap- 
pointed with assigned duties, all intended to lessen the ravages of the dis- 
ease. 

Through the efforts of the Board of Health, composed of the physicians 
of the city, who were constituted such by the trustees, the inhabitants of the 
village were impelled to exercise vigilance in .sanitary matters and to clear 
their premises of whatever foul substances could be found. The trustees 
were authorized to borrow a sum of money not exceeding $i,000 to be u.sed 
in combating the disease. Dr. Jonathan Day was sent to Montreal to in- 
vestigate the disease in that city, but without any especial benefit. The 
disease made its appearance, the first victim being a laborer who lived on 
Clinton street. The Rev. Nelson I. Gilbert preached his funeral sermon, 
and the following evening was stricken down with the scourge and died in 
a few hours. He and his wife were both treated with the utmost attention 
by Dr. Jonathan Day, then one of the most popular and successful physi- 
cians in the county, and he too, fell a victim. The course of the epidemic 
need not be traced in detail here, as it has already been fully described in 
an earlier chapter. The number of deaths probably reached one hundred 
and the victims numbered .several of the best and most prominent men in 
the community. But Syracuse suffered far less than many other localities 
of similar size, and it is certainly just to credit this immunity to a large ex- 
tent to the unselfish and heroic labors of the members of the Onondaga 
County Medical Society. 

At this meeting (1832) resolutions were adopted upon the death of Dr. 
Jonathan Day. They spoke in the most complimentary terms. 

At the meeting of January 27, 1835, Dr. Hiram Hoyt offered a series of 
resolutions on the subject of an eye and ear infirmary in Syracuse, but they 
' were withdrawn without action. In the .same year the Code of Ethics gov- 
erning the State Society was adopted. About this time a " Topographical 
Committee" was appointed with instructions to report, at an early meeting 
presumably, upon the topography of the county and its relation to disease. 
This committee, or its successors, crops out in the records for a number of 
years, with excuses for not reporting and requests for extension of time ; 
but nothing seems to have been done by it. 

In 1840, the State Society issued a circular to County Societies asking 
an expression as to the advisability of licensing practitioners. It is suffi- 
cient to record that this society strongly favored the plan. As indicat- 



Proceedings of Various Meetings. 453 

ing the fact that medical practitioners of that day were compelled to devote 
considerable attention to dentistry, a committee was appointed in 184310 
inquire into the propriety of using " mineral paste" in dental surgery. 

About the year 1S45, the feeling of opposition to honift-opathy became 
quite marked in expression and the records show that it suffered no dimi- 
nution for many years, several members having been expelled for embracing 
the alleged medical heresy. At the annual meeting of the year a committee 
of seven prominent members of the society was appointed to collect infor- 
mation of "the two celebrated systems of practice taught by Priessnitz and 
Hahnemann." Upon the information supplied by the committee and 
knowledge of the hom<Lopathic system as obtained from other sources, the 
society condemned that school in the most unqualified terms, and summa- 
rily expelled such members as embraced it. Among these were Dr. layman 
Clary, who took up homiuopathy in 1846, and a few others who followed 
in later years. 

In 1847, it appeared advisable to the society to admit reporters of news- 
papers to their meetings, as shown by a resolution to that effect. In the 
next year a communication was received from the Board of Health, relative 
to the old mill pond which then covered the site of the present armory and 
the adjacent park. The beginning of this agitation led to the filling up of 
that pond, for which action the Medical Society is entitled to a large share 
of credit. 

The city was visited with Asiatic cholera again in 1S49, in common with 
other localities, but the disease did not secure the foothold that character- 
ized it in 1832-3. There were, however, nearly seventy cases in the city, 
but few fatalities. 

Down to the year 1850 very few medical questions and cases were dis- 
cussed or made the subject of essays in the society, but constant attention 
was given to the advancement of the dignity of the profession through the 
Code of Ethics and a general interchange of views. Only two meetings 
were held in each year until 1870, when the number was doubled ; this is 
exclusive of special meetings. After 1850 very much more attention was 
given to the reporting of cases, discussion of their treatment and the read- 
ing of essays, showing not only great advancement in the extent of the 
practice of prominent physicians, but also a higher degree of knowledge 
and appreciation of the benefits accruing from meetings of the society. 

Nothing of paramount importance to the profession appears on the rec- 
ords for a long period. The war of 1861-5 was inaugurated, calhng many 
members of the society to the front, where they performed service as he- 
roic and valuable to the country as that done by any other branch of the 
army. Among the physicians of Syracuse (at that time and since) who 
joined the army were Drs. A. B. Shipman, R. W. Pease, N. R. Tefft, E. A. 



454 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Knapp, J. V. Kendall, I. H. Searl, A. D. Head, John Van Duyn, Geo. H. 
Greeley, Elisha George Ely Vandewalker, W. T. Plant, Chas. A. Hill, John 
O. Slocum, Dr. Van Slyke, J. S. Coe, J. O. Burt, Hiland Weed, Judson 
H. Graves, and many others. 

In 1865, the subject of a library for the society was introduced by Dr. 
H. D. Didama, and a cominittee of three, (Didama, Smith and Mercer) was 
appointed to report on the topic. This resulted in founding a library to be 
supported by contributions of books, papers and money. 

On the 30th of October, 1865, occurred the death of Dr. Hezekiah Jos- 
lyn, and a special meeting of the society was called and a series of resolu- 
tions in eulogy of his life and character were passed. 

In January, 1866, the society felt called upon to pass the following reso- 
lution : 

KesiUi'cuf^ That tlie Onondaga Medical Society recommend to the physicians of this county to 
form Boards of Health, to use proper medical and sanitary regulations to ward off and prevent the 
spread of Asiatic cholera, the coming of which we have great rejison to fear during the coming 
summer." 

On the first day of November, 1871, a special meeting was called to con- 
sider the proposed removal of Geneva Medical College to Syracuse. Rev. 
Dr. Jesse T. Peck addressed the society in behalf of the removal and estab- 
lishment of the College with Syracuse University. Resolutions strongly 
favoring the removal were passed. A committee was afterward appointed, 
who conferred with joint committees of the University and of the Faculty 
of the Geneva College, and a plan was prepared which was adopted by the 
Universit)' authorities and resulted in founding the College of Medicine as 
a branch of that institution. 

An event of some importance occurred in the afternoon of September 
7, 1876, in the tender of a complimentary dinner to Dr. Jehial Stearns, of 
Pompey, and Dr. Lake I. Tefft, of Syracuse, in celebration of the semi-cen- 
tennial year of their practice of medicine. This dinner was given at the On- 
ondaga Temperance House and was presided over by Dr. H. D. Didama. 
About forty physicians of the county were in attendance, and several ladies. 

Dr. James Foran died in December, 1873, and Dr. J. W. Lawton in 
June, 1879. In the latter part of 1875, Dr. N. C. Powers died. In 1878, 
the society sent $100 to the yellow fever sufferers in the Soutii. 

During the past ten years of the society's existence it has expressed 
itself in approval of the employment of female attendants in the female 
wards of insane asylums; ordered the e.xainination and substantially ap- 
proved of the Metric System ; reported through Dr. Didama the first suc- 
cessful case of tracheotomy in this county (May, 1880); advocated through 
Dr. Cook the use of electricity in capital punishment, perhaps the earliest 
advocacy of that reform; gave a banquet to Dr. N. R. Tefft on the fiftieth 
anniversary of the beginning of his practice; adopted active measures for 



I.isi' (iK Essayists. 455 



the inaiit^uration of better sanitary conditions in Syracuse; advocated the 
abandonment of Onondaga creek as a source of water supply; reported 
through Dr. A. Mercer the deaths from typhoid fever from 1875 to 1884, 
inchisive, (the first five years, 117; second five years, 134;) and from ma- 
larial fever, (first five years, 5 ; second five years, 74.) 

In the latter part of 1881 a plan was adopted by the society to awaken 
deeper interest in the meetings and render them of greater value to the 
members. This involved the selection at each annual meeting of twelve 
essayasts, three of whom were to read at each of the four meetings in each 
year essays before the society on some appropriate topics. A penalty of 
five dollars was attached to each failure to fill an appointment as essayist. 
Following are the names of the essayists from that time to the present : 

1882.— April, Wm. Manlius Smith, Ely Van de Warker, VV. VV. Porter. 
Annual meeting, J. A. Mowris, VV. R. Johnson, J. E. Carr. September, 
Geo. W. Cook, O. G. Dibble, G. W. Earll. 

,883.— January, J. V. Kendall, W. \V. Munson, H. W. Post. April, L. 

F. Weaver, F. H. Stevenson, N. Jacobson. June, John L. Heffron, C. E. 
liiUington, J. P. Dunlap. September, George R. Kinne, M. Stanton, J. D. 
Potter. Semi-annual, E. R. Maxson, A. S. Edwards, J. O. Slocum. 

1884. — April, Gregory Doyle, Carrie A. liatch, L. A. Saxer. June, R. 
W. Pease, G. W. Earll, C. F. Wright. September, J. H. Coe, A. C. Mercer, 
1. H. Searl. 

1885. — January, A. B. Frazer, A. J. Dallas, Vandyke Tripp. April, U. 
H. Brown, E. A. Knapp, A. A. Aldrich. June, D. M. Totman, G. L. 
Brown, Alfred Mercer. September, Robert Aberdein, E. S. Mumford, E. 
J. Holcomb. 

1886. — January, M. B. Fairchild, J. II. Graves, L. P. Deming. April, 
H. B. Allen, N. Wilbur, F. O. Donohue. June, L. C. Skinner, B. F. Chase, 

G. P. Clark. September, F. H. Butler, A. C. Benedict, S. M. Higgins. 
1887.— January, H. B. Wright, J. Van Duyn, G. W. Draper. April, H. 

B. Pritchard, C. S. Roberts, J. P. Shumway. June, G. A. Edwards, H. D. 
Didama, E. C. Skinner. September, M. G. Rood, A. B. Randall, Scott 
Owen. 

1888 — F. W. Smith, E. S. Maxson, J. W. Knapp. April, H. Murray, 
J. W. Fry, J. W. Brown. June, E. A. Didama, F. A. Strong, E. L. 
Mooney. September, W. T. Plant, R. C. Ilanchett, H. L. Eisner. 

1889. — E. S. Sampson, J. G. Justin, F. W. Slocum. 

This necessarily brief account of this honored society may be properly 
closed by a reference to its growth and progress. It is perfectly clear, even 
to the non-professional reader who examines the records of this society for 
more than three-quarters of a century, that in its numerical growth ; its ad- 
vancement in professional knowledge and alertness and industrj- in seeking 



456 Memorial Histokv ok Syracuse. 

it ; its often heroic action in purging itself of members guilty of infraction 
of its laws and the Code of Ethics; the increase in number and interest of 
cases reported and papers read before it by its members ; its watchful care 
of the sanitary interests of the community; and its beneficence in many 
other ways, the Onondaga County Medical Society has earned for itself an 
honorable and splendid record. 

Following is a list of those who have held the office of President of this 
society from its organization to the present time, with the year in which 
each was elected : 

1806-7, John U. Frisbie; 1808, Walter Colton ; 1809, Daniel Tibbits; 
1810, Samuel Porter ; 181 2, Isaac Benedict ; 1813, H. L. Granger ; i8i5,S. 
Fish; 1816, Luther French; 1817, H. L. Granger; 1822-23, Isaac Magoon ; 
1824-25, \Vm. Taylor; 1826-27, Jehial Stearns; 1828-29-30, H. B. Moore; 
1831, J. B. Hopkins ; 1832-33, Benjamin Trumbull ; 1834, A. S. Ball ; 1835, 
Schuyler Fulford ; 1836, G. W. Richards; 1837-38, Harman Van Dusen ; 
183940, L. I. Tefft ; 1845, Lyman Clary; 1846, Horatio Smith ; 1847, P- C. 
Sampson; 1848, N. R. Tefft ; 1849 50, Abram Hann ; i85i,John Briggs ; 
1852, Jonathan Kneeland ; 1853, Hiram Adams ; 1854, James V.Kendall; 
1855, A. J. Dallas; 1856, A. B. Shipman ; 1857, J. F. Trowbridge; 1858, 
Wm. Laughlin ; 1859, James Foran ; i860, Alfred Mercer; 1861, Israel 
Parsons; 1862; R. T. Paine; 1863, S. M. Higgins; 1864, Hiram Wiggins; 
1865, Wm. Manlius Smith; 1866, H. D. Didama ; 1867, Elijah Park; 1868, 
George W. Cook; 1869, W. W. Porter; 1870, M. D. Benedict; 1871, J. P. 
Dunlap; 1872, John O. Slocum ; 1 873, Wm. A. Bennett ; 1 874-75, Geo. T. 
Campbell; 1876, Wm. T. Plant; 1877, W. W. Munson; 1878, Ely Van de 
Warker; 1879, M. H. Blynn ; 1880, M. B. Fairchild ; 1881, J. D. Potter; 
1882, John Van Duyn; 1883, L. C. Skinner; 1884, G. W. Earll ; 1885, J. L. 
Heffron; 1886, Henry B. Allen; 1887, D. M. Totman ; 1888, Henry L. 
Eisner, 

Following is a complete list of all the ph)'sicians who have ever been 
members of this society, with such brief details as have been preserved re- 
garding them. We give up the space in these pages for this list, believing 
that its preservation in such a work must be of great importance to the pro- 
fession, as well as to others, for otherwise no record exists except that in 
the book of the society, which is, of course, liable to destruction at any 
time: 

.\dniiUcd July I, 1806. — Clordon Neeclham. Onondaga Hollow; died thcTc- in 1S64. Deodatiis 
Clark, I'ompey ; removed to Oswego. John 11. Krisbie ; died May 23, 1S09. Wm. .\dams. Ca- 
millus. .Smith Weed, Kagle Village. Je.sse Searl. Homer; died there. James Jackson, Manlius, 
died there in 1S29. Daniel Tibbals. I'ompey; removed west. Isaac Henedict. .Skaneateles, removed 
from there. Salmon Thayer, Onondaga llill ; died in Geddes. Walter Colton, .Manlius ; removed 
from county. 

Admitted October 7, 180G. — John Miller, Truxton. Uildad Beach, .Marcellus ; died there Feb- 
ruary 15, 1856. Samuel Porter, Marcellus; died June 13, 1S43. Jesse Monger, Camillus ; died 







<^ 



List ov Members. 457 



January 5, i8oS. Robert D. Tapart, Tully ; died in 1831. John C. Marvin, South Onondaga ; 
removed to Virginia. SiLis Parks, LaKayette. Dr. David Holbrooli, Jamesville ; died in 1830. 
Dr. llolbrook w,is the first physician in the county and visited Salina and other points hereabouts in 
very early years. Calvin Wright, lleorge Kagen, Jamesville. Joseph t;iy, Delphi ; removed from 
the county. Dr. Ely was a surgeon's mate in ll)e Kevohitionary war for about two years. 

January 6, 1807.— Hezekiah Clark ; died in I'ompey, March 4, 1826. James I'ettit, I'ompey ; 
died at Fredonia, in 1845. John Davis, Onondaga ; died in 1S42. 
April 7, 1807. — Lewis S. Owen, Homer ; died there. 
October 6, 1807.— Iddo Ellis, Syracuse ; left the county. 
January 5, 180S.— Truman .\dams, Elbridge ; died about 1830. 

May 24, i8o8.— .Vshbel Stedman, Marcellus. Isaac Magoon, Camillus. Peyton R. Ilurlburt, 
Onondaga Hollow ; removed to Massachusetts in 1S13. 

October 4, 1808.— Jonathan S. Judd, Green's Corners; went west. David Kiske, Elbridge. 
May 23, tSog.— Erastus Humphrey, Marcellus ; removed to Utica. John Milton Stewart, 
Onondaga Hollow. Ethan Squire, Cato. Rufus Moss, Syracuse. 

October 3, 1S09.— John D. Bissill, Onondaga Hollow. Solomon King, west part of county. 
Jonathan Sweet. Canton. Jacob Bradbury, Manlius ; removed to Cincinnati about 1820 and died 
there. Henry Green, South Onondaga ; left the county. 

June 5, 1810.— Nathaniel Sheldon, Liverpool ; removed west. David Kingsbury, Marcellus. 

May 25, 1S12.— Hezekiah L. Granger, Manlius ; died May 26, 1828. Isaac Chichester, Pom- 

pey ; removed to Indiana. Titus Merriman, Elbridge, died May 20, 1864. Luther French, Otisco ; 

died 1830. David S. Colvin, Syracuse. Moses Sheldon, Onondaga Hill and Salina ; died at Salina. 

Lot Thayer, Onondaga ; left the county. 

August 3, 1S12.— William Thayer, Manlius; died there September lO, 1865. Rodney Stark- 
weather, Fabius; removed west. L. H. Colvin, Skaneateles. 
(Records are absent until October 22, 1814.) 

February 22, 1814. — R. Purve. John Washburn, Manlius ; went south. 
October 24, 1815. — Joseph Fish, Onondaga Hill. Judah 1'.. Hopkins, Skaneateles. 
May 28, 1816.— Elijah Park, I.aFayette ; died 1832. Jehiel Stevens, Pompey ; died there 1878. 
Ashbcl Searle, Otisco ; died September, 1875. Chauncey Williams, LaFayette ; died 1855. John 
S. King, I'ompey ; removed west. 

October I, i8i6.—.\mbrose Bennett, Onondaga Hollow ; left the county. Samuel Healy, On- 
ondaga Hill; died May, 1S54. 

January 28, 1817. — Liberty Kimberly. Henry Ingersoll. Warren Patchen. 
January 18, 1820. — Saul C. Upson, Eagle Village. Henry B. Moore, Afanlius ; removed to 
Coldwater, .Mich., and died there in December, 186S. Joseph W. Brewster, Onondaga Valley; 
died September 4, l86q. George W. Fitch, Preble. Joseph Kleb. 

June n, 1822. — Oliver Barber. .Schuyler Pulford, Fayetteville ; removed to W'isconsin. L. 
Gaylord, Otisco, Benjamin Trumbull, Borodino ; died in 1834. Ward Bassett, Manlius ; died there 
1874. E. Clark, Otisco. J. A. Parker, Syracuse. C. Colvin, Syracuse; died in 1867. 

June 10, 1S23.— Benjamin M. Root, Canton ; died In 1867. L. I. Tefft, Marcellus ; died May 
10, 1880. Augustus Harris, Amboy ; died there. Elijah Kendrick, Elbridge ; removed to Colum- 
bus, O. Hugh Gillespie, Jamesville ; died September 17, 1S36, at Michigan City. John T. Doran, 
Apulia; Daniel Dennison, Oran ; died September 7, 1854. R. R. Wheelock. K.R.Lansing. 
Thaddeus Clark, Pompey. Josi.ah Millard, Orville ; died in Illinois, 1867. 

June 8, 1824.— .\nsell Lull, Syracuse ; died .about 1S63. Orrin Osburn. Ilarley Hooker ; died 
here. John W. Hanchett, Syracuse; died here. J. W. Daniels, Salina; died there February 26 
1849. Adonija White, Camillus. 

June 7, 1825. — .Mather Williams, Syracuse; died here February 10, 186S. Eli Botsford, Or- 
ville ; removed west. Parsons G. Shipman, Delphi; removed to Rochester. J. DeBois . Sherman. 
Hezekiah Joslyn, Syracuse ; died October 30, 1865. Benjamin L. House. Jonathan Day, Syra- 
cuse ; died in 1832, of cholera. 

5S 



458 Memorial History ok Syracuse. 

June 13, 1826. — George Smith, Syracuse; died here. Evilyn H. Porter, Skaneateles ; died in 
September, 1875. James Andrews. 

June 12, 1S27. — Daniel P. Jones, Baldwinsnile ; died there March 29, 1861. Jonathan Stan- 
ley, Onondaga. H. Van Ousen, Tully ; removed to Wisconsin, .\very Benedict, Baldwinsville. 

February 12, 1S2S. — George Hooker, S)Tacuse ; removed to Massachusetts. Alonzo S. Ball, 
Salina ; removed to New York. Benjamin Carlton, Jr. ; removed to Pompey and died there. P. 
A. Sherwood, Jamesville ; died October 13, 1S64. 

June 10, 1S2S. — E. Kirby Chamberlin. Elbridge ; removed west. A. H. Cowles, Marcellus ; 
died May, 1854. George L. Loomis, DeWitt ; died Januar)' 5, 1873. Hiram Adams, Fabius ; died 
March q, 1865. Rial Wright, Syracuse ; removed west. Lyman Sprague, Manlius. George W. 
Cowing, Tully ; died 1S57. Ammon P. Adams, died in 1S70 in the West. 

February 10, 1829. — Wm. Laughlin, died January Ig, 1S62. Peter O. Sherwood, DeWitt ; 
died there. Geo. W. Richards, Camillus ; died in Dubuque, Ind. Aaron Pitney, Elbridge, died in 
Chicago. Jano Wheeler, Elbridge ; killed by cars in 1866. Daniel Weston, Pompey. George 
Morley, west part of the county. E. Adams. 

June 9, 1829. — B. F. Green, Salina ; died there. Wanham Root, Canton ; died February, 
1847. T. S. Gorham. D. H. Orcutt. 

February 9, 1S30. — Lyman Clary, Syracuse ; died here. Franklin Moulton, Syracuse. Sam- 
uel Kingsley, South Onondaga ; died December, 1S81. Daniel Smith, died in Wisconsin. J. C. 
Hanchett, Syracuse ; died here. 

June 8, 1830. — Addison K. Beckwith, north part of county ; died in Palermo, Oswego county, 
in 1856. Henry K. Webster, Onondaga ; died in Homer. 

February 8, 1831. — Dennis Kennedy, Lysander ; died April, 1863. Azariah B. Shipman, Syra- 
cuse ; died in Paris, France, September 15, 186S. James Riggs, Jordan, died January 19, 1S55. 

Baker. 

June 14, 1S31. — John Collins, SpafTord ; died in .Syracuse. 

February 14, 1832. — Daniel 1). Evans. Elijah Lawrence, BaldwinsNTlle ; died January, 1S45. 
John O. Shipman, Kayetteville ; died September 29, 1866. Homer Bacon, Delphi. Harvey Rob- 
erts, Elbridge; died June iS, 1855. Farnsworth, Fayetteville ; died there. 

July 6, 1S32. — Horatio Smith, Syracuse; died July 24, 1851. 

January 29, 1833. — L W. Fitch, Syracuse. Edward F. Sing, Syracuse. P. C. Sampson, Syr- 
acuse; died April 13, 1865. .S. D. Day, Syracuse; died here. Da\-id Wilson, Elbridge; died there 
about 1865. Edwin G. Dwyer, Kirkville. 

June II, 1833. — N. R. Tefft, Onondaga; died November 14, i8go. Charles S. Sterling, Liver- 
pool. l.ewis Bucter. Franklyn II. Bangs, Marcellus; removed to New York. Stephen B. CJay, 
expelled. David .M. Shipman, Manlius; removed to Rochester. .■\. W. Marsh, .Manlius; re- 
moved to Palmyra. Hiram Hoyt, Syracuse ; died March 28, 1864. 
January 25, 1834. — Joseph W. Chamberhn ; removed west. 

June 10, 1834. — Dwight Nims, Manlius. Mordecai .Morton. Charles Mandeville, Mottville ; 
removed to Illinois. George D. Case. 
July 19, 1834. — S. E. .Matthcwson. 

June 9, 1S35. — John (Joodell, Delphi, deceased, .\braham T. \ an Gaasbeck, Syracuse ; sus- 
pended. 

June 14. 1836. — John Briggs, Manlius; died June 13, 1859. I). (;. Worden, Syracuse; sus- 
pended 1859. David Brigham. Adam Vroman. Michael Phillips, Syracuse ; died about 1848. 
A. P. Hamill, removed to Phoeni.K ; died October, iSgo. Richard R. Davis, Syracuse; died De- 
cember 13, 1 85 1. 

January 31, 1S37. — C. B. Chapman, removed from county. Levi Bartlett, Skaneateles. James 
Foran, Syracuse; drowned in 1S73. N. .M. Pike, Syracuse ; died in 1861. Alfred Clark, Elbridge; 
died there. 

June 13, 1837. — Darwin E. Hurd, Fayetteville; died there October, 1873. Curtis J. Hurd, 
Fayetteville ; was a surgeon of the war of 1812 ; died at DeWitt, July 10, 1850. Wni. J. Lovejoy, 
Salina ; died at the Isthmus 1S59. 



List of Memiskrs. 459 



June I*. 1838.— Daniel Harvey. Samuel M. larnhnm, lully ; suspended 1859. Hiram Wig- 
jrins. Cicero: removed to Elbridge. Wm. H. Kinne, Tully. 

June II, 1839.— James C. Stuart; died here March 23, 1870. G. \V. I'errine. Andrew H. 
Xewcomb, Salina ; died October 18, 1851. Thomas Spencer, Syracuse; died in Philadelphia, May 

3>. 1857. 

lanuary 28. 1S40.— \V. H. Maxwell, Syracuse; removed to New York. H. H. Schenck ; gave 
up practice for the ministry. 

lune I), 1S40.— A. B. Edwards; removed. Ely Cooke, Truxton ; died there. Hays McKin- 
ley, north part of county ; died in Wisconsin in 1S80. James S. Johnson, Euclid ; died at Moravia, 
.\ugust iq, 1S79. Havid M. Benson, Geddes ; died in 1834. 

January 26, 1841. — Isaac .Morrell, Borodino; removed from county. George F. Hurd, Fay- 
etteville ; died in Rochester. 

lune 8, 1841.— 1.. D. Gage. E. D. Williams, Syracuse. T. C. Durant ; removed to Canada. 
1.. B. Hall; removed to Ohio. E. T. Richardson, Tully. John Hart. Milton \V. Gray, Ly- 
sander. 

June 14, 1842. — \Vm. Enworth, Camillus ; removed to Wisconsin. Wm. S.Young. J. Kneel- 
and, Borodino ; removed to South Onondaga. 

lune 13. 1843. — Ira B. Geer. James Ch.nndler. .Syracuse ; died in 1883. M. M. Marsh, Man- 
lius ; died in -New York, 1866. Silas Bliss, Syracuse, deceased. Joel C. Brown. Abrah.im Hann, 
SjTacuse ; removed to Little Falls, J. K. Cheeseman, Marcellus: removed from county. 

January 28, 1844. — Lyman L. Rose, LaFayette ; died in 1867. Amos Westcott, Syracuse ; 
committed suicide while insane, July 6, 1873. 

Tune II, 1S44. — Heton F. Noyes ; removed to Minnesota. Wm. A. Grover, Syracuse; re- 
moved to California. 

June 10, 1845. — Daniel G. Frisbie, Syracuse; removed to Iowa. C. W. Boyce ; removed to 
Auburn. Thomas B. Washburn. Wm. G. Redman, Camillus ; removed to Louis\-ille. 

June 7, 1847. — John F. Trowbridge, died February 14, 1S72. Joseph P. Dunlap, Syracuse. 
Tobias J. Green, Syracuse : removed to Oswego county. 

January 2;, 184S. — James V. Kendall, Baldwinsville. 

June 13, 184S. — Har\ey T. Tolman, Jamesville. Alexander J. Dallas, Camillus; removed to 
Syracuse in 1867. 

June 12, 1S49. — M. D. Benedict, Skaneateles ; came to Syracuse in 1S66 and died here in 1884. 
Wm. Manlius Smith, Syracuse. 

January 29, 1850. — James Wells, Baldwinsville. 

June 12, 1850. — Henry P. Coon, Syracuse; removed to California and died there. John E. 
Todd, Baldwinsville ; died April 22, 1868. Joel B. Linsley, Salina ; died in Central America, Feb- 
ruary- 16,1852. 

January 28, 1851. — Harry GifTord, Salina; dismissed, 1S70. Israel Parsons, Marcellus. 

June 10, 1851. — H. Emmett Roberts, .Marcellus; suspended 1S63. Jacob O. Loomis, Yan 
Buren, deceased. Roger W. Pease, .Syracuse ; died at his home May 28, 1886. Homer Adams, 
Tully ; died suddenly in Wisconsin, August 3, 1867. 

Januar)- 27, 1852. — Horace C. .Avery, Kirkville ; died at Fayetteville, 1S57. Samuel Avcr\-, 
.Syracuse ; gave up practice. 

January 14, 1853. — Theodore C. Pomeroy ; now in S>Tacuse. 

June 13, 1854. — Nelson C. Powers, Syracuse ; died -VugTist 13, 1S75. Judson Candee, Pom- 
pey ; killed by running horse in 1870. 

January 30, 1S55. — H. P. Wallace, Baldwinsville; died there March 10, 1886. 

June 12, 1855. — W. W. Porter, Geddes ; died June 3, 1885. 

June 10, 1856.— .Mien Y. R. Snyder, Euclid ; became blind in 1S61. I. N. YanSlyke, Syra- 
cuse ; died .April 15, 1869, at BurHngton, N. J. 

June 9, 1857. — .Alfred Mercer, Syracuse. L. D. Clarke, Otisco. 

June 8, 1858. — George W. Cooke, Cicero; came to Syracuse, August, 1861. D. \'. YanSlyke, 
S)Tacuse ; removed from county. S. M. Higgins, Memphis ; died 1889. 



460 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Januar)' 31, i860. — 11. B. Wilbur, SjTacuse ; died May i, 1883. Horace Xims, Manlius. 

June 12, i860. — Robert Treat Paine, Jordan ; removed to Lockport and died January 26, 1868. 
Wm. H. I'almer, .Syracuse ; went to the war and did not return. 

June II, 1861. — Henry Darwin Uidania, Salina ; removed to Syracuse in 1864. Ililand A. 
Weed, Jordan. 

June 10, 1862. — George W. Draper, Clay ; moved to Geddes, 1869 and to Pueblo, 1888. 

June 9, 1863. — J. Phelps Shumway, Baldwinsville. 

June 14, 1864. — F. M. liyington, Fayetteville ; removed to Kentucky in 1874 and died there in 
1877. 

January 31, 1865. — W. O. Luce, Elbridge ; removed to Auburn 1876. George W. Earll, 
Skaneateles ; died in 18S9. Wm. A. Bennett, Syracuse , removed to Massachusetts. L. C. Skin- 
ner, Belle Isle ; died December 11, 1887. 

Jan. 30, 1866. — Geo. B. Barrus, Navarino. Tlieron Bradford, Syracuse. J. O. Slocum, Syra- 
cuse ; removed to Camillus in 1867 and died March 5, 1S85. I. H. Searl, Syracuse. W. Kemp- 
ster, Syracuse ; removed to Utica and was Assistant Superintendent in insane asylum. J. N. Arnold, 
Elbridge ; removed to Clyde. E. C. Spaulding, Fabius ; remo\ed to Chicago. James P. Kimball, 
Pompey ; w^ent into the U. S. service. 

June 12, 1866. — Gregory Doyle, Syracuse. James A. Mowris, LaFayette. 

January 29, 1S67. — J. Otis Burt, Syracuse. William T. Plant, Syracuse. Henry Crouse, Syr- 
acuse ; deceased. 

June II, 1867. — J. W. Lawton, Syracuse; died June 3, 1S74. M. 11. Blynn, Cicero; died 
December 10, 18S3. .S. M. Potter, Manlius; removed to Cazenovia. O. E. Wainwright, Syracuse ; 
killed in Central Baptist Church disaster, June 23, 1874. 

January 28, 1868. — Charles liliss, Syracuse; removed to Massachusetts. Wm. Taylor, Pom- 
pey ; left the county in 1869. James E. Carr, Jordan. Edwin A. Knapp, Jamesville. 

June 9, 186S. — J. D. Potter, Delphi. Leslie Martin, Lysander ; withdrew 1877. F. A. 
Strong, Brewerton. Wm. M. Bradford ; moved to Cortland county, 1869, settled in Marathon, 1871. 
J. H. Graves, Manlius ; came to Syracuse in 1881. 

January 26, 1S69. — James Durward, Otisco ; removed to Indiana. Howard M. Haskell, On- 
ondaga Hill ; came to Syracuse in 1S70, and left here the ne.st year. M. M. McDonald, LaFayette ; 
withdrew in 1874. Henry B. Allen, Baldwinsville. 

June 8, 1S69. — John Van Duyn, Syracuse. George T. Campbell, Skaneateles ; died February 
13, 1S82. VanDyke Tripp, Borodino. James II. Gleason, .Salina ; left the county in 1870 and 
died from poison accidentally. Merritt B. Fairchild, Syracuse. 

January 25, 1870. — E. V. Cuykendall, LaFayette. E. Van de Warker, Syracuse. A. L. 
Turner, Onondaga ; removed to Pennsylvania in 1870. James Whitford, Onondaga Valley. 

June 14, 1870. — E. E. Carrier, Livervool ; died August, 1870. Isaac Butler, Syracuse. 

June 13, 1871. — A. D. Felton, Syracuse ; removed to Saratoga in May, 1873, and thence to 
Cedarville, N. J. George Whedon, Syracuse ; expelled. 

January 30, 1872. — W. W. Morrison, Otisco. Charles H. Richmond, Syracuse; removed 
March 1872. David Terry, .Syracuse ; died August 23, 1878. T. E. Quimby, Fayetteville. 
Henry Laning, Syracuse ; gone to Japan. 

June II, 1872. — Robert li. Wagner, Syracuse ; in U. S. service. H. B. Pritchard, Euclid ; re- 
moved to Cicero. E. S. Mumford, .Syracuse. Joseph Heme, Jr., Syracuse ; removed to New 
York. 

September 10, 1872. — Frank H. Butler, Syracuse. 

September 9, 1873. — W. R. Johnson, Syracuse. 

January 27, 1874. — J. Wiltsie Knapp, Geddes. 

April 7, 1874. — C. W. Morse, Syracuse ; removed to Michigan. Edward B. Stearns, Syra- 
cuse ; removed to Ohio. Arthur S. Hall, Syracuse ; died May, 1876. Orson G. Dibble, Pompey. 

June 9, 1874. — L. F. Weaver, .Syracuse. Lucius Stevens, Syracuse ; died in Colorado, July, 
1884. Frank C. Clarke, Apulia ; removed to Cuyler. F.J. Holcombe, Syracuse. G. W. Earle, 
TuUy. 



List of Memhers. 461 



September 8, 1874.— Wm. A. Chapin, Liverpool ; died in 1881. James Willoiighby Phillips, 
Syracuse ; removed to Philadelphia in 1876. 

lanuary 26, 1S75.— John F. I'lace, Syracuse; removed to Madison county in 1879. Amos S. 
Kdwards. Syracuse. Horace F. Hatch. Syracuse ; died September 2, 1876. 

lune 8, 1875.— II. 1>. Hunt, Spafford ; removed to Cortland county. Abel C. licnedict, Syra- 
cuse. 

September, 1S75.— Krastus I!. Phillips, Syracuse; died in 18S8. 

January 25, 1876.— C. M. Trenchard, Syracuse ; removed to Philadelphia. Edgar C. Skinner, 

Helle Island. 

April II, 1S76.— Edwin G. Push, Syracuse. H C. Crowell, East Syracuse ; left the State in 

1S81. 

June 13, 1876.— Sumner Rhoades, Syracuse ; died June 20, 1S77. Anthony B. Magee, Syra- 
cuse ; removed to Massachusetts, 1879. 

January 30, 1S77.— C. O. Baker, Elbridge ; removed to Auburn, 1883. 
April 10, 1877. — George R. Metcalf, Syracuse ; removed to New York in 1882. 
June 12. 1S77.— John S. Marshall. Syracuse; removed to Chicago. David M. Totman, Syra- 
cuse. 

September 25, 1877. — Edwin R. Maxson, Syracuse. 

January 29, 187S. — John \V. Brown, Mottville. U. Higgins Brown, Syracuse. Joel ('.. Jus- 
tin, Syracuse. 

April 9. 1878. — Margaret Stanton, Syracuse. 
June iS, 1878. — .\lfred Clifford Mercer, Syracuse. 

September 10, 1878. — Robert Aberdein, Syracuse. Horace D. Babcock, Syracuse. 
lanuary 28, 1879. — Nathan Jacobson, Syracuse. Garrison Lee Brown, Baldwinsville ; removed 
to Euclid. Carrie A. Hatch, Syracuse. 

April 8, 1S79.— George .\. Edwards, Syracuse. Henry L. Eisner, Syracuse. Henry \V. Post, 
Marcellus; removed to Springfield, Mass. C. E. Billington, Manilas. 

September 16, 1S79.— J. A. M'Loughlin, Syracuse ; removed to New York in 1881. 
January 27, 1880. — G. \V. Sargent, .Skaneateles ; removed to Cayuga county. 
June S, 1880. — J. H. Coe, Syracuse. Charles E. Slocum, Syracuse ; left the city in 1882. 
June 14, 1881.— M. G. Rood, Onondaga Hill. 

September 13, 1881. — Susan J. Taber, Skaneateles ; removed to Pennsylvania. 
April iS, 1882. — N. Wilbur, Fayetteville. 
June 12, 1882.— John W. Fry, Syracuse. 

January 30, 1883. — F. H. Stevenson, Syracuse. John Lorenzo Heffron, Syracuse. 
April 24, 1SS3. — L. P. Deming, Syracuse. II. I'.lair IVazee, Elbridge. Leonard A. Saxer, 
Syracuse. 

September 11, 1SS3. — B. F. Chase, East Syracuse. Charies F. Wright, Syracuse. 
January 29, 1884. — F. O'Donohue, Syracuse. H. B. Wright, Skaneateles. Gaylord P. Clark, 
Syracuse. Wm. H. Maynard, South Onondaga; moved to Syracuse. 

April 22, 1884. — Albert A. Aldrich, Onondaga ; removed to Addison. F. W Smith, Syracuse. 
January 27, 1885. — Cieorge Bloomer, Syracuse, Samuel G. Ellis, Syracuse. 
June 16, 1885. — A. B. Miller, Geddes. Leon Owen, Syracuse. 
September 8, 1885. — A. B. Randall, Liverpool. 
June 8, 1886. — R. C. Hanchett, Syracuse. 

September 14, 18S6. — E. S. Sampson, Plank Road. C. S. Roberts, Syracuse. 
January 25, 1887. — E. S. Maxson, Syracuse. 

April 12, 1887. — Emory A. Didama, Syracuse ; removed to Cortland. 

September 13, 1887. — E. I.. Mooney, Syracuse. B. P. Wright, Syracuse. Wm. J. Ayling, 
Syracuse. 

January 31, 1888. — Fred W. Slocum, Camillus. Dwight H. Murray, Syracuse. 
June 12, 1888. — Roderick C. McLennan, Syracuse. Frederick W. Sears, Syracuse. II. II. 
Pease, Syracuse. Earll W. Smith, Syracuse. 



462 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



January 2g, 1889. — Clara Smith, Syracuse. 

April 16, i88(). — David Gilliland, Marcellus. George M. Price, Syracuse. William B. ]'>re(.d, 
Syracuse. 

January 29, 1SS9. — F. \V. Marlow, Syracuse. 
June 12, 1S89. — R. A. Whitney, Liverpool. 
September 8, 1S85. — James O. Longstreet, LaFayctte. 

THE SYRACUSE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION'. 

This As.sociation was organized on the evening of January 24th, 1866, 
at the house of R. W. Pease. Dr. Pease was chosen president, and Dr. I. 
H. Searl, Secretary. A Constitution and By-Laws were adopted, providing 
among other things, that any person qualified to practice medicine in the 
State of New York might become a member of the Association ; that the 
regular meetings should be held on the first and third Tuesday evenings of 
every month from the first of October to the first of April, and once each of 
the other months of the year; that medical students would be welcome at 
all meetings and might take part in its discussions ; that charges against 
members should be presented in writing, and other ordinary regulations 
governing similar organizations. 

Following is a list of physicians who have joined the Association from 
the date of its organization to the present (1S90), with the dates when the 
most of them became members : 

1866. — A. B. Shipman, L. I. Tefft. James Eoran, Henry Darwin Diilama, R. \V. Pease, M.D. 
Benedict, \V. Kempster, J. A. Mowris, \V. A. Bennett, Henry Crouse, 1. II. Searl, Alfred Mercer, 
George W. Cook, J. R. Dunlap, I. O. Burt, \V. \Y. Porter. 

1868 —J. \V. Lawton, A. J. Dallas, J. F. Trowbridge. 

i86g. — William T. Plant, S. B. Gay, .^L B. Fairchild, Ely Yan de Warker, Gregory Doyle. 

1870. — N. C. Powers. 

1871. — M. M. McDonald, E. S. Mumford, D. Terry, Cliarles IL Riclimimd, A. D. Feltcr, 
Henry Laning. 

1872.— Frank H. Butler. 

1873. — Elisha George, Lucius Stevens. 

1874. — Arthur L. Hall, J. Wiltsey Knapp, John Yan Duyn, Edward B. Stevens, W. R. Johnson. 

1875. — Horace F. Hatch, Amos S. Edwards, C. W. Morse. 

1876. — Sumner Rhoades, L. F. Weaver, E. R. Maxson, George R. Metcalf, John S. Marshall. 

1879. — Brace W. Loomis, Margaret Stanton, D. M. Tallman, Nathan Jacobson, Henry L. 
Eisner, A. C. Benedict. A. F. Yadcboncoeur, George C. F'dwards. 

1880. — Morris H. Conner, Henry GifTord, Jr., U. H. Brown, Jerome H. Coe, Carrie .'\. Hatch. 

1881. — Charles E. Slocum, A. Clifford Mercer. 

1882. — Leonard A. Saxer, Samuel (J. I*)llis, William Davis. F. W. Smith, C. L. Roberts 

1883. — F. A. Stephenson, Miller E. Dann, Lewis P. Deming, John Lorenzo Heffron, Judson J. 
Taylor, Mar)- W. Case, W. H. Mills. 

1884.— William J. Ayling. A. I). Head. 

1885.— F. W. Marlow, O. A. Thomas, R. C. Hanchett. 

1886. — Arthur B. Breese, George R. Kinney, J. J. Moore, Emory A. Didama, Edwin S. Max- 
son, John W. Whitney, William B. Breed, Fred W. Sears. W, IL Maynard, lames I.. Jarvis, II. D. 
Murray. 

1887.— Scott Owen, Earll W. Smith, A. B. Miller, Julia E. Ilanchelt, ]!. P. Wright, F. 
O'Donohue, Daniel .McNamara, <-'liarles Wright, E. L. Mooney. 



List m- :\Ikmi!i;ks. 463 



1888. — Emma A. Rimnion, Franklin John Kaufman. 

l8Sq.— C;. M. Trice, T. II. llalstead, Joseph C. Roth, Ceorge \V. Draper. 

i8qo. — Katharine .-V. Hathaway. 

The records of the transactions of this Association, from the date of its 
organization to 1875, are not in existence as far as we have been able to 
learn, but during that period meetings were held with commendable regu- 
larity and were, in the main, fairly attended. An election of officers 
occurred at a meeting held at the residence of Dr. M. D. Benedict on the 
29th of December, 1874, resulting as follows ; Dr. Gregory Doyle, Presi- 
dent : Dr. E. B. Stevens, Vice-President : Dr. George W. Cook, Treasurer ; 
Dr. Frank H. Butler, Secretary. 

Dr. M. B. Fairchild had hekl the office of president during the period 
just preceding this meeting, and read on this occasion an interesting paper 
on " Ventilation." 

During the year 1875 t^''^ small pox raged in Syracuse, causing a great 
many deaths. The disease was finally crushed out bj' prompt measures on 
the part of the Board of Health and the physicians of the city. A little 
conflict between the board and the physicians occurred in 1877, over the 
fact that four of the members of the association were sued for false impris- 
onment, the suit being based upon the shutting up of a patient in the pest 
house, and a verdict of $500 was obtained against one of the defendants. 
The physicians protested strongly in a series of resolutions against this 
proceeding, and being " thus liable to be dragged into court by the caprice 
and venality of every aggrieved person upon real or imaginary wrongs." 
One of the resolutions in its entirety follows: 

ResoheJ, That inasmuch as the city t>y its charter, and by the rules and regulations of its Board 
of Health, make it incumbent upon all physicians to report at once, any and every case of infectious 
or pestilential disease occurring in their practice ; and, inasmuch as the pubhc demand of and rely 
upon the medical profession in times of such dire distress, for aid, comfort and protection, we hereby, 
as members of the medical profession, protest against being liable to be dragged into court by the 
caprice and venality of every aggrieved person, upon real or imaginary grounds, and we respectfully 
petition the city authorities to either defend us in these causeless prosecutions with the odium, dan- 
ger and expense of time and money attending them, or repeal that portion of the charter alluded to, 
that we may be forearmed by being forewarnetl. 

In this connection it was also 

Resolvtil, That in the small pox epidemic and its attendant evils of danger, panic, suffering and 
prostration of business, of the year 1875, the medical profession, seconded and upheld by the strong 
arm of the law, was the only competent and effectual instrument in staying the scourge and restoring 
the health and business of our city to its accustomed channels. 

At the election for 1876, Dr. E. B. Stevens was chosen president; Dr. 
K. H. Butler, Vice-President; Dr. E. S. Mumford, Secretary; Dr. A. S. 
Hall, Treasurer. Arrangements were made at this meeting for holding fu- 
ture meetings in the building of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
the University. 



464 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Officers elected for 1877 were Dr. F. H. Butler, President; Dr. E. S. 
Mumford, Vice-President ; Dr. J. S. Marshall, Secretary and Treasurer. 
At the meeting held April 17, of this year, Drs. Metcalf, E. S. Mumford, 
and J. S. Marshall were elected delegates to the meeting of the Central 
New York Medical Society. Dr. G. W. Cook read an able and exhaustive 
paper on the sanitary condition of the city schools at the meeting of May 
29, 1877. This paper was the outcome of the thorough investigation of the 
condition of the school buildings by a committee of physicians. The paper 
was published and resulted in considerable improvement in the sanitary ar- 
rangements of several of the schools. 

At the meeting of December 15, 1877, the following officers were elected 
for 1878: Dr. E. S. Mumford, President; Dr. John Van Duyn, Vice-Pres- 
ident ; Dr. J. S. Marshall, Secretary and Treasurer. 

There are no records of meetings held from April 2, 1878, to February 
II, 1879, on which date the following officers were elected : Dr. John Van 
Duyn, President ; Dr. George E. Metcalf, Vice-President ; Dr. Nathan 
Jacobson, Secretary and Treasurer. After this date the meetings of the as- 
sociation were generally held at residences of the members. 

The ne.xt meeting, according to the records, was held January 21, 1880. 
Dr. Van Duyn continued as President, and Dr. Jacobson as Secretary and 
Treasurer. At a meeting held in the following spring, the President con- 
gratulated the association on the general success and attendance during the 
preceding winter. 

At the meeting of December 21, 1880, the following officers were elected 
for 1881 : Dr. George R. Metcalf, President ; Dr. Ely Van de Warker, 
Vice-President ; Dr. Nathan Jacobson, Secretary and Treasurer. At the 
meeting of January 4, Dr. Alfred Mercer read an address which had prev- 
iously been presented to the Common Council, embodying the mortuary 
statistics of the three preceding years, with tables showing the location of 
deaths, the favorite months for certain diseases, ages selected, etc. It was 
shown that twenty per cent, of deaths occur from phthisis. The entire per- 
centage of deaths was about thirteen per thousand of population. 

Dr. Lucius Stevens was elected President of the association in 1882 and 
Dr. Jacobson continued as Secretary and Treasurer. At the meeting of 
January 3, the retiring President, Dr. Metcalf, read a paper treating upon 
the subject of the proper requirements of the society, the demands it 
should make upon its members, the methods to secure its reformation and 
elevate it to a high standard. 

At the meeting of December 1 9th, 1 882, the following officers were elected 
for the succeeding year : Dr. A. C. Mercer. President : Dr. Jerome H. Coe, 
Vice-president: Dr. N. Jacobson, Secretary and Treasurer. Officers for 
1884 were: Dr. Jerome H. Coe, President ; Dr. H. L. Eisner, Vice-President ; 
Dr. W. H. Mills, Secretary and Treasurer. 




6^^^^?^^^^^ L^^^^^dTZ^^^tTz^^.-c..^^^ 



Action on the Water Question. 465 

At the meeting held on February 26th, 1884, at the residence of Dr. 
H. D. Didama, Dr. A. C. Mercer read an able paper on "The Theory of 
Microscopic Vision." Officers elected for 1885 at the meeting of January 
20th, were as follows: Dr. H. L. ELsner, President ; and Dr. Heffron, Vice- 
president. Dr. F. W. Marlow, Secretary and Treasurer. A special meeting 
was held January Sth, at which action was taken on the death of Dr. M. D. 
Benedict. 

At a meeting held in January, Dr. VanDuyn presented a map of a large 
portion of the city, with marks showing the location of deaths from 1879 to 
18S4, inclusive, different kinds of marks indicating the character of the dis- 
ease causing the death, and accompanied by an explanatory paper. This 
map, with the text of the paper, was engraved and printed in the Syracuse 
Herald, and was most favorably received, not only by the physicians of the 
city, but by the city authorities and the community. 

At the meeting of January 5th, 1886, the following officers were elected : 
Dr. J. L. Heffron, President; Dr. D. Totman, Vice-president; Dr. \V. J. 
Ayling, Secretary and Treasurer. Early in this year the Association opened 
up a discussion of the question of city water supply, which was participated 
in by several members and undoubtedly contributed its share towards subse- 
quent agitation that seems now to have nearly accomplished the object of 
giving to Syracuse an ample supply of pure water. A special meeting was 
held on April 24th at the College of Medicine, where this important topic 
again received a free discussion, and the following resolution was adopted : 

Resolved, That the health of our citizens is jcdpardi/.ed by offensive and noxious and unflushed 
sewers and by the use of drinking water drawn from contaminated wells and all wells in crowded 
cities are likely to be contaminated, by sewage and liltrations from stables and out houses, and believ- 
ing also that an abundant supply of good water is essential to prevent sickness, to protect property 
and to promote the prosperity of the city, and believing, furthermore, that Skaneateles lake is the 
best available source whence such supply can be obtained, the Syracuse Medical Association earnestly 
adWses our citizens to vote on the 4th of June that this Skaneateles lake water, the best for the peo- 
ple, should be procured by the people and owned by the people of the city. 

Officers elected for 1887 at a meeting held December 21st, 1886, were as 
follows : Dr. D. Totman, President ; Dr. F. H. Stevenson, Vice-president • 
Dr. W. J. Ayling, Secretary and Treasurer. The retiring president read an 
address on " Choleslithiases." 

The officers elected for 1888 were : Dr. D. Totman, re-elected President; 
Dr. F. W. Stevenson, Vice-president; Dr. L. P. Deming, Secretary a nd 
Treasurer. 

Early in the year the care of the insane occupied the attention of the 
society and the subject was fully discussed in all of its features, particularly 
the proposed legislation by the State. In connection with the subject the 
following resolution was adopted : 

Resolved, That our Representatives in the Legislature be requested to secure, if possible, to 
Onondaga county the option for three years, to proWde for its own indigent and pauper insane and 

59 



466 Memorial History oi' Syracuse. 

be exempt from the provision of the proposed legislation in regard to district insane asylums in the 
State. 

During the period covered by the foregoing records there occurred the 
deaths of Drs. N. C. Powers, Arthur S. Hall, Sumner Rhoades, Lucius 
Stevens, M. D. Benedict, W. \V. Porter, A. B. Shipman, James F"oran, R. 
W. Pease, Henry Crouse, J. W. Lawton, Horace F. Hatch, (of small pox in 
1875) D. Terry, Elisha T. George, J. F. Trowbridge. Brief sketches of the 
professional careers of some of these will be found a little further on. 

Among the important papers read before this Society, by its members, 
were the following: " New Remedies," by Dr. Mumford, January 25, 1876. 
"Code of Medical Ethics," by Dr. Plant, April 4, 1876. "Cases of Puer- 
peral Convulsions," Dr. Alfred Mercer, May 18, 1876. " Typhoid Fever," 
Dr. Didama, May 21, 1876. " Diphtheria," Dr. VanDuyn, December 12, 
1876. "Thrombosis," Dr. Alfred Mercer, December 26, 1876. "Pathology 
of Uterine Flexions," Dr. Van de Warker, January 23, 1877. "Shoulder 
and other mal transverse Presentations," Dr. A. Mercer, February 6, 1877. 
"Digitalis in Heart and Kidney Diseases," Dr. Didama, March 20, 1877. 
" Hygienic and Sanitary condition of our schools," Dr. G. W. Cook. May 
29, 1877. " Quinine as an Antiseptic," D. Metcalf, November 27, 1877. 
" Diphtheria," Dr. Maxson, December 15, 1877, and " Paralysis," January 
21, 1880. "The Sulphate of Copper in Croup," Dr. Cook, January 15, 
1878. " The Teeth of the present Generation," Dr. J. S. Marshall, March 

19, 1878. "Pure and impure waters," Dr. Englehardt, March 11, 1879. 
" Enlarged Tonsils," Dr. Coe, January 18, 1881. " My.xodema," Dr. A. C. 
Mercer, February 15, 1881. " Ergot in Labor," Dr. Alfred Mercer, Decem- 
ber 19, 1882. "Prevention of the Spread of Disease," Dr. Didama, Febru- 
ary 13, 1883. "A Fatal Case of Mastoid Abscess," Dr. U. H. Brown, 
March 6, 1883. " Mental Therapeutics in General Practice," Dr. Coe, Nov- 
ember 25, 18S4. " Tonsilitis," Dr. N. Jacobson. " Hysteric Paralysis," Dr. 
Eisner, January 19, 1886. "Infantile Diarrhoea," Dr. Mills, October 19, 
1886. "Pathology of Diabetes," Dr. Stephenson, November 2, 1886. 
"Prophylaxis of Typhoid Fever," Dr. Roberts, November 23, 1886. "An- 
tiseptic Surgery," Dr. Totman, December 7, 1886. "The Artificial Drum- 
nead," Dr. U. H. Brown, February i, 1887. "Care of the Insane," Dr. A. 
C. Benedict, February2i, 1888. "Intestinal Obstruction," Dr. Mills, March 

20, 1888. "Spasmodic Asthma," Dr. Babcock, November 20, 1888. "Cat- 
aract Operation without Iridectomy," Dr. Brown, October 22, 1889. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Ur. Jehiel Stearns was born in Rockingham, Vt., February 6th, 
1790. He graduated from the Medical College at Dartmouth in 1811 with 



BliiCRAnilCAL Skeiciiks. 4'37 

high honors and was a surgeon in the army in the war of i8i2. He re- 
moved to Tompey in 1815, and in the following year became a member of 
the Onondaga County Medical Society, in which he was often called to 
official positions. He became particularly distinguished as a surgeon and 
performed many of the most difficult operations. " He was thoroughly up- 
right in his profession, scorning all tricks and sham and pretence, which 
never secure distinction, though it might obtain notoriety." He died Octo- 
ber Sth, 1879. 

Dr. L.xke I. Tekft was born in Greenwich, Washington county, N. 
v., on the i6th day of March, 1797. He gained his education and his medi- 
cal diploma in his native town and in 1823 located in Marcellus, where he 
continued in the active practice of his profession until about 1850. At this 
time he gave up his profession to a large degree, and devoted his attention 
to agricultural pursuits, for which he possessed an ardent taste and broad 
knowledge. In 1876 he was a delegate to the International Medical Con- 
vention during the centennial and actively participated in its work. Re- 
turning to Syracuse, which had been his home since 1863, his health began 
to fail and gradually declined until his decease. Dr. Tefft was often honored 
with positions of trust and responsibility unsought by himself ; he was 
elected to the Assembly in 1845, and enjoyed the confidence of his colleagues. 
He died at the home of his son-in-law, Hon. George N. Kennedy, in May, 
1880. 

Dr. Darwin E. Hurd was born in Sharon, Conn., in 1813 and was the 
son of an eminent physician, with whom he studied his profession. He 
graduated at Pittsfield, Mass., in 1834 and settled in Canastota, where he 
practiced several years. About the year 1S50 he removed to Fayetteville 
and there spent the remainder of his life. He was a successful physician 
and became quite prominent in local politics ; but always refu.sed to accept 
office. As a citizen and a friend Dr. Hurd is spoken of as one of the best. 
He died on the 24th of October, 1873. 

Dr. James Foran was born in the County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1807, 
where he received a good education and began business life in the calling of 
a merchant. But his natural taste for the healing art soon attracted him 
to the medical profession. He came to America in 1825, full of his purpo.se 
to become a physician, and reached Albany where he had a distant relative 
and other friends. He there found a position as teacher in a female semi- 
nary, giving up all his leisure to his now favorite study, under the guidance 
of Dr. Hinckley. At the end of three years he removed to Canastota, 
where he continued teaching and studied under Dr. Spencer. In 1833 he 
came to Salina and gave up two more full years to patient study before as- 
suming the responsibilities of active practice. In 1834 he received a license 



468 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

from the State Medical Society and opened an office in Salina. In 1837 he 
became a member of the County Medical Society and was its president in 
1859. In 1844 he removed to Syracuse, where he remained to the time of 
his death. He was terribly injured in the gunpowder explosion of 1841, 
but finally recovered. About six years before his death, he was poisoned 
while treating a patient, by a discharge reaching the blood through an abra- 
sion on his hand, which soon affected his brain and wrecked his mental 
powers. During one of his frequent periods of insanity, on the loth of 
December, 1873, he was drowned in Onondaga creek. It has been written 
of Dr. Foran that "in the practice of obstetrics he was recognized as sec- 
ond to none in Central New York. Many of our city's best physicians 
gratefully acknowledge his many valuable and practical suggestions." 

Dr. W. W. Porter was born in Fayston, Washington county, July 24, 
1826. At the age of 22 he entered the office of Dr. G. M. Brigham, of 
Waitsfield, Vt., and studied medicine summers and taught school winters 
about two years, when he entered the Medical College at Woodstock, Vt. 
He continued there one term and followed it with two terms in the College 
at Castlcton, Vt., graduating in the fall of 1851. In that year he came to 
Syracuse and entered the office of Dr. Hiram Hoyt. 

In May, 1852, he accepted the position of principal teacher of the Ged- 
des school, remaining one year. He then opened an office there and began 
practice, which he continued with increasing success during his life. In 
1875 he opened an office in Syracuse and occupied it in connection with his 
Geddes office. On the opening of the Medical College in connection with 
the University, in 1872, Dr. Porter was calledClinical Professor of Obstet- 
rics and Gynecology, and one year later was given the chair of that pro- 
fessorship. Dr. Porter was a man of remarkable perseverance and untiring 
industry which, with his capacity for labor and his laudable ambition, en- 
abled him to succeed in his profession and secure the confidence of the 
comtnunity. 

Dr. John F. Trowbridce was born in Columbia county July 21, 1791. 
His education was obtained in common schools and at Hudson and Kinder- 
hook, N. Y., and when about fifteen years old he worked for three years in a 
store in Johnstown. At eighteen he entered the office of Dr. Prigsley, of 
Ghent, N. Y., and graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons 
in 1812. In the spring of 1813 he went to New Hartford, N. Y., where 
Gen. Jacob Brown offered him a position as surgeon in the army, but which 
he was forced to decline on account of the political prejudices of relatives. 
In 181 3 he began practice in Bridgewater, Oneida county, where he contin- 
ued thirty years. In 1830 and 1839 he was elected to the Assembly, and 
in 1836 was nominated for Congress, but declined and soon afterward re- 



RiOGRAriiicAi, Sketches. 469 



nounced politics. In 1843 ^^ came to Syracuse where he enjoyed a consid- 
erable practice and the confidence and respect of the community until his 
death. He was stricken with paralysis in October, 1 8; i , and died on the 
18th of February, 1872. 

Dr. Jos. W. Brewster was born at Lebanon, Conn., F"ebruary 23, 
1764. and died at Onondaga Valley September 4, 1849, in the 86th year of 
his age. He gained his early education in the common schools and under 
private instruction from a clergymen of his parish. At the age of about 
sixteen he joined the revolutionary army and was present at the surrender 
of Cornwallis. October 19, 1781. After this event he returned home and 
soon began the study of medicine with his brother, Oliver Brewster, then 
practicing in Becket, Mass. Concluding his studies he removed to Blan- 
ford and began practicing at the age of 21 years. In 1805 he removed to 
Chatham, Columbia county, N. Y., where he met with excellent success. 
In the spring of 1818 he came to Onondaga Valley, where he gained not 
only a large measure of professional success, but the confidence and esteem 
of the community. It is the verdict of those who should know, that Dr. 
Brewster's studious habits, his natural ability and fitness for his calling, and 
his industry, entitled him to high rank among his brethren. 

Dr. Mather Williams was born in Canaan, Columbia county, N. Y., 
February 3, 1799. He attended the district and select schools for his early 
education, and later gave a year or two to the Collegiate Institute at Great 
Barrington, Mass. When about nineteen years of age he entered the office 
of Dr. Robert G. Frary, of Canaan. Dr. Frary soon removed to Hudson 
and was accompanied by his student who remained with him until his stud- 
ies were completed, excepting the time devoted to lectures in New York. 
He practiced less than a year in the eastern part of Massachusetts, but 
found that the place was "too old for a young man without much means 
and no friends. " He started westward on the canal in the summer of 1825, 
and went as far as Buffalo, but returned to Syracuse as a more promising 
place and remained here until his death. He at first opened his office over 
General Granger's store and boarded with him. Later he was on East Gen- 
esee street, near the Syracuse House. Dr. Williams found work to do, for 
the little village was notoriouslj- unhealthful, and he soon acquired a large 
practice. He also dealt some in real estate and in drugs and by the exer- 
cise of his unusual financial judgment, became quite wealthy. For many 
years he enjoyed a large practice, much of which was among the more aris- 
tocratic people of the place. It was stated by his biographer that "he was 
not, strictly speaking, a book doctor." He said that he could gain more 
real practical knowledge by treating one case of disease to a successful is- 
sue, than by reading half a dozen treatises on the subject. "He was a 



470 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

close observer of the ethics of his profession, and while very stately, if not 
even pompous, in his demeanor, was still courteous and gentlemanly at all 
times." His first wife was the second daughter of Judge Forman, Dr. 
Williams died in 1869. 

Dr. Isaac Newton VanSlyke was born in Genesee county, N. V., in 
1819, and died in Burlington, N. J., April 15, 1869. He acquired the 
foundation of a good education in the common schools by hard studj', and 
followed teaching a portion of several j-ears. When 22 years old he began 
the study of medicine and graduated at Pittsfield, Mass., three years later. 
He began practice in Mottville, this county, and afterwards removed to 
Cicero. His health showing signs of failing he removed in 1858 to the pine 
forests of Wisconsin and in that State remained several years, attaining an 
honorable standing. But his lungs were weak and finally after he had re- 
moved to Burlington, N. J., in quest of a milder climate, gave way to the 
ravages of consumption. Dr. VanSlyke was only for a short period a resi- 
dent of Syracuse, but was closely identified with the County Medical Soci- 
ety. "He possessed a mind peculiarly adapted to his profession * * 
his rare judgment rendered hini a successful practitioner and counselor." 

Dr. Azariah B. Shipmax, son of Daniel Shipman, an intelligent farmer 
of Saybrook, Conn., was born in Roxbury, Conn., on the 22d of March, 
1803. He was one of five brothers, all of whom were physicians. Soon 
after his birth, the family moved to Pitcher, Chenango county, N. Y. The 
boy enjoyed only meager district school advantages during winter months, 
until after his father's death in November, 1820. The young man was de- 
termined to fit himself for a profession and to that end labored at whatever 
he could in summers, taught school winters and studied all the time when- 
ever he found a spare hour. In 1822, when nineteen years old he went to 
Delphi and began studying medicine in his elder brother's office. He made 
rapid progress and in the winter of 1825 attended a course of lectures at 
Castleton, Vt. In the fall of 1826 he married Emily Clark, step-daughter 
of Richard Taylor. In September, 1829, he removed to Fayetteville, 
Onondaga county, and soon enjoyed a large practice, and was more 
than ordinarily successful in treating disease. During the cholera epi- 
demic of 1832 he attended many cases and made a special study of the 
scourge. In the winter of 1832-3 he attended lectures at the University of 
Pennsylvania and also the anatomical demonstrations at the Jefferson Med- 
ical College, thus laying the foundation for his later reputation as a surgeon. 
In the spring of 1S33 he located in Cortland, N. Y., and here in a few years 
attained more than local celebrity, especially in difficult surgical operations. 
His biographer says of him : " Popular as a surgeon, he was scarcely less 
so as a physician." Indeed, he came to be generally regarded as a fortu- 



HioGRAriiKAi, Skktciii:s. 471 



nate practitioner, and so great was the confidence reposed in him that an ap- 
peal was rarely made from his judgment. Nor was he without many warm 
friends in the profession. 

In 1844, his reputation as a surgeon and his frequent contributions 
to medical literature having made him generally known to the public, Dr. 
Shipman was, without solicitation on his own part, appointed Professor of 
Anatomy in the medical department of the University of Laporte, Ind. 

In the following year he was appointed to the chair of surgery and re- 
mained there five years. In 1S49 he came to Syracuse, in quest of a wider 
field of work, and "at once took a high rank among his professional breth- 
ren." His biographer says of his labors here : "I believe I am justified in 
saying, that during the last fifteen years, he performed as great a number 
and variety of operations as any surgeon in Western New York." 

Dr. Shipman entered the army early in the last war as surgeon of the 
17th regiment New York volunteers. In March, 1862, he was promoted to 
brigade surgeon and placed in charge of a hospital at Newport News. In 
the winter of 1863 he resigned and returned to Syracuse. He, however, 
accepted the appointment on the list of reserve surgeons, and was soon or- 
dered back to the service where he remained until failing health prompted 
his return. " Ruined in health and depressed in spirits, he came home to 
terminate his career just at that period of life which usually marks the full 
vigor of ripened manhood." He gradually declined practice until the 
spring of 1868, when, on the 23d of March, he sailed for Europe with his 
wife. After considerable travel on the continent, he returned to Paris, and 
was soon confined to his room, and on the 15th of September, 1868, he 
passed from earth. 

Dr. Shipman is further quite enthusiastically eulogized by his biogra- 
pher. He was for many years a member of the New York State Medical 
Society, having several times represented the Onondaga County Society in 
that body, and was four times a delegate to the American Medical Associ- 
ation. He was also an honorary member of several scientific and historical 
societies. Though almost exclusively devoted to his practice, he was a fre- 
quent contributor to the principal medical journals. 

Dr. John O. Siiipman was born in Roxbury. Conn., in iSo5,and died 
in Syracuse September 24th, 1866, of cholera. He belonged to a family in 
which were seven sons, all of whom became physicians, and some of them 
very eminent. When the subject of this notice was three years old, his 
father removed to Chenango county, N. Y., where the boy received a com- 
mon school education and afterwards studied medicine with his elder brother, 
P. G. Shipman. He also studied in the offices and under the teachings of 
several other practitioners, and in 1828 was licensed by the Onondaga 
County Medical Society. He began practice in Manlius, where he was very 



472 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



successful, his eminent brother, Dr. A. B. Shipman, being at the same time 
in Fayetteville. When the latter removed. Dr. John O. Shipman went to 
that village, where his reputation was already established. From there he 
soon afterward went to Georgia as physician of a large company who were 
to build a railroad in that State. He remained there six or seven years and 
then returned to Fayetteville, where he continued to practice until 1855, 
when he came to Syracuse and entered the office of his brother, Dr. A. B. 
Shipman. 

A brother physician has written of Dr. Shipman as follows : "From 
what I know of him, I should say he was not what would be called a very 
learned physician, but drew largely for his success on his good strong com- 
mon sense, and his close powers of observation, connected with his peculiar 
tact of gleaning from every source, practical knowledge, and appropriating 
it to his use." 

Dr. Samuel Healy was a native of Washington county, N. Y., and 
was born about the year 1786. As usual with the young at that time he 
was limited to the district school as a source of education. He, however, 
so improved his opportunities that he was employed as a school teacher, 
which honored calling he followed several years. While thus engaged in 
Balston, N. Y., he made the acquaintance of Dr. John H. Steel, of Saratoga 
Springs, and upon his advice and that of a brother-in-law, who was a phy- 
sician in Rochester, Dr. Ilealy began the study of medicine, dividing his 
time for a few years between those two physicians. Almo.st destitute of 
means at the close of his legal term of study, he started for New York, de- 
termined in some way to attend a course of lectures in the New York Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons. This would have proved an impossible 
ambition, but for aid extended to him by his friend, Dr. Steel, who then 
held a position in Fort Gansevoort on the medical staff. Dr. Steel for- 
tunately secured a position for his young friend, which yielded him support 
while he attended lectures. In the following spring, Dr. Steel being called 
elsewhere, Dr. Healy returned to Saratoga and was licensed to practice by 
the County Medical Society. In 1815, he, in company with Dr. Mann, 
came to Onondaga Hill, where they began practice in partnership. Dr. 
Mann soon withdrew and Dr. Healy continued alone. It has been written 
by one of his professional brethren, that from a date soon after this, for 
twenty years, probably no man in the profession ever enjoyed a more de- 
cidedly popular position in the county. His opinion in difficult cases was 
sought far and near. In 1834-5 he began to decline general practice. He 
subsequently made a tour in Europe and suffered from a dangerous attack 
of typhoid fever while in London. He died on the 16th of April, 1854. 
This tribute has been paid to him by one of his brethren : 

" It was in the sick room and at the bedside that Dr. Healy shone most 



Biographical Sketches. 473 



conspicuously. Here his characteristic awkwardness and timidity seemed 
to leave him, and he stood forth the keen discriminator and eloquent ex- 
pounder of his well-digested opinions. * * Few men have been so suc- 
cessful in securing the entire confidence of the sick, and such unlimited con- 
trol over their acts and feelings." 

Dr. Horace F. Hatch was bom in Syracuse, June 30, 1849, ^"d died 
here September 2, 1S75. After his studies in the schools of the city he en- 
tered the local Business College at the age of seventeen and remained two 
years. He then went to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and 
took a three years' course, giving a part of his time to medical study, and 
especially to chemical and pharmaceutical work. At the end of his course 
he graduated in chemistry and pharmacy. Returning home he entered the 
oflfice of Dr. Teller, of Chittenango, and later began study in the Medical 
College of the University of Syracu.se, graduating in the class of 1874. He 
began practice in Syracuse in the of^ce of Dr. Benedict, but a little later 
opened an ofifice in the Second ward, where he remained until his death. 
In the small-pox epidemic of 1875, he fell a victim to his unselfish labors. 
"Dr. Hatch was a correct student and physician, an exemplary son and 
man, in all respects worthy of respect and admiration." 

David Albert Moore, M. D., came to Syracu.se in the year 1848, before 
the city was incorporated. He had studied medicine and surgery with Josiah 
Nolton, M. D., of Cazenovia, and attended the Medical College at Albany, 
under Drs. March, Armsby, McNaughton and Beck. He became a Doctor 
of Medicine and opened an ofifice in Cazenovia in company with his former 
preceptor, with whom he had a large and successful practice for several 
years. Here Dr. H. D. Didama, who has since become eminent in the pro- 
fession, was for a long time his student and assistant. Tempted by the 
great and prospective growth of Syracuse, he removed to this place, started 
a medical office, and afterward entered also into an extensive drug busi- 
ness, running several stores at the same time. He was a cotemporary of 
Drs. Foote, Davis, Stewart, Samson and Hoyt. At length, by the pressure 
of other work, he was gradually led outside of the practice of medicine. As 
evidence of his honored standing in his profession, in the year 1877, the officers 
and Faculty of Syracuse University conferred on him the honorary degree 
of M. D., by which he was made an alumnus of that institution. Dr. Moore 
was also one of the pioneers of life insurance in this city, and took the lead^ 
at an early day, to render this business extensive and honorable. When 
the New York State Life Insurance Company was incorporated, he was 
unanimously chosen, for three years, as general agent and manager of the 
institution. After that period, he was elected president of the same, at 
four successive annual meetings, by such men as Hon. E. B. Judson, E. T. 
Longstreet, D. P. Phelps, R. N. Gere, George Barnes, G. P. Kenyon and 
60 



474 Me.murial History of Syracuse. 

General Peck. The company uniformly prospered under his management. 
Dr. Moore is a fluent and graceful writer and has contributed two or three 
volumes and much good literary matter of various kinds to the press. He 
is now " in the sere and yellow leaf," but his life has been an active and 
honorable one. He was married to Miss Cornelia A. Carpenter, of Caze- 
novia, in 1844, but has been a widower since 1876. 

Although not the first dentist to locate in Syracuse, Dr. Amos West- 
cott was one of the most successful followers of that profession, not only 
of this city, but of the country. He was born in Newport, Herkimer 
county, April 28, 181 5, and his boyhood and early manhood was passed in 
obtaining an education and in teaching. At the Rensselaer Institute, of 
Troy, he graduated as civil engineer and took the degree of Bachelor of 
Science in 1835. In 1836 and 1837 he taught in the Fompey Academy, at 
the same time studying medicine with Dr. Stearns. Immediately after- 
wards he attended medical lectures at the Geneva College and the Albany 
Medical College, graduating in the spring of 1840. In the following year 
he came to Syracuse and here passed the remainder of his life. Heat once 
took up the study of dentistry and thenceforth devoted the most untiring 
industry, perseverance and intense study to that profession. The result was 
that he soon stood in the very front rank of operative dentists and gained 
almost a national reputation. He was connected with a dental college of 
Baltimore, aided in founding the New York State Dental Society and was 
made associate editor of the Dental Science. His arduous labors under- 
mined his health and in 1871 he spent several months in Europe, but with 
no permanent benefit. His broken health affected his mind, and in a pe- 
riod of despondency he committed suicide in 1873. Dr. VVestcott was, out- 
side of his profession, a man of broad knowledge and progressive spirit, 
and always evinced a lively interest in current affairs. He was Mayor of 
Syracuse in i860 and accomplished much for the general good of the city.* 

THE HOM(£OrATlIIC PROFESSION'. 

Homceopathy has for many years held an important place in the history 
of this community, in its medical aspect. Although Syracuse was not, in 
its earliest days, the home of regular practitioners of this faith, its represen- 
tatives, who ultimately cast their lot here, laid a strong foundation on which 
is based a powerful and enduring clientele. In the list of Onondaga county's 
homocopathists may be found the names of strong men ; men of recognized 
ability and of high standing; men who were honored and beloved. Here, 
as elsewhere, the younger school of medicine has, thus far, been in the-mi- 
nority, but it has proved itself an active one. 

♦Further sketches of prominent physicians will be found in the department devoted to biography 
in later pages. 





c^^^-^-,^ 



The Homu-.oi'ATIiic Pkokessiox. 475 



The pioneer of homccopathy, in this county, was Dr. H. H. Cator, who 
came to this city in 1846, locating his office opposite the old packet-landing. 
Ur. Cator, together with a partner, had formerly practiced old school med- 
icine at Moravia, N. Y. The cure of an intractable malady of Dr. Cator's 
wife, by Dr. Robinson, a honnuopathist of Auburn, occasioned the adop- 
tion, by Dr. Cator, of the practice of the new school. This led to the rup- 
ture of the partnership and Dr. Cator's withdrawal. The ne.xt to adopt 

hom(L-opathy were Drs. Lyman Clary and ■ Richardson, both of whom 

had been old .school physicians. In or near the year 1850, three prominent 
old-school practitioners, Drs. Clary, Richardson and Hoyt, constituted a 
committee to investigate homcLopathy. l^ooks and medicines were pur- 
chased for use in the tests, the clinical, or practical portion of which was 
placed in charge of Drs. Clary and Richardson, while Dr. Hoyt conducted 
the theoretical work. The result was that Drs. Clary and Richardson form- 
ulated so favorable a report of the new practice that they were refused a 
hearing by their colleagues. These two physicians became and continued 
homceopathists during the remainder of their lives. Shortly afterwards, 
Dr. Stephen Seward, then at Liverpool, cautiously investigated and finally 
adopted this practice. Next came Dr. Loomis. Other pioneers in homce- 
opthy were Drs. Charles Baker, of Fayetteville, and B. B. Schenck, of 
Plainville. Following them came to Syracuse Drs. A. R. Morgan, William 
Henry Hoyt, Theodore Y. Kinne, William A. Hawley, Jay W. Sheldon, 
H. V. Miller, j. G. Bigelow, Franklin Bigelow, and more recently, John 
Nottingham, A. B. Kinne, J. Willis Candee, and E. Olin Kinne. 

The Onondaga County Homceopathic Medical Society was organized in 
this city. December 3, 1863. Charter members were Drs. Lj-man Clary, 
William Henry Hoyt, J. G. Bigelow, William A. Hawley, Theo. Y. Kinne, 
R. D. Rhode-s, Charles Baker, H. V. Miller, and H. H. Cator. Its first 
meeting was held at the office of Dr. Clary. The first officers were : Pres- 
ident, Lyman Clary ; Vice-President, William Henry Hoyt ; Secretary and 
Treasurer, J. G. Bigelow; Censors, Clary, Hoyt and Hawley. Meetings 
were held at first annually, later semi-annually, then quarterly. The soci- 
ety now numbers thirty members. Its officers for the cnrrent year are : 
President, James Willis Candee ; Vice-President, Richard S. True ; Secre- 
tary and Treasurer, E. Elmer Keeler ; Censors, Seward, Brewster and A. B. 
Kinne. 

Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month, at the rooms of 
the Syracuse Homoeopathic Medical Association, 213 East Genesee street. 
The society, by activity in its own particular work, as well as in matters 
concerning the profession in general, has received recognition as a progres- 
sive body. 

The Central New York Homtcopathic Medical Society (not incorporated) 
composed of physicians of several counties, from Utica to Buffalo, has for 



476 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

its object the stud}' of Hahnemannian Homceopathy ; especially of the 
Organan and the fundamental principles. IVleeetings are held quarterly, 
three of the four generally occurring in this city. 

The Syracuse Homoeopathic Medical Association, organized November 
29, 1889, a body of resident physicians associated to further the interests of 
Homoeopathy, has officers as follows: President, Jay W. Sheldon, M. D.; 
Vice-President, S. L. Guild-Leggett, M. D.; Secretary and Treasurer, J. H. 
Hallock, M. D. Through this association the Syracuse Homoeopathic 
Free Dispensary was founded and is maintained. Plans for further public 
institutions are in progress by this organization. 

The Dispensary, at 213 East Genesee street, is open every week-day 
for gratuitous treatment of the worthy poor. It has, from the first, been 
conspicuously successful. The staff are: Drs. Leggett, Putnam, Flint, 
True, Schumacher, and DuBois, General Practice; Dr. Lukens, Diseases of 
the Skin; Dr. Keeler, Diseases of Eye, Ear, Throat and A^ose; Dr. Hallock, 
Diseases of PVowen; also Diseases of Bladder and Kidney; Dr. Sherwood, 
Surgery. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF SYRACUSE. 

First Religious Meetings in the Nicinity— Early Meetings at .Salina and Cieddes — Meetings in 
the Old School House — Organization of the First Baptist Church — Burning of the Church — Other 
Baptist Churches — Presbyterian Churches of Syracuse — Congregational Churches of Syracuse — 
Methodist Episcopal Churches of Syracuse — Protestant Episcopal Churches — Catholic Churches. 

The First Religious Organization in Syracuse. — Previous to the year 
1821 there was no regularly organized religious society in any part of what 
is now Syracuse. Religious services were held, of course, long before that 
time, particularly in Salina, and probably in Geddes. They were certainly 
held in Liverpool at a very early day, for a church was organized there in 
1820, which may have drawn to its doors some of the residents of Salina. 
A church organization has existed in the Valley since 1809 and one on the 
Hill since a few years earlier than that. Previous to the erection of churches, 
meetings were held in private houses and school-houses. We may accept 
it as evidence of the religious tendency of the little community ultimately 
named Syracuse that they effected a religious organization as early as 1821, 
while preaching was maintained in Geddes after 1822. The first school- 
house in Syracuse, as now constituted, was built in Salina in 1805; and 
another was erected at "the Corners" about the year 1821. In both of 
these buildings early religious services were held. The Syracuse school- 



First B.\rTisT Church. 477 

house, of which a further account is given in another chapter, stood on 
Church street. Here all the religious meetings in the place were held for 
several years. 

In February, 1821, a little society of thirteen persons organized the 
First Baptist Church of Syracuse. Services liad been held with commend- 
able regularity for about two years previous, James R. Moore, Thomas 
Spencer and Samuel F.dwards being prominent in sustaining the gather- 
ings. Students from the Theological Seminary at Hamilton often con- 
ducted the services.* The meeting of the thirteen persons, held on the 
1 2th of January, 1821, convened at the house of liraddick Dart and agreed 
to call a council of brethren of different denominations to advise with them 
in reference to forming the society. The names of the thirteen persons 
were as follows : David Johnson, James Wilson, Thomas Spencer, Alvin 
Walker. Rufus Cram, Benjamin G. Avery, Wyllys Brown, Braddick Dart, 
Polly Walker, Rhoda Wilson, Eliza Spencer, Hannah Fish and Sally Dart. 
The council was held in the school house on the i6th of February, and on 
the 17th the organization was perfected. There was no regular pastor of 
the society during the first year. Rev. J. G. Stearns preached regularly 
for about six months after his graduation at Hamilton, and in June, 1823, 
the society secured the services of the Rev. N. J. Gilbert, who had been 
appointed a missionary of the Hamilton Missionary Society. In June of 
the following year he became the regular pastor. The foundations of a 
new church were laid in the same year, on the site of the present Uni- 
versalist church edifice, on West Genesee street. It was a wooden struc- 
ture and was built by David Safford and a Mr. ]5icknell. When the sills 
were laid and a floor temporarily placed on them, the Rev. Mr. Gilbert 
stood forth before the people who had assembled to aid in the "raising" 
and made an earnest prayer that God would bless the effort in every good 
work. The Rev. Mr. Gilbert continued to labor faithfully with this church 
until 1832, in which year the Asiatic cholera swept over the country. The 
first person who died here of that scourge was a laborer living on Clinton 

*The Baptist Seminary at Hamilton offered to provide for preaching every Sunday in the 
school-house, on condition that those interested should furnish a horse and saddle which should 
become the property of the Seminary. Mr. James li. Moore had just bought a fine horse in 
exchange for sixty bushels of salt at one dollar per bushel. He was notified one day that this little 
religious society had voted that his horse had a providential call for this purpose ; he at once added 
his vote and the horse was sent to Hamilton. It was thought that Mr. Moore was a good, gener- 
ous Christi.in, for he was a strong Methodist and never a member of the Baptist society. This 
unsectarian and Christian act was characteristic of Mr. Moore. He spent what money he had in 
building up ihe pl.ice ; he w'as a good citizen, devoted to his wife and family, and for his good deeds 
was granted to him the prayer recorded in Tobit. viii., 7: "Therefore mercifully ordain that we 
may become aged together." Mr. Moore and his good wife lived to see more than eighty years and 
both died from old age on the same day and were buried side by side in the same grave. — M. C. 
Hand, in "From a Forest to a City." 



478 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

street. Mr. Gilbert preached the funeral sermon and the next day was 
stricken down with the disease and died within a few hours. 

The successive pastors of the church since Mr. Gilbert's term have been 
as follows: Rev. Orsamus Allen, August 20, 1833, to October 20, 1834; 
Rev. Stephen W'llkins, November, 1834, to December, 1837; Rev. John 
Blain, 1837 to 1841 ; Rev. Joseph \V. Taggart, December, 1841, to August, 
1847; Rev. Robert R. Raymond, 1847 to 1852; Rev. A. G. Palmer, 1852 
to 1855 ; Rev. J. S. Backus, D. D., 1857 to 1862 ; Rev. E. W. Mundy, to 
March, 1864; Rev. John James Lewis, 186710 1869; Rev. E. A. Lecompte, 
1869 to 1874; Rev. S. Hartwell Pratt, 1874 to 1875; Rev. Charles E. 
Smith, 1877 to 1882: Rev. H. W. Sherwood, March, 1882, to October, 
1889. Rev. Cortland Myers, the present pastor, began his work with the 
church May i, 1890. 

The old church building was enlarged in 1839 and the society continued 
to occupy it until 1848, when an exchange was made for a lot a little east 
of the first, whereon was erected a handsome brick edifice at a cost of about 
$15,000. On the 23d of August, 1859, the brick church was burned to the 
ground ; but the energy and liberality of the members enabled them to 
rebuild at once and on the ist of November, i860, the present handsome 
edifice was dedicated, free of debt. 

Since May 1st, 1890, when Rev. C. Myers, the present pastor, was 
ordained and installed, the First l^aptist church has prospered beyond pre- 
cedent. The first three months of his pa.storate was marked with a 
thorough renovation and painting of the edifice and during this time the 
work of the church went on as usual. A city missionary was secured to 
assist the pastor and from the first day the effect was felt in the church. 
The Sunday school increased in membership until the roll is over 600 mem- 
bers. During the first nine months of Rev. C. Myers' pastorate, over 130 
persons joined this church either by letter, experience or baptism and now 
with larger plans the outlook for this, the oldest church in the city, is grand. 

A mission Sunday school in the Tenth ward under the management of 
members of this church is doing a fine work and having good results. The 
Society of Christian Endeavor of this church was the first one ever formed 
in Syracuse and to-day is doing a large part of the work of the church. 
Twenty-eight societies are now formed in Syracuse, many of them being 
made by members of this pioneer society. 

The officers of the church and society are as follows: Pastor, Rev. 
Cortland Myers; Deacons, A. K. Schreuder, W. D. Burrill.C. F. Walworth, 
Beverly Chase, C. A. Baird, Nelson Gilbert ; Deaconesses, Mrs. A. B. 
Schreuder, Mrs. F. T. Davie, Mrs. E. A. Gage; Clerk, M. A. Hudson; be- 
nevolent fund, A. 11 Schreuder, Treasurer; relief fund of the church. Nel- 
son Gilbert, Treasurer; Trustees, W. D. Burrill, A. B. Schreuder, \V. S. 
Peck, O. C. West, G. B. Wood, G. R. Crocker, Grove L. Hickox. 



Centkai. Hai'TIst CiiUKiii. 479 



Central Paftist C/iiirc/t.— This society is an offshoot from the First 
Baptist Church, and was organized by a few persons in 1848. In the next 
year, under the ministry of Rev. Mr. A. I'inney, a small chapel was erected 
on East Genesee street, which was soon afterwards dedicated by the Rev. 
Dr. John Dowling Services continued there during several pastorates, 
until Rev. Dr. H. J. Eddy was called, who remained until September i, 
1873. During his ministrations the lot on which the present church stands 
was purchased and a chapel erected, which was finished and occupied in 
1869. In 1S72 the main edifice was completed at a cost of $75,000. It is 
a handsome structure of brick, with Onondaga limestone projections, and 
seats about 750. On the 1st day of September, 1873, Rev. George Thomas 
Dowling assumed the pastorate, and under his ministrations both the church 
and the Sunday school were exceptionally prosperous. But during that 
period a calamity fell upon the society which has never been equalled in its 
terrible results by any similar occurence in this vicinity. On the evening 
of June 23, 1874, a large assemblage had gathered in the church parlors to 
participate in a festival and listen to a " Little Olde Folks' Concert," to be 
given by children. While in the midst of the festivities and without a 
sound of warning, the floor of the parlors gave way and fell down into 
utter darkness. Amid shivering beams and stifling plaster, broken furniture 
and twisted gas pipes, old men, maidens, young men and children, were 
hurled in inextricable confusion. For a moment a silence awful in its in- 
tensity reigned, and then groans of agony, shrieks of terror, wails of mortal 
fear, anguished cries for help, arose in one great chorus from the struggling, 
bleeding, dying mass of humanity. Among the first to extricate themselves 
was the young and devoted pastor. Rev. George Thomas Dowling. H 
ran through Montgomery street to East Genesee, and thence to No. i en- 
gine house. An alarm of fire was struck and the engines appeared, but 
happily the horrors of fire were not added to the awful catastrophe. The 
police were promptly on the ground. Within an incredibly short period of 
time after the calamity (which occurred 20 minutes past 9 o'clock,) the space 
about the church and the streets leading thereto were thronged with a mass 
of people swayed by one common impulse, and that the noble one of giving 
aid to the victims. 

"The work of extricating the unfortunate was carried on quietly, calmly 
and systematically, and as the living, one after another, were released, grate- 
ful prayers of thankfulness arose from loving hearts whose fears were so 
happily dispelled; but as the dead were by reverent hands brought out 
into the quiet night, sharp cries of despair and agonizing appeals for assist- 
ance under this heavy weight of woe, pierced the still air of the summer 
night. As the church bell tolled the hour of midnight, the remains of the last 
victim were removed from the wreck." 



e 



48o Memorial History of Syracuse. 



The number killed in this fearful disaster was fourteen, while one hun- 
dred and forty-five were more or less injured. 

The sad event cast a gloom over the entire city; churches were draped, 
and in many places flags appeared at half-mast. Suitable commemorative 
services were conducted on the Sunday following (June 28) in many of the 
churches, in which offerings of appropriate flowers combined with words of 
sympathy and fitting music in shedding a hallowed influence over the as- 
semblages which a common sorrow had brought together. Mo.st of the 
pastors spoke feelingly and eloquently on topics suggested by the late dis- 
aster. A memorial service was held in VVieting Opera House, morning and 
evening, on which occasion the theatre was draped with emblems of mourn- 
ing and the ceremonies were most impressive. Rev. Dr. Dowling preached 
in the morning and his son, the pastor, in the evening. Letters and telegrams 
of sympathy and condolence were received from numerous sources and all 
united in expressions of grief at the disaster. Plymouth church tendered 
the afflicted society their house and the congregation met there for a time 
on Tuesday evenings. The ruined portion of the church was repaired and 
every possible precaution taken to render it safe beyond the possibility of 
accident. 

Rev. Mr. Dowling resigned the pastorate in August, 1877, and was suc- 
ceeded by Rev. E. J. Goodspeed, D. D., on October 1st, 1877. He re- 
mained until September, 1879, ^"'^ was succeeded by Rev. T. E. Clapp, in 
September, 1880, who continued in the pastorate until March, 1886. In 
September of that year, the present pastor. Rev. S. T. Ford, assumed the 
charge. 

Mr. Ford is the son of Rev. William Ford, one of the pioneer Baptist 
preachers of Oneida county. He was born in Camden, Oneida county, in 
i85i,and graduated at Madison University in 1878. His first pastorate 
was at Waverly and his next at Albany. He is an earnest, efTective speaker, 
carefully preparing his sermons, but delivering them without notes. As an 
organizer he is one of the best. Over 250 members have been added to the 
church during his present pastorate, and its condition is most prosperous, 
having a membership of 660, and a Sunday school enrollment of 450, Fred 
S. Hall, superintendent. 

The present church ofificers are as follows: Treasurer, Riley V. Miller ; 
Trustees, Riley V. Miller, William Sears, William Knapp, M. C. Palmer, 
Ceylon H. Lewis, C. T. Brockway, John S. Carter; Deacons, John Larra- 
bee, Eli C. Brayton, Fred S. Hall, H. H. Sanford, Dr. C. L. Chandler, C. 
A. Horton ; Clerk, William ]. Sanford; Organist, G. E. Pabst. 

Imuianuel Baptist Church. -This society is a development from the 
Hawley Street Mission, and was organized on the 15th of January, 1886, 
with Rev. R. A. Vose as pastor, and 23 members. The present member- 



Dei.awakk Stkkkt IVm'tist Cm Kcii. 481 



ship is 233. He was succeeded by Rev. C. R. Storey, the present pastor. 
The church is a wooden building erected at a cost of about $3,000. The 
present officers are as follows : Treasurer, DeVere C. Wheeler; Trustees, 
Clinton L. Scoville, John M. Carpenter, DeVere C. Wheeler, Herbert L. 
Stevens, E. A. Hill, T. H. Teall ; Clerk, J. Wildman ; Deacons, F. L. 
Hines, J. Wildman, J. K. Hulbert. The Sunday school membership is 450. 

DcUnvarc Street Baptist (7/«/rr//.— Organized March 6, 1889, with the 
following officers: .Pastor, Rev. R. E. Burton; Clerk, Fred L.Barney; 
Treasurer, Geo. L. Ford ; Deacons, D. F. Harris, C. H. Smith, Wm. War- 
ing. Sr., S. B. Pratt and John A. Mackay; Trustees, G. W. Wisner, Geo. L. 
Ford, W.B. Graves, Charles I'oreman, R. A. Risley, F. L. Harris, E. A. 
Legg, A. W. Smith and W. F. Masten. 

This church is in part and remotely the outgrowth of Hope Chapel 
Mission, organized April, i860, by the Y. M. C. A., but under control of 
the First Baptist church. The location of this mission proving undesirable, 
the property was sold by the Trustees of the First Church and the proceeds 
held and used by them, and the mission abandoned. In the winter and 
spring of 1889, some of the old Trustees in the abandoned mission deter- 
mined, after most careful and prayerful consideration, to establish a church 
in the Fifth ward. The church was organized March 6, 1889 with a constit- 
uent membership of 70—48 from the First and 22 from the Central Baptist 
churches of this city. White's hall, corner of Delaware and Geddes streets 
was rented and services held, with preaching by Rev. C. R. Storey, student 
in Colgate University and supply for Immanuel church. A lot, corner of 
Delaware and Dudley streets, was purchased for $3,000, and Deacon D. A. 
Munro, of Camillus, advanced the money for payment. Rev. R. E. Burton, 
of Owego, was called to the pastoral care of the new church and at once it 
entered upon a period of almost phenomenal growth and enlargement. 

By the will of Mrs. Sally Clark the church received $I,000, to which they 
now added, by subscription. $2,ooo and paid for the lot. The congrega- 
tion soon overflowed the hall and made the erection of a place of worship 
a necessity. The church represented little wealth except in faith and ener- 
gy. The plan to secure a building fund upon the principle of volunteer 
offerings moved admirably. About 2,500 persons made such offerings, and 
a beautiful brick church and lecture rooms were erected and dedicated 
November 13, 1890. During the brief j'car and a half of its existence 
the young church has added 70 new members ; enrolled in all about 
300 in its Sunday school; has obtained a property costing a little over $12,- 
000 upon which is a debt of $4,000. The church is in the midst of a 
large field and is seeking with an energy and perseverance that have in 
them the prophesy of success, to realize some of the grand possibilities of 
christian enterprise. The present membership is 185. The present pastor 
61 



482 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

is Rev. R. E. Burton, and the officers of the church are as follows: Dea- 
cons, D. F. Harris, Charles H. Smith, William Waring. Sr., Silas Pratt, J. 
Mackay; Trustees, G. W. Wisner, President, Geo. L. Ford, Alfred W. 
Smith, Edwin A. Legg, Reuben A. Risley, Frank L. Harris, William E. 
Mastin, Charles Foreman. Clerk, F. L. Barney. Organist, Mrs. F. L. 
Barney. 

Fourth Baptist Cliurch. — This society was organized in 1883, and steps 
were soon taken for the erection of a building. A lot was purchased on 
the corner of Orange and Sizer streets and a plain wooden structure erect- 
ed and finished in 1S85. It cost about $1,000. Rev. B. R. Smith is the 
Pastor. The Trustees are, E. A. Benson, C. F. Coles, S. G. Hotaling. 
Deacons, Henry Soule, J. S. Blanchard. Clerk, Henry Soule. Treasurer, 
E. A. Benson. Sunday-School Superintendent, C. H. Benson. Assistant 
Superintendent, May Coolidge. Secretary, Ada Harbottle. Treasurer, 
Anna Harbottle. Librarians, S. G. Hotaling and Mrs. Hotaling. 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. 

First Ward Presbyterian Church. — The history of this church begins 
almost with the beginning of the century. The first sermon of the Presby- 
terian faith was preached in Salina in September, 1803, by Rev. Mr. Sickles 
of Kinderhook. He had been sent out as a missionary by the Dutch 
church and passed through Salina on his way to Fort Brewerton, putting 
up at Trask's tavern. He did not like the association of his fellow boarders 
there and ne.xt morning inquired if there was a religious family in the place 
with whom he might lodge. He was directed to Isaac Van Vleck's. Call- 
ing there he was heartily welcomed, and he asked if he could not hold a 
religious meeting in the evening. Aaron Bellows then had a cooper shop 
of considerable dimensions and an appointment was made for a meeting 
there. The shop was crowded and a very interesting service was held. 
For two or three years after that no meetings were held, excepting perhaps 
prayer meetings at private houses, and for several years later only occasion- 
al public services were conducted. 

In 1810 the Presbyterian Church at Onondaga Valley was organized, in 
connection with nine members from Salina, under the name of the "United 
Church of Onondaga Hollow and Salina." Rev. Dirck C. Lansing was the 
Pastor. Meetings were held in the school house, (erected here in 1805.) 
Mr. Lansing preached here as well as at the Hollow, until February 2d, 
1814. In the autumn of 1812 Rev. Caleb Alexander settled at the Hollow* 
to take the Principalship of the new Academy. He held religious services 
there with more or less regularity, and after Mr. Lansing ceased preaching 

* See historical sketch of Onondaga Valley, chapter vi, of this work. 



First Ward Pri-sfa-tkrian Ciiurcii. 4S3 



at Salina, Mr. Alexander held services here also. Under his ministrations 
a Sunday School was opened in 1816. This was not, however, the first 
Sunday School in the place, one having been conducted by Mrs. Mary A. 
Porter at an earlier day. in connection with her secular school ; she was 
assisted in the work by Mrs. I'hebe Spafford and Mrs. S. Alvord. This 
was one of the earliest Sunday Schools, not only in this locality, but in the 
country. 

The inhabitants of Salina were favored with rcli5,nous meetings with 
considerable regularity, generally held in the school house, until i<S22, in 
which \-ear the first church edifice was erected and dedicated. It was a 
wooden building and stood on the northwest corner of the park, where it 
remained until 1855. In 1S51 the chapel was built on Salina street, nearly 
opposite the former residence of Dr. Didama. The Sunday school was 
continued in the church until the building was removed, when it was trans- 
ferred to the chapel. After the brick church was erected in 1855, and the 
chapel was removed and placed beside it, the Sunday school followed. 
The chapel building was enlarged in 1862. 

The successors of Rev. Mr. Alexander, prior to the separation from the 
Onondaga Hollow church, were Rev. Samuel T. Mills and Rev. James H. 
Mills. Under the ministry of the latter the United Society was divided 
and a separate church formed under the name of the First Presbyterian 
Congregation of Salina, January 23, 1822, and the first church building was 
erected as before stated. Rev. John Brown, D.D., preached the dedication 
sermon. On the 13th of March following. Rev. Hutchins Taylor was in- 
stalled pastor and continued until September 7, 1826. He was followed by 
Rev. Henry Hotchkiss, as stated supply, for about one year. During this 
period the church grew rapidly in numbers. Rev. Hiram H. Kellogg next 
supplied the church from the fall of 1827 to the summer of 1829, and was 
succeeded by Rev. James I. Ostrom, installed June 24, 1829. His succes- 
sor was Rev. Joseph I. Foot, afterwards elected president of Washington 
College, but while on his way to accept that post he was thrown from his 
carriage and killed, July 20, 1836. Rev. Hutchins Taylor was recalled and 
remained in charge of the church until December, 1839. ^''- Taylor was 
followed by Rev. Joseph Myers, who remained until May, 1844, w-hen he 
was succeeded by Rev. Elias Clark, who supplied the pulpit six months. 
Next came Rev. Thomas Castleton, who continued until July 23, 1849, af- 
ter which the pulpit was supplied about one year by Rev. J. J. Slocum. 
Rev. William W. Newell, D. D., was installed pa.stor October 20, 1850, and 
accepted a call to New York city January 15, i860. The pulpit was then 
supplied for about two years by Rev. Dr. Condit, of Auburn, who was suc- 
ceeded by Rev. Lewis H. Reed. He finished his labors here May i, 1868, 
and went to Chicago. He was succeeded by Rev. John H. Frazee, January 



484 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

7, 1870, and on the 20tli of January, 1S75, tlie present pastor, Rev. Alfred 
H. Fahnestock was installed. During his long pastorate the church has 
prospered in an exceptional degree. The present church officers are as 
follows: Session, James Van Vleck, A. H. Sanger, H. Hibbard Hoyt, D. 
Henry Gowing; Treasurer, Henry H.Loomis; Trustees, James Van Vleck, 
Hoyt H. Freeman, Henry H. Loomis, John H. Duncan, Wilson R. Hare; 
Deacons, J. Van Vleck, W. R. Hare, James Bingham ; Organist, Henry C. 
Cowl. 

First Presbyterian CInircli. — This church was organized under the name 
of The First Presbyterian Society of Syracuse, on the 14th day of Decem- 
ber, 1824, and the following trustees were elected : Moses D. Burnet, Miles 
Seymour, Rufus Moss, Jonathan Day, Heman Walbridge. Joshua Forman, 
and Joseph Slocum. The first house of worship was built in the latter part 
of 1825, and stood on the site of D. McCarthy & Sons' retail stores, corner 
of South Salina and East Fayette streets.* The site was presented to the 
society by William James and others. The church was dedicated on the 
second Thursday in January, 1826, Rev. Dirck C. Lansing, D. D., of Au- 
burn, preaching the dedication sermon. At the time this building was 
erected, objections were raised on account of its being so far out of the vil- 
lage. It was a small wooden building with green blinds and was enlarged 
in length about 1832. At that time 33 feet on the north side could have 
been bought for $30 per foot, but the trustees thought the price too high. 

The Rev. Dr. John W. Adams was ordained and installed as pastor of 
the new church in June, 1826. Dr. Adams was in many respects a remark- 
able man. He was a graduate of the Theological Seminary at Auburn, N. 
Y., and a man of large intellectual powers, strong and noble character, and 
industrious and persevering in all good work. For nearly a quarter of a 
century he was a conspicuous figure in the history of Syracuse, and drew to 
his heart the trust and affection of the whole community. Under his faith- 
ful labors the church prospered beyond the anticipations of its founders and 
soon became wealthy and strong in numbers. The money necessary to 
build the first structure was largely raised by the efforts of Joshua Forman, 
who circulated a subscription paper personally, and secured upon it eighty- 
three names.f Rev. Dr. Adams continued in the ministry of this church 



*'rhis entire square, with the exception of the church lot, was afterwards offered to the county 
free of charge if the Supervisors would agree to build a court house and jail upon it. After some de- 
liberation on the matter the offer was refused by the Board.— "Reminiscences of Syracuse," by T. 
C. Cheney, p. 17. 

fin 1829, some children playing around the foundations of the church, looking in a small open- 
ing left in the wall under the floor for a ventilator, discovered a string; one of the number, child like, 
pulled it out and found a tin can fastened to the end of the string containing seven hundred dollars. 
A short time previous several stores had been robbed, and the money had been secreted here, but by 
this fortunate circumstance was restored. — "From a Forest to a City," M. C. Hand, p. 79-80. 



First Presbyterian Ciu'rch. 485 

until his death, which occurred on the 4lh of April, 1850. By this time the 
growth of the church had been such that a larger edifice was imperative. 
To meet this necessity a lot on the opposite corner of the same streets from 
the first church was purchased at a cost of $10,000 and the following build- 
ing committee was appointed : Henry Gifford, Elias W. Leavenworth, 
Thomas B. Fitch, Zebulon Ostrum, and Albert A. Hudson. Mr. Leaven- 
worth was very enthusiastic in the work and from the first insisted, often 
against the inclination of his associates, upon building a structure which 
would not only serve its intended purpose in the best manner, but would 
also be a lasting credit to the city and society. The services of the cele- 
brated architect, Lefever, were solicited and plans were submitted by him 
of the noble edifice which has so long ornamented the center of the city. 
The church was erected at a cost of about $40,000 and $10,000 has been 
expended on it since. It was dedicated on the 24th of November, 1850. 

The old church was torn down in April, 1850, and just as the last tim- 
bers were removed the venerable Dr. Adams passed from earth. From 
June, 1850, to December 8, 1851, Rev. Charles McHarg, of Cooperstown, 
was pastor. His resignation was reluctantly accepted by the church, for his 
character, fine culture and commanding abilities had rendered him a favorite 
with the congregation and the community. 

The church was then without a regular pastor for two and a half years, 
until Rev. Sherman Bond Canfield began his long and useful pastorate. May 
I, 1854. Dr. Canfield's influence was felt from the beginning and was, un- 
der Divine I'rovidence, a great power for good to the church and the com- 
munity at large. He resigned in October, 1870, after a ministry in this 
church of over sixteen years, ill health impelling to this action. He died 
in St. Louis on the 5th of March, 1871. 

A year and a half later, during which the church was supplied by minis- 
ters chiefly from Auburn, Rev. Dr. Nelson Millard was called and began his 
ministration November 19, 1872. He remained with the church until 
October, 1885, when Rev. Dr. George B. Spaulding assumed the pastorate, 
which he still continues. 

A Mission School was founded by this church in i860. In January, 1863, 
Edward Townsend presented a lot to the society on Monroe street, upon 
which, very .soon afterwards, H. W. Van Buren and T. B. Fitch erected a 
chapel and presented it to the church. The present membership is 628, and 
the Sunday School enrollment 250. 

The present officers of the church are as follows : Session Elders, S. C. 
Ilayden, W. H. H. Gere, James A. Skinner, George W. Bond, A. Judd 
Northrup, Dr. Gaylord P. Clark, Dr. Henry D. Didama, Charles A. Hud- 
son, F. C. Eddy ; Deacons, A. K. Hoyt, Edward H. Putnam, E. Perry 
Hasbrouck ; Clerk and Treasurer, W. H. H. Gere ; Trustees, A. C. Belden, 



486 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

George N. Grouse, Jerome B. Moore, T. S. Truair, Chas. P. Clark, VVm. 
Kirkpatrick, Thomas Merriam ; Clerk of Trustees, Wm. Kirkpatrick ; 
Treasurer, George N. Grouse ; Organist, Grove L. Marsh. 

Park Central Presbyterian Onirch — The Park Ghurch was fully organ- 
ized December 24th, 1846. There were then thirty-nine members and 
seventeen more were added at the next communion service on February 
6th, 1847. The first elders were Robert Furman, John Stewart and Ralph 
R. Phelps. Among the early members of the church were Josiah Wright, 
E. W. Tuttle, Horace B. Gates, Theron Gowles, David Hotchkiss, Bradley 
Garey and wife, Mrs. L. W. Butler, Mrs. Elizabeth Phelps, Mrs. Alvira S. 
Gook. Mrs. Minerva S. Gowles, Mrs. Emily Goodwin, Mrs. Emily M. Sey- 
mour and others. At a meeting held December 30, 1S46, Ralph R. Phelps, 
and John Stewart presided as moderators and the Park Ghurch Society was 
organized and J. B. Huntington, Israel Smith, Benjamin R. Norton, John 
Stewart, Bradley Carey, and George Barney were elected the first Board of 
Trustees. 

On the 4th of January, 1847, the trustees recommended the erection of 
a church building, provided it could be done with an expenditure 
of $7,000. On the i ith of the same month the society adopted the recom- 
mendation and authorized the purchase of the first lot of Ralph R. Phelps, 
on Mulberry street, opposite Fayette Park. On the 17th of March, 1847, 
the building contract was signed, the price being $8,875. 

Rev. G. Gold Lee was the .stated supply of the church until June 22, 
1847, when he resigned and Rev. William W. Newell was called and 
installed November 10, 1847. The church edifice was dedicated February 
3, 1848. Mr. Newell remained with the church until October, 1850, when 
he resigned and in August. 1851, Rev. Byron Sunderlin assumed the office, 
in which he continued until January, 1S53. In October of the same year 
he was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Hall. The prospects of the society 
were very discouraging at this time and in January, 1855, they were forced 
to sell the property under a mortgage foreclosure. Under a new arrange- 
ment a society was re-organized from the old one, under the corporate name 
of the Park Presbyterian Society, and in April, 1855, Rev. S. H. Hall was 
called to the pastorate; he was installed in May following, but resigned in 
1856, and the society were without a settled pastor two or three years. 
Rev. S. T. Reeves was temporary supply for the year 1857. In March, 
1858, the society was again re-organized under its present name. Rev. 
Isaac O. Fillmore began ministering to the church in June, 1858, and con- 
tinued until 1865. The following year the pulpit was supplied by Prof. 
James E. Pierce, of the Auburn Theological Seminary. Down to this time 
the society had .struggled on against many disheartening obstacles; but the 
earnestness and self-sacrifice of the pastors and members overcame them all 
and finally placed the church on a sure and safe foundation. 



P'CHKTH rUKSr.VTKKIAN ClIL-RCII. 4^7 



In 1866, Rev. Addison K. Strong was installed as pastor, and was dis- 
missed at his own request in April, 1870. During his pastorate the church 
was greatly prospered, and the subject of building a new house of worship 
was agitated at various tinnes, but the undertaking seemed too great and 
was deferred. In May, 1870, Kev. Edward G. Thurber was called as pastor 
and he soon secured the whole confidence of the society and advanced its 
welfare in every way. Under his encouragement the project of building a 
new church soon crystallized. A commodious lot was purchased on the cor- 
ner of East Fayette and Grape streets and the corner-stone of the new 
building was laid on the 6th of September, 1872. The church was finished 
and dedicated on the 24th of June, 1S75. Its cost was nearly $75,000. 
Rev. Mr. Thurber remained with the church until February, 1889, when he 
resigned to take up his residence in France as pastor of the American 
chapel in Paris. He was succeeded April 28, 1889, by the present pastor, 
Rev. L. Mason Clarke, who came from Wolcott, N. Y. 

The present church officers are as follows: Session, J. P. Dunlap, John 
D. Stone, William H. Niven, Je.sse B. Gaylord, James W. Eager, George 
R. Ilovey. Deacons, A. R. Baldwin, Dwight H. Foster, David M. Milne, 
Willis E. Gaylord. Trustees, William Parshall, J. D. Stone, Alex- 
ander Grant, Jr., Harlow Pierce, Fred Barnes, Albert E. McChesney ; 
President of Trustees, William Parshall; Treasurer, J. D. Stone; Secretary, 
A. E. McChesney; Musical Director, Geo. A. Roff. Membership, 460. 

Fourth Presbyterian Church. — The organization of the Fourth Presby- 
terian Church of Syracuse was the result of a conviction on the part of 
many that the denomination was not keeping pace with other branches of 
the Christian church in our midst, or with the increasing demands of this 
growing city. 

For several years previous to 1870, the necessity for a new Presbyterian 
church had been acknowledged, as no church of that denomination had 
been organized since the formation of the Park Central Church in 1845, 
although the city had increased in population from 13,000 to 42,000, and 
neither the P'irst or Park Churches were able to furnish sittings for the large 
number of people who had taken up their residences in the city and desired 
to worship with them. About this time the union of the two great 
branches of the Presbyterian Church was consummated, and it seemed in 
the minds of many who had cherished the project of a new^church, a favor- 
able time to take decisive steps. Early in the fall of 1869 Rev. Dr. S. B. 
Canfield, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, was called upon by a self- 
constituted committee of two members of his church, who spent an evening 
in counseling with him on the subject, and the result of the interview was 
an assurance that he would not only favor the project but would call a 
meeting of his congregation to consider the subject. The way was now 



488 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

open for a forward movement, and a preliminary meeting for consultation 
was held in the rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association the latter 
part of that month, and in December of the same year Dr. Canfield called 
a public meeting in the chapel of the First Church to consider the subject. 
At this meeting several of the leading and influential members of the First 
Church were present, and the pastor presided. After a full consideration 
it was on motion of Elder TefTt resolved, " That the time has now arrived 
when a new Presbyterian Church should be organized." On the evening of 
January 27th, 1870, a meeting was held in the same place, which resulted 
in the preliminary organization of " The Fourth Presbyterian Church and 
Society of Syracuse." At this meeting Elder E. T. Hayden presided, and 
S. H. Starin and H. H. Munger acted as secretaries. Seventy-five persons 
signed the petition to Presbytery to organize them into a church, commit- 
tees were appointed to make necessary arrangements for a permanent or- 
ganization, and it was unanimously resolved to extend a call to Rev. John 
S. Bacon of Amboy to become the pastor. 

On February 2, 1870, the Fourth Church was duly organized by a com- 
mittee of Presbytery, the exercises being held in the audience room of the 
First Church. Rev. Dr. Canfield presided and made an address, and eighty- 
one persons united in the organization. 

After the reading of the confession of faith and the covenant and rules, 
which were accepted and assented to by the members standing, the moder- 
ator declared the church duly organized, and the ordination of elders and 
deacons followed. 

On Sunday morning. February 6, 1870, the first meeting for public 
worship was held in Conservatory Hall, corner of Warren and Fayette 
streets, which was crowded to its utmost capacity. Rev. John S. Bacon, 
the pastor elect, preached and conducted the services, and at the close, the 
Sunday School was organized with one hundred scholars and twelve teach- 
ers. The following are the first elected officers of the church and s-ociety : 
Pastor, Rev. John S.Bacon; Elders, E. T. Hayden, John Reed, M. A. 
Shumway, H. C. Hooker, Timothy Hough; Deacons, Edwin Miles and Ira 
A. Thurber; Clerk of Sessions, H. C. Hooker; Treasurer of Benevolent 
Contributions, Timothy Hough; Tru.stees, H. L. Duguid, R. N. Gere, D. 
S. Hubbard, Charles Chadwick, Charles Hubbard, E. G. Lathrop, E. F. 
Rice, L. Brigham, E. R. Sanford ; President, H. L. Duguid ; Secretary, 
William C. Anderson ; Treasurer, Charles Hubbard ; Sunday School Super- 
intendent, Timothy Hough; Assistant Superintendent, H. H. Munger; 
Secretary and Treasurer, William C. Anderson; Librarians, S. H. Starin, 
Arthur P. Yates ; Library Committee, H. C. Hooker, W. C. Anderson, 
Mrs. Edwin Miles. 

After worshipping in Conservatory Hall several months it became ap- 
parent that more enlarged accommodations were needed, and accordingly 



Fourth Presbvterian Church. 489 



the trustees secured a large hall in Convention Block on East Genesee 
street for a term of years. Several hundred dollars were expended in car- 
peting and beautifying the hall, which afforded sittings for more than 400 
persons. The church occupied this hall about two years, a period of time 
never to be forgotten by the early members. The society increased in 
number and interest, and the blessing of God attended the efforts of this 
young church, so that it soon became evident that the time for erecting a 
new and commodious church edifice was at hand. The question of a loca- 
tion for a new church was considered and happily settled, without the least 
friction. Originally it was expected by many the location would be in or 
near the Eighth ward, but when it appeared that large accessions might be 
expected from the Fifth ward if a location convenient for them was selected, 
all cheerfully acquiesced in the purchase of the present site as one well 
adapted to the needs of the society. The new church was now called to 
make greater pecuniary sacrifices than heretofore by providing funds for the 
new edifice. 

On a Sunday morning soon after the purchase was completed, the pas- 
tor preached a stirring sermon from the text, "For the people had a mind 
to work," (Nehemiah 4, ch. 6), after which Hon. Henry L. Duguid, Presi- 
dent of the Board of Trustees, made an appeal for means, and before the 
close of the service about 630,000 were pledged. This enabled the trustees 
to contract with Mr. Joel Greely. of this city, for the building and comple- 
tion of the beautiful sanctuary, which was dedicated on the 27th of Febru- 
ary, 1873. 

On the first Sabbath the congregation occupied the new place of wor- 
ship it became evident to all that the most sanguine expectations of the so- 
ciety were to be more than realized. Many new families at once identified 
themselves with the enterprise, and the Sunday School was crowded out of 
the chapel, which had been designed for its accommodation. Rev. John S. 
Bacon, after a successful pastorate of about five years, resigned, and for 
about one year thereafter the church enjoyed the labors of Rev. Herrick 
Johnson, D. D., as temporary supply, when Rev. \V. H. Gleason, of New- 
burg, N. Y., accepted a call to become the pastor, but remained only a 
short time, having relinquished the charge on account of failing health. 
This sudden and unexpected step was a severe blow to the church, which 
had already become warmly attached to its new pastor. 

Dr. Herrick Johnson again came to the rescue, and remained until the 
Rev. Dr. Norman Seaver, then lately of the I'irst Presbyterian church of 
Brooklyn, N. V., was called and entered upon his duties in September, 
1877. After a pastorate of about eight years. Dr. Seaver resigned to ac- 
cept a call to become pastor of a newly organized church in St. Paul, Minn. 
Rev. J. S. Riggs occupied the pulpit several months, when the Rev. W. A. 
62 



490 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Rice, of Canandaigua, N. Y., accepted the call of the society and entered 
upon his duties on the first Sabbath of December, iS86. Rev. Mr. Rice 
resigned the pastorate September 15, 1890, and in December following a 
call was extended to Rev. Allan D. Draper, of Batavia, N. Y. Accepting 
the call, Mr. Draper entered upon his duties February i, 1891. The pres- 
ent officers of the church are as follows: Elders, E. T. Hayden, John 
Reed, Timothy Hough, D. L. Pickard, Charles P. Moser, J. B. White, E. 
K. West; Deacons, D. Hinsdell Baker, Willard M. White, F. F. Alexan- 
der; Trustees, Charles Hubbard, President ; W.C.Anderson, Secretary; 
William K. West, Treasurer ; C. P. Phillips, E. G. Lathrop, O. F. Soule, 
Geo. E. Wells, W. K. Niver, Horace Candee. Church membership, 640 ; 
membership of Sunday school, 654. 

IVcstmiiistcr Presbyterian Church. — This church is situated at the corner 
of Douglass and Graves streets, in the Twelfth ward. The situation is 
sightly and commanding. The elevation is nearly as great as the summit 
of James street hill, and the view of Onondaga lake and of portions of the 
city is very pleasing. 

The edifice, designed by Archimedes Russell, is of wood and in the col- 
onial style of architecture. The tower, with its open belfry, supported on 
columns is much admired. The seating capacity of the ground floor, when 
the Sunday school room is thrown open, is four hundred and fifty. The 
edifice was largely paid for by the generous aid of the First, Park-Central, 
and Fourth Presbyterian churches of the city, which supplemented the 
contributions of the congregation. The lot was a free gift from Hon. 
Nathan F. Graves. 

In 1872, the Rev. Ebenezer Arnold, who was efficiently related to the 
early history of the Centenary and Brown Memorial Methodist Episcopal 
Churches in the city, felt impelled to devote his attention to the Fourth 
ward, the upper parts of which were at that time growing rapidly in pop- 
ulation, but were without churches. From the autumn of 1872 to the 
autumn of 1876, Mr. Arnold labored strenuously, preaching during the 
summer often in the open air. He received during the first year not one 
dollar of support, and during the three following years no adequate remun. 
eration. His self-denying toils resulted in the organization of the Rose 
Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, in the autumn of 1875. The disused 
chapel of the Grace Protestant Episcopal Church was bought and moved 
across the canal from University avenue to the corner of Douglass and High- 
land streets. The newly organized church had not long to live. The last 
recorded annual meeting of the congregation was held October 4th, 1880. 
The church had become involved in financial embarrassments and shortly 
after the date named it was disbanded. The Sunday School, however, was 
not given up. After a while students from the University were engaged to 
preach Sunday evenings. 



Memokiai. Tresryterian Church. 491 



In the spring of 1885, the Presbyterian Association of Syracuse took 
the Rose Hill Mission under its care, and gave the pastoral charge of this, 
with the Scattergood Mission in the Seventh ward, to the Rev. Alfred E. 

Myers. 

On the 15th of November, 1886, the Westminster Presbyterian Church 
was organized, with fifty-one communicants, by the Presbytery of Syracuse. 
The new church edifice was occupied for the first time in September, 1887. 

Having taken part in the organization of the Memorial Presbyterian 
Church out of the Scattergood Mission, Mr. Myers now received and ac- 
cepted a call and became pastor elect of the Westminster Church. In Oc- 
tober, 1889, the Westminster Church established a Mission Sunday School 
at the corner of Butternut and Farmer streets. 

In January, 1 891, the church numbered about one hundred and ten com- 
municants and four hundred Sunday School scholars, including both 
Sunday Schools. The property of the church is entirely free of debt. The 
Superintendent of the Sunday School is Mr. Maurice A. Graves; elders, 
M. A. Graves, J. F. Cockings, R. W. Andrews, C. J. Kenline; deacons, R. 
H. Bendixen, Robert Cruickshank, N. E. Loomis; trustees, M. A. Graves, 
J. F. Cockings, C. F. Kenline, R. H. Bendixen, Robert Cruickshank, N. E. 
Loomis, F. D. Clift, Samuel Jackson, O. M. Bailey. 

The Manorial Presbyterian Church. — This church is located on Grape 
street opposite Munroe. The chuch is the outgrowth of the first Mission 
Sunday School in Syracuse. The mission was begun in the spring of 1859, 
when the city had less than one-half of its present population. There was 
abundant room and abundant need for such work in that vicinity. One 
Sunday afternoon Mr. James Marshall, then Superintendent of the First 
Presbyterian Chuch Sunday School, gathered some little Sabbath breakers 
in the Second Evangelical Church, corner of Grape and Jackson streets, and 
proposed the idea of a Sunday school. The suggestion met a hearty re- 
sponse from the neglected children and also from Mr. E. P. Porter and 
other efficient workers from the First Presbyterian Church. The enter- 
prise was named the Scattergood Mission Sunday School, which was taken 
under the fostering care of the First Presbyterian Church. In 1861 Judge 
A. J. Northrup succeeded Mr. Marshall as Superintendent. During his 
superintendency Mr. Edward Townsend gave a lot on Munroe street, where 
a suitable building was erected, the gift of Messrs Harmon W. Van Buren 
and Thomas B. Fitch. This building was dedicated May i.st, 1863. In 
October, 1864, Mr. Charles Hubbard became Superindendent and gave 
energy to the work until succeeded in October, 1868, by Mr. Henry C. 
Hooker. The school soon crowded the room and in 1S81 the building was 
further enlarged through the generosity of Mr. Van Buren, ever the friend 
and patron of the Mission. Mr. Hooker has continued the efficient and 



492 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



loved Sui)eiintcndeiU until the present time, a term of service now more 
than twenty-one years. 

Preaching services were begun in June, 1S69, on Sunday evenings, con- 
ducted by students in Syracuse University and others. This part of the 
work was mostly sustained by the liberality of Mr. Henry C. Hooker, to 
whom in no small degree is due the continued success of the Mission. The 
work grew until the need of a more commodious building became evident. 

Friends of the enterprise in the First Presbyterian Church came to the 
rescue again. A large lot on Grape street opposite Munroe was procured 
and the present Memorial edifice completed upon it in 1885. The building 
and lot cost about $20,000. Of this amonnt the larger share was given by 
immediate friends in affectionate remembrance of Mrs. Harmon VV. Van 
Buren, Mrs. Elias W. Leavenworth, Mrs. Philander W. Fobes, and Mr. 
Lewis S. Phillips. In the tower swings a bell which was used in a chapel 
used for the soldiers near Fortress Munroe during the late war. It was the 
only bell in southeastern Virginia that tolled the requiem at the death of 
the immortal Lincoln. The Memorial edifice was dedicated to the worship 
of God May 6, 18S6. 

The Presbyterian Association of Syracuse took charge of the spiritual 
interest of this promising Mission and in April, 1885, called Rev. Alfred E. 
Myers to labor in Scattergood and Rose Hill Missions. The work pros- 
pered under his ministrations and on September 8, 1887, Scattergood 
Mission was organized into a church, under the name it now bears, with 87 
charter members on its roll. Soon afterward the I-lrst Presbyterian Society 
deeded the property to the new organization, free from all indebtedness. 
Later on Rev. Albert J. Abeel was called to the pastorate of the new 
church. Mr. Abeel began his labors October 16, 1887. The church has 
grown to a total membership of 193. The number of members at this 
date, October, 1890, is 196. The present ofificers of the church are as fol- 
lows: Elders, Edwin V. Smith, Jacob Stevens, Lucius M. Kinne, Thomas 
Hooker; Deacons, Henry Eager, Thomas R. Frost, and William L. Con- 
way ; Trustees, Henry C. Hooker, Charles Pratt, Lucius M. Kinne, S. 
Van Antwerp, John M. Darrow, Milton Rroughton, P. E. Garlick, George 
Hesley, William Cannon ; President of Trustees, Peter E. Garlick; Treas- 
urer, Lucius M. Kinne. 

Reformed Presbyterian Churcli. — This is otherwise known as the Cove- 
nanter Church, being made up of members of that church in Scotland and 
Ireland who came to this country in the early part of 1840. They had 
preaching by supplies for a number of years. In the early part of 1849 the 
congregation was formally organized with some forty-five members. The 
officers who were elected at this time were : Elders, John Service, John 
McChesney, James McChesney, son of John ; Deacons, William Faulkner, 



Plymouth Congregational Church. 493 

John Scott, Joseph McClurc. The congregation first had a pastor in the 
year 1851. Mr. John Newell, licentiate, was ordained and installed as pas- 
tor May 6, 1851. He continued as pastor two years when he demitted his 
charge. The congregation was without pastoral care for some years. 

The first church building was located at the junction of Salina and 
Warren streets. After a few years this was sold and the people worshipped 
in the school house in what was then New Brighton. Rev. J. M. Johnson 
was installed pastor in 1859. At the beginning of the war there was some 
feeling between one of the trustees of the school building and the people 
on the slavery question ; the people all being abolitionists. This led to 
the building of a church on South Salina street, now Eleventh ward. Mr. 
Johnson remained for some si.x years, when he resigned. In 1867 Rev. J. 
M. Armour was installed as pastor. He resigned after serving some six 
years. On December 8th, 1874, the present pastor, Rev. S. R. Wallace was 
ordained and installed as pastor. He has been with the congregation over 
sixteen years. 

The present oiificers are : Elders, John McClure, sr., James McClure, 
sr., Hugh Scott; Deacons, Charles Dougall and Ren wick \V. McClure. 
The building is of brick with a chapel in the rear, well adapted to church 
work. The church uses the same form of worship as the Church of Scot- 
land. 

Plymouth Congregational CJiurcli. — This society was organized Septem- 
ber 24, 1853, with thirty-one members. On November 6, of the same year, 
the Rev. M. E. Strieby was called as the first pastor. For a time the soci- 
ety worshiped in the edifice formerly owned by the First Congregational 
Society, located on the north side of East Genesee street, on the site of the 
Convention Block. In 1854, a frame chapel was built on Madison street on 
the site of the present chapel, and dedicated in Februar}-, 1855. Five years 
after the foundation of the society the corner stone of the new edifice was 
laid, a part of the walls of which form a portion of the present church. 
After a faithful service of eleven years Dr. Strieby resigned to accept the 
Secretaryship of the American Missionary Association. The Rev S. R. 
Dimmock followed Dr. Strieby as pastor and continued four years, and 
was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. A. F. Beard, who remained more than fourteen 
years, leaving in January, 1883, to become minister of the American Church 
in Paris. Duiing Dr. Beard's pastorate, Plymouth grew to be the largest 
Protestant church in the city. Good Will Mission was an outgrowth of 
Plymouth Church in 1871, and since that time has developed into a large 
and prosperous church. After Dr. Beard's departure Chancellor Sims sup- 
plied the pulpit for several months, the Rev. Edward A. Lawrence becom- 
ing the fourth pastor of the church on October 28, 1883. During his pas- 



494 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

toratc three new Congregational churches were estabhshed, forty-nine mem- 
bers of Plj-mouth going to these new fields of work. Since then over one- 
hundred members have been added to the parent church. After the termi- 
nation of Mr. Lawrence's pastorate, the Rev. Dr. C. J. Little, of the Univer- 
sity, supplied the pulpit until September, 1887, when the present pastor, 
Rev. Edward N. Packard, was installed. In 1871, the church building, as 
it now stands, was completed and dedicated on the 22d of March. It was 
done under direction of Architect H. N. White and the following building 
committee : Peter Burns, H. R. Olmstead, M. E. Carter, James Terwiller- 
ger, W. E. Abbott, George W. Wilson. Trustees, and J. T. Bon, M. W. 
Hanchett and A. G. Salisbury. The following are the present officers of 
the church : Trustees, Wm. B. Davis, Chairman ; H. C. Hemingway, 
Treasurer; J. William Wilson, Clerk; Jacob Crouse, Wm. E. Hopkins, Ly- 
man C. Smith ; Deacons, George W. Wilson, Ralph G. Barnes, Stephen 
Stedman, J. Scott Clark, Edward Smith, William E. Abbott ; Clerk of 
Church, Benjamin F. Stevens; Organist, Miss Lizzie M. Pitkin. Within 
one year about $18,000 has been raised and expended in remodeling the 
church, new stained glass windows, and the purchase of a large three manual 
organ. Membership of Plymouth church, 514; membership of Sunday 
school, 412. 

Good Will Congregational Church. — In the fall of 1871 several members 
of the Young Men's Association of Plymouth church organized a Sabbath 
school, which met in the upper room of a private house on Oswego street. 
There it continued for about six months, when its increased numbers 
compelled it to remove to larger rooms on Fabius street, just back of 
the present Pilgrim Chapel. For si.x months more the meetings were held 
here, when Plymouth church bought the site and erected the chapel on the 
corner of Oswego and Fabius streets, which received the name of Good Will 
Chapel, and to this the Sabbath school removed. For thirteen years the 
school gathered there, the Superintendents being in the order named : H. A 
Jordan, three years; John Dunn, Jr., one year; W. A. Duncan, ten years. 

It had been a favorite idea of Dr. Duncan that a church should be estab- 
lished from this school, and in the spring of 1884 Dr. C. C. Creegan, then 
Secretary of the N. Y. H. M. S., effectively co-operated with Dr. Duncan and 
others to establish it. Rev. D. F. Harris, of the Danforth Church, wassent by 
the N. Y. II. M. Board to preach for awhile. During this time a Christian 
Service Society was formed for the purpose of organizing and extending the 
Christian work, and the summer following Mr. C. H. Small, of Yale Seminary, 
labored effectively through this society, which continued in existence until 
the present church organization was effected, and many of its members be- 
came charter members of the church. 



Goon WlI.I. CoXGKKCATION'AI. ClIURCH. 49$ 



In the fall of 1SS4 the present pastor, Rev. J. C. Andrus, was invited 
to examine the field and to undertake the organization of the church. 
After due consideration he accepted the call and entered upon his duties 
November 12, 18S4. Preaching services were held Sunday evenings, but 
the first morning service was not held until Sunday, April 12, 1885. 

In the afternoon of April 14, 1885, a Congregational council met in the 
Chapel to advise and assist in the organization of a church. Rev. William 
E. Park, of Gloversville, was chosen temporary chairman, and Rev. William 
A. Robinson, D. D., of Homer, was elected moderator, and Rev. J. L. 
Franklin, then of Lysander, scribe. Twenty-eight persons then formed the 
church, of whom twenty-four were adults, and these met in the first com- 
munion service on Sunday, April 19th. Already E. G. Hall, George A. 
Mosher, W. S. Reed, W. A. Duncan, Charles M. Grannis and Rev. E. A. 
Lawrence had been chosen as Trustees of the Society, with H. W. Frost 
for Clerk, and Charles M. Grannis and H. W. Frost as Deacons, with C. W. 
Cable for Clerk of the Church. Mr. W. S. Reed was elected Church and 
Society Treasurer, which office he has held until the present time. 

The organization being perfected, the present church site was purchased 
of Mr. M. S. Merriman and the building of the chapel portion commenced 
in the spring of 1886. The Society entered the new building August 7, 
1886, with forty-tree members of the church and a Sunday school with a 
membership of eighty-four. The building was dedicated the evening of 
September 24th, with very interesting and appropriate services, the sermon 
being preached by Rev. William A. Robinson, D. D., President of the N. 
Y. H. M. B. Since that time the history has been one of steady growth. 
The Easter following, in 1887, forty-three were received into the membership, 
and at present the total membership is two hundred and eighty. 

The present new church was began in May, 1890, and completed during 
the 3'ear at a cost of $20,000 and was dedicated Thursday January 15, 1891. 
The following gentlemen constitute the efficient Building Committee, Earl 
Thompson, Frank E. Cable, Edgar C. Dean, James E. Barton, Charles G. 
Hanchett. 

The building is situated on one of the largest church properties in the 
city, being one hundred and fifty feet on Grace street and one hundred and 
thirty-two on Ontario street. The main audience room is seated with four 
hundred and sixty opera chairs, and with the adjoining chapel portion opened 
will accommodate over one thousand people. 

The present officers are: Deacons, George A. Mosher, Edgar C. Dean, 
Frank E. Cable, W. Henry Roberts: Trustees, William S. Reed. President; 
Charles M. Grannis, Vice-President: PVank A. Chadwick, William M. 
Burpee, Edgar C. Dean, Earll Thompson, Charles G. Hanchett; Clerk, 
Henry D. Goodell ; Treasurer, W. Henry Roberts; Superintendent of the 
Sunday School, George A. Mosher ; Pianist, Miss Ada V. Burpee. 



496 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Danforth Congregational Church. — On the seventh day of January, 
1884, the following persons met at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Enoch Mann : 
Rev. C. C. Creegan, John Dunn, Mr and Mrs. Orrin C. Knapp, Mr. and Mrs. 
Ebenezer Butler, Mrs. Mary C. Franklin, Mrs. Elizabeth Stevens, Miss 
Mary E. Morse, Miss Elma D. Hayden, Charles C. Hall, Daniel E. Hayden 
and T. K. Fuller. The object of this earnest and productive conference is 
fully expressed in the following declaration, which was adopted with unani- 
mity and enthusiasm : "Resolved, That the time has come to organize a 
Congregational Church in the village of Danforth." Two committees were 
appointed, and the time and place for the ne.xt meeting. This action was 
timely and judicious. A series of meetings, all at private houses, followed, 
at each of which unexpected progress was reported. February 1st, only 
three weeks and four days from the initial gathering, a legal organization 
was perfected and a constitution adopted. Three days later, February 3d, 
the first religious meeting of the Danforth Congregational Church was held 
in Furman Street M. E. Church, the use of which had been, by the Christian 
courtesy of that society, generously tendered to them. Rev. Edward A. 
Lawrence, preached to a membership of 36 persons, and a large, animated 
audience of friends of the new movement. A Sunday School was formed, 
which grew rapidly in interest and in members. Nathan S. Curtiss was 
Superintendent and Ebenezer Butler Assistant Superintendent. 

The first election of officers was held I*"ebruary 12. Trustees, Orrin C. 
Knapp, Luke Wells, Gilbert S. Hubbard, Daniel E. Hayden, Charles C. 
Hall, George F. Hitchcock, Enoch Mann, James Hunter, James M. Rose; 
Clerk, Ebenezer Butler; Treasurer, Edwin C. Tallcott ; Deacons, S. \ . R. 
Van Heusen, Sr., George F. Hitchcock, Nathan S. Curtis, E. H.Abbott. 

An ecclesiastical council, to review and pass upon the steps taken thus 
far, convened at the Furman Street Church March 3d, at which there was 
the following unusual attendance of Congregational ministers: Charles M. 
Tyler, D. D., Ithaca ; Edward, Taylor, D. D., Utica ; William A. Robinson, 
Homer ; Samuel Johnson, Danby ; Benjamin F.Bradford, O.xford ; H. T. 
Sell, Cortland; John L. Franklin, Lysander ; J. W. White, Berkshire; 
A. G. Upton, Norwich ; Charles C. Johnson, Smyrna ; Ethan Curtiss, Cam- 
den ; William Kincaid, Oswego ; R. R. Davis, Fairport : B. F. Safford, 
Spencerport ; Frank S. Fitch, Buffalo; D. F. Harris, Danforth; Edward A. 
Lawrence, Plymouth Church, Syracuse. 

At this council the proceedings of the Danforth Church were approved, 
the organization was perfected, memorable sermons were preached and ad- 
dresses delivered, and the first sacrament was administered. 

Wishing to have their Sabbath exercises at the hours when the Furman 
Street Church was necessarily occupied, the society met at the school-house 



Geddes Congregational Church. 497 



on Kennedy street, Sunday, March 30, where they continued to worship till 
they had a house of their own. Mrs. D. E. Hayden was removed by death 
March 22, the first loss of membership. On the 29th day of March the present 
site on South .Salina street, eighty feet front by fourteen rods deep, was pur- 
chased by the trustees, costin<^ sixteen hundred dollars. A plan, originated 
by D. E. Hayden, and drawn by .Architect A. L. Merrick, was adopted, and 
ground was broken for the foundations of the new church August 20th. 
The corner stone, in which was deposited a tin box containing the names 
of all members and officers of the church and Sunday School, and of each 
contributor to the building fund, the daily papers, and a revised New Testa- 
ment, was laid September 5th, with appropriate exercises. 

In a little more than nine months from the laying of the corner 
stone, the church was completed, at a cost of $13,494. The furnishing co.st 
$2,500 more. It was dedicated Monday, June 29, 1885, VV. S. Smart, D. 
D., of Albany, preaching the sermon. The auditorium seats 400, the Sun- 
day school rooms 200, and the church parlors 200 — all of which can be 
opened up as one audience room. 

On this eventful day every seat was filled. D. F. Harris, under direction 
of the Board of the American Home Missionary Society, served as the first 
minister, but he was not installed. He resigned in February, 1887, and the 
October following, a call was e.xtended to, and accepted by. Rev. Ethan Curtis, 
of Camden, N. Y. In September, 1889, Mr. Curtis resigned, to become 
the resident agent of the American Home Missionary Society, with head- 
quarters in Syracuse, which position he still holds. A call was extended to 
H. A. Manchester, of Auburn Theological Seminary, by this church in Feb- 
ruary, 1890, which he accepted. He was ordained and installed as pastor 
of the Danforth Church on the 26th of May following, which he continues 
to serve. During the past winter 54 people united with the church, making 
a total membership of 170. The Sabbath school, of which Dr. B. S. Sher- 
wood is Superintendent, numbers 225. 

The present officers are: Deacons, George F. Hitchcock, Nathan S. 
Curtis, Gilbert S. Hubbard, Daniel E. Hayden, Daniel N. Lathrop, Charles 
Mead ; Trustees, Enoch Mann, Orrin C. Knapp, Luke Wells, George F. 
Hitchcock, Gilbert S. Hubbard, Charles C. Hall, James M. Rose, James 
Tolman, Daniel E. Hayden ; Church Clerk, John E. K. Low ; Society Clerk, 
Daniel E. Hayden ; Treasurer, Edwin C. Talcott. Mr. Hayden and Mr. 
Talcott have held these offices from the first. 

Geddes Congregational Church. — This church is located on the corner of 
Willis avenue and Erie street. It was organized on the 15th of November, 
1886. The present pastor, Rev. F. A. S. Storer, made the first call on the 
field on the 9th of September, of that year, and on the date first named the 
church was formerly recognized by Council and the pastor installed. A 
63 



498 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

wooden church was erected and dedicated on the ist of May, 1888. It is 
valued, with the lot on which it stands, at about $10,000. The church has 
enjoyed a steady growth and during the three years of its e.xistence, forty- 
four have united on profession of faith, and fifty-five by letter. Ten per- 
sons have been dismissed to other churches and two have died, leaving the 
present membership eighty-seven. The present officers of the church are 
as follows: Deacons, Giles H. Stillwell, E. R. Cobb, Willis P. Parsons; 
Trustees, George C. Gere, William H. Wetmore, Solon Lane, E. C. Par- 
sons, Albert R. Gillis; Treasurer, William H. Wetmore. 

First Ward Methodist Episcopal Church. — It is believed that Rev. Chas. 
Giles, of the Old Genesee Conference, preached the first Methodist sermon 
at "Salt Point" very early in the present century.* This was followed by 
occasional sermons from itinerant preachers, which continued down to 
about the year 1829, when a class was formed and a small chapel erected. 
The little society was few in numbers for several years and poor in purse 
and the little chapel was not finished for a number of years. Little prog- 
ress was made by them before 1840, at which time a young man holding a 
local preacher's license, gave them the benefit of his services a few months ; 
his name was Ezra C. Squires. During the year 1840 Mr. Squires awakened 
considerable interest and the society petitioned the Black River Conference 
to send them a minister who might organize a station and devote himself 
wholly to their village as a pastor. The Conference was held that year 
at Pulaski and Bishop R. R. Roberts ordained Rev. Ebenezer Arnold (a 
man who was to exercise a powerful influence upon Methodism in Syracuse 
in later years) and sent him to Salina, with instructions to organize, if prac- 
ticable, the two villages, Salina and Geddes, into a pastoral charge. Mr. 
Arnold looked over the field and decided to devote his attention to Salina. 
From now on the society prospered and soon became financially self-sup- 
porting ; the chapel was finished and furnished ; a comfortable parsonage 
secured, the class and prayer meeting were well attended and a quarterly 
conference established. In the course of a year a great change was effected 
and the Rev. Mr. Arnold left the charge in a prosperous condition, from 
which it maintained a steady growth. In 1864, the corner stone of the 
present church edifice was laid, and the building was finished and dedicated 
in 1865. It is of brick, cost about $13,000, and is located on Bear street. 
A brick parsonage has also since been built. The following is a list of pas- 
tors of the church as far as we have been able to obtain it : Revs. Ebe- 
nezer Arnold, I. N. Murdock. C. L. Dunning, P. S. Bennet, C. Giles, A. 
Robbins, B. Phillips, I. Turney, M. M. Rice, B. I. Diefendorf, D. Simons, 
O. C. Cole, D.Chidester, H. M. Church, S. Ball. J. A. Graves, T. B. Shep- 

* Mr. Giles died .\ugust 30, 1864, at the advanced age of eighty-four years and was buried in 
the Salina burying ground. 



First Methodist Episcopal Church. 499 



herd, W. Mason, O. A. Houghton, M. Wheeler, J. B. Foote ; Rtv. T. F 
Clarke came in 1878 and remained two years; Rev. William Jones, one 
year; Rev. Loren Eastwood, three years; Rev. Wesley Mason, two years; 
Rev. Henjamin Shove, on his fourth year, was succeeded by W. H. Latti- 
mer in August, 1890. 

In 1S87 extensive repairs were made on the church and the parsonage, 
at a cost of $4,600. The following are the present church officers : Trus- 
tees, Charles Wilcox, B. C. Ross, T. Redhead, Wm. Barnes, A. McChes- 
ney, W. H. Powell, E. O. Johnson, J. Sprole, William Borst ; Organist, 
Hattie Annable. 

First Methodist Episcopal CJiiirch.—?TQv\ous to the erection of the First 
M. E. Church in the village of Syracuse, services were held in the school 
house on Church street by Rev. Eben L. North and Rev. Vincent Coryell. 
It is thought the former pastor organized the first class here about 1830. 
Rev. Mr. Coryell preached here during the years 1835 and 1836. In the 
latter of these years the church edifice was begun and was finished in 1837. 
The church was thoroughly repaired inside in 1S56, largely through the 
earnest efforts of David French, who placed a mortgage on his private 
property to make the repairs.* 

The church edifice was rebuilt in 1869-70 at a cost of $25,000, by ex- 
tending the front twenty feet and building two towers; an addition was 
also made to the rear fifteen feet, for the organ and class rooms. 

Considerable numbers of the members of this church have from time 
to time been dismissed from this society to form other Methodist churches 
in the city — the Centenary, the University Avenue, Furman Street and the 
Rose Hill churches. 

The regular succession of ministers in this church, as nearly as can be 
ascertained, has been as follows: Rev. V. M. Coryell, 1835 to 1836; Rev. 

* An anecdote is told of Father Pease, one of the prominent early members of the church, 
and the builders of the old church, with reference to the peculiar shaped tower which many of the 
early citizens may remember once surmounted the building. It was a sort of a pyramid built up from 
a square base and covered with tin. Messrs. Judson and Hicks, well known and enterprising citizens, 
had the most to do with the original building of the church, and they departed from the plain Meth- 
odist style of those days in having a fine, tall steeple placed upon the building. This, in the eyes of 
Father l'e.ise, a genuine old-fashioned Methodist, was a tower of pride and vanity and an insult to 
high heaven, and after protesting against it he resolved to invoke the Lord to take it down. He 
prayed earnestly ag.-iinst the steeple. In a short time it was struck by lightning and splintered from 
top to bottom ; but the friends of the steeple soon had it rebuilt. Father Pease still prayed against 
it. It was demolished a second time — a strong gust of wind struck it, and carried it entirely from 
its base, landing it in fragments on the ground near by. The friends of the steeple did not again 
rebuild it. Whether they believed that the Lord was actually working against them, or whether they 
came to the conclusion that their work was not sufticiently strong to resist the strain of a tornado, is 
uncertain, but it is certain that the steeple was twice demolished, and that the second time instead 
of attempting to rebuild it as at first, the base of the tower was carried up and finished in the peculiar 
pyramid dome referred to, and that tower remained on the church for more than thirty years. 



500 MEMORIAL History of Syracuse. 

A. D. Peck, 1837 and 1S38; Rev. \V. W. Nind, 1839 and '840; Rev. 
Gardner Baker, 1841 ; Rev. A. D. Peck, 1842 and 1843; Rev. Edward Ban- 
nister, 1S44; Rev. James Ervvin, 1845 ^^^ 1846; Rev. E. E. Bragdon, 1847; 
Rev. H. E. Chapin, 1848 and 1849; R^^- ^- ^- Bingham, 1850 and i8;i ; 
Rev. Nathaniel Salisbury, 1852 ; Rev. A. J. Phelps, 1853 and 1854: Rev. 
James Erwn, 1855 and 1856; Rev. Hiram Mattison, 1857; Rev. John B. 
Foote, 1858 and 1859; Rev. E. C. Bruce, i860 and 1861 ; Rev. S. R. Fuller, 
1862 and 1863: Rev. Wesley Mason, 1864 and 1865; Rev. C. P. Lyford, 
1866, 1867 and 1868; Rev. J. D. Adams, 1869, 1870 and 1871 ; Rev. L. C. 
Queal, 1872, 1873 and 1874; Rev. W. H. Annable, 1875, 1876 and 1877; 
1878 to 1 88 1, Rev. J. H. McCarthy, D. D.; 1881 to 1884, Rev. John F". 
Clymer; 1884 to 1887, Rev. J. V. Benham ; 1887 to 1888, Rev. Edmund 
M. Mills; present pastor, Rev. Leroy M. Vernon, D. D. 

The present officers of this church are as follows: Trustees, D. B. 
Cooper, David Stevens, William Nottingham, D. P. Robinson, W. A. 
Brownell, C. E. Cherrj' ; Clerk, Charles Bachman ; Treasurer, D. P. Robin- 
son ; Chorister, W. G. Foote ; Organist, Miss Kate S. Burr. 

77ie Geddes Methodist Episcopal Church. — In the year 1839, W. H. Farrar 
and his wife, with a few other christians, began holding prayer meetings in 
Geddes. Mr. and Mrs. Farrar had been members of the First M. E. Church 
in Syracuse. The persons present at the first meeting were Mr. and Mrs. 
Farrar, Horatio Ward and wife, Simeon Draper and wife, and Peter Coy- 
kendall and wife. The meetings grew in interest and some who in after 
years were the strongest workers in the church and have since died, were 
then converted. 

About this time a }'oung man, Mr. Cross, from near Jamesville, went to 
Geddes to teach the public school. He also preached on Sundays in the 
school house for one year. He was followed by Elder Bussing, a local 
preacher, who also served the people one year. Soon afterward the societ)' 
began to hold their services in the Episcopal church, which stood on the 
village green. 

Mr. Barber, who was sent by the Conference, was the first regular pas- 
tor. In two years he was followed by Ezra Squires, who also served two 
years. The Methodists and Episcopalians used the church on alternate 
Sundays until the year 1852, when the society began holding services in 
the basement of the school building, Rev. C. S. Bragdon, pastor. Dr. W. 
W. Porter, who had just settled in Geddes as principal of the public school, 
was elected superintendent of the Sabbath school and served several 
months, when W. H. Farrar succeeded him. Following is a list of the 
pastors of the church, with the date of their service : Rev. C. S. Bragdon, 
1851, one year; Dr. Arnold, 1852, one year; Rev. Mr. Reynolds, 1853, o"^ 
year; Fev. A. S. Wightman, 1854, two years; Rev. J. C. Vandercook, 1856, 



Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church. 501 

two years; Rev. J. D. Adams, 1858, two years; Rev. L. L. Adkins, i860, 
two years; Rev. M. D. Kinney, 1862, two years; Rev. VV. S.Titus, 1864, 
one year; Rev. J. C. Vandercook, 1865, one year ; Rev. W. D. Chase, 1866, 
one }-ear; Rev. G. N. Pierce, 1867, three years; Rev. W. H. Annable, 1870, 
two and a half years; Rev. O. A. Houghton, 1872, three years; Rev. D. W. 
Beadle, 1875, one year; Rev. L. Eastwood, 1876, three years ; Rev. G. S. 
White, 1S79, one year; Rev. T. F. Clark, 18S0, three years: Rev. M. 
llaniblin, 1S83. three years ; Rev. Wesley Mason, 1886, two years; Rev. 
W. H. Giles, 1888 to the present. 

The church directory published in 1886 mentions a few of its many de- 
ceased members who are remembered for the devotion and service they 
rendered to their Heavenly Master and to this church in which they were 
strong pillars and shining lights. Charles E. Fharis died in 1877; Honor- 
able George Geddes, died 1883 ; W. W. Tripp, died in 1884; Mrs. Jane D. 
Porter and her husband. Dr. Wilfred W. Porter, in 1885. The loss in a 
single year of the last mentioned was a grevious experience for this church. 
At a meeting of its officers held July 8, 1885, resolutions were passed, recit- 
ing his thirty-three years" membership, his twenty-five years' presidency of 
the Board of Trustees, his wisdom in counsel, his devotion in piet}' and 
zeal, his generosity in service and in material aid, and deeply lamenting his 
loss. Trustees are: M. P. Pharis, President; M. C. Darrow, Secretary; 
H. C). Salisbury, W. C. Chamberlain, P. Jay Schuyler, Charles Mills, James 
Westfall, F. W. Power, E. M. Klock, Will VV. Porter, Treasurer. 

Centenary Methodist Episcopal Cliurclt. — This society was the outgrowth 
of the general impulse given to this religious denomination by the occurrence 
of the Centenary of Amerian Methodism. It proved to be the beginning 
of a new era in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Syracuse. 
The policy of colonization and expansion made necessary by the founding 
of the Syracuse University in this city in that year created a feeling of 
general interest and was promptly adopted and carried out. It was felt 
that if the Methodists of the State should undertake to found a great uni- 
versity here, it would be highly desirable that the local church system should 
be extended and made as influential as possible. At the Black River Con- 
ference held in April, 1866, the Presiding Bishop appointed Rev. Ebenezer 
Arnold to the Fifth ward of Syracuse, with the hope that he could establish 
here a Centenary Monumental Church of this faith. Mr. Arnold long ago 
told the story of his experience in this undertaking and we give it in his 
own words : 

"It was as bald and barren a charge as was ever spread upon white paper 
or read off by a Bishop. But the very next day the appointee was on the 
spot and looking for some place to begin work. To and fro, right and left, 
over his crude field he wandered, watched and listened. No familiar face or 



;o2 Memorial History of Syracuse, 



voice greeted him. No one watched or waited for his arrival, or cared to 
know his voice. The next week he came on again with his family and 
goods. " * Utterly failing to find a place to live in in the Fifth ward, 
he furnished a lodging room an d joined the pastor in the First ward par- 
sonage and found most of his dinners in the Onondaga House. The next 
difficulty was to find a place in which to preach. There was no hall within 
or near the Fifth ward, and only two chapels — one owned and fully occupied 
by the Protestant Episcopal Church ; the other owned by the Baptists and 
occupied a part of the Sabbaths by a Voung Men's Christian Association 
Sunday School. This 'pastor' without a flock wanted to occupy a hall in 
the center of the city, but the fear of awakening opposition among his own 
people decided against it, and the Baptist 'Hope Chapel' was hired for a part 
of each Sabbath." 

The first fund contributed towards this church was three cents by a little 
boy and girl. During a discussion of finances one evening, "the audience 
was astonished to see a little boy, sitting alone, rise up and march resolutely 
to the speaker's table and lay down two cents. 'What is that for, bub?' 
asked the preacher. 'That's for the church,' replied the boy. Instantly a 
little girl from the other side came up and laid down one cent, saying, 
'That's for the church, too.' 'Well, well," said the preacher, "we can no 
longer say we have no funds. The work is begun and the Lord will provide 
for its completion." The audience went away profoundly impressed with 
the assured success of the undertaking. 

Soon afterward about half a dozen families decided to enlist in the new 
society. The Board of Missions of the State of New York granted $500 
for the preacher's expenses, and July 16 the lot was purchased by Rev. A. 
J. Phelps and Rev. Mr. Arnold, who had faith enough in the result to pay 
their own money for it and take the deed in their own names. A subscrip- 
tion was immediately opened and five men subscribed $1,000, $750, $200, 
$200 and Sioo respectively. Then followed, by the aid of the united min- 
istry, a large and enthusiastic meeting in the First Cliurch. Then the 
First Ward church came to the aid of the work. The Presiding Elder and 
pastors pushed into the country for subscriptions, and, to effect an organi- 
zation, forty members of the First Church asked to be transferred to the 
new colony, to aid in forming the "Centenary Church." 

"It was in a moderate sized room in the second story of the Pike Block, 
January 6, 1867. The great clock of American Methodism had just struck 
One Hundred, the first Sunday of the year One had reached high noon. 
Fifty persons, mostly young and middle-aged, stood up and covenanted to- 
gether in Holy Church Fellowship — one in name, one in purpose, one in 
heart. Such was the material of the Centenary Church as thus organized, 
and of the congregation thereof, that a large Board of Trustees, a fine quar- 



Umversitv Avenue Metiiodist Episcoi-al Ciirucii. 503 



terly conference, a good Sunday School, able prayer and class meetings, and 
social societies were very soon in successful operation. 

"A subscription of §13,000 being raised, the site purchased by the two 
clergymen, the foundation laid, the building rose rapidly, so that by the 
assembling of the annual Conference in this city in April, 1867, the massive 
stone work was nearly completed and the corner stone was laid by Bishop 
Janes. The following year the church was finished and dedicated, the en- 
tire cost being about §37,000. It is a fine, substantial brick building, situated 
on West street, near Onondaga." 

The following ministers have served the Centenary church in the order 
named: Rev. Ebenezer Arnold, the founder, one year ; Rev. Elijah Horr, 
Jr., three years; Rev. Jesse T. Feck, one and a half years; Rev. Manly S, 
Hard, three and a half years ; Rev. A. C. George, D. D., one and a half 
years; Prof. W. P. Coddington, to fill vacancy; Rev. Oscar A. Houghton, 
three years; Rev. Benjamin Shove, three years; Rev. Augustus W. Green, 
three years; Rev. Theron R. Green, three years ; and Rev. Theron Cooper, 
the present pastor, beginning October ist, iSSy. 

The following are the present officers of this church : Trustees, Presi- 
dent, John F. Pease; Secretary and Treasurer, George J. Sager ; R. E. 
Boschert, W. H. Warner, F. D. Enney, L. L. Bidwell, George J. Champlin, 
E. Drake and F. L. Hess. Financial Secretary, George J. Champlin. Or- 
ganist, Sarah M. Seeley. 

University Ai'cniie J/. E. Church. — This society was one of the results of 
the activity in this denomination at about the time of the occurrence of the 
Centenary of American Methodism, already alluded to. It was organized 
with only nine members in 1867, and meetings were for a time held in pri- 
vate residences. In 1868 a small chapel was erected on the corner of 
Chestnut and Fayette streets, and in the latter part of the same year, when 
the membership had increased to about thirty, the society was organized as 
a separate charge. Rev. C. P. Lyford \vas appointed pastor while he was 
yet ofificiating in the First M. E. Church. In 1869 Rev. T. B. Shepherd 
assumed the pastorate, the meetings at this time being held at Seager Hall. 
During his pastorate the lot on which the church now stands, corner of East 
Genesee street and University avenue, was purchased at a cost of §7,000. 
in 1870 Rev. C. P. Lyford was again appointed pastor, and during his 
ministration a temporary chapel was erected on the lot and the church 
building advanced so that meetings could be held in the basement. The 
membership had now increased to about one hundred and fifty. In 1872 
Rev. J. T. Gracy was appointed pastor and in December of that year the 
church was dedicated. His successor in 1873 was Rev. D. \V. C. Hunting- 
ton, D.D., who was followed in 1876 by Rev. Theron Cooper. He remained 
until 1879 ^^^ ^^^ succeeded by Rev. John D.Adams, D.D., who continued 



504 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



to 1882, and was followed by Rev. C. Wilbor, Ph.D., who remained until 
18S5. He was succeeded by Rev. L. F. Congdon, D.D., who served five 
years. The present pastor, Rev. J. H. Willey, was appointed to succeed 
Dr. Congdon in October, 1890. The present church edifice cost about 
$50,000. 

The officers are as follows : Trustees, C. C. Brown, President ; J. H. Coe, 
W. A. Arnold, B. D. Bramer, J. Will Page, J. R. French, M. S. Roe, J. B. 
Brooks. James Atwell, Treasurer. 

The membership numbers about 600. There is a prosperous Sunday 
School in this church with an enrolled membership of 658 scholars, 45 
teachers, and 13 officers. 

Broivn Memorial M. E. Church.— 'Y\\\?, society was organized as the 
" Delaware Street M. E. Church." On the 16th of June, 1872, Rev. Ebe- 
nezer Arnold began street preaching on the corners of Geddes, Delaware, 
Fulton and Davis streets. Mr. Arnold was then pastor of the Magnolia 
Street M. E. Church, organized in 1869, on the hill north of the Idiot 
Asylum. A few of the members of this latter church lived in the vicinity 
where he began street work. Mr. Arnold's plan was to remove the church 
from the hill into the southwest part of the city, and unite its members 
with new ones that might be gathered in that locality. It was practically 
the dissolving of the old church and the organization of a new one. Street 
and cottage meetings were continued about three seasons, and in the mean- 
time a spacious church site was selected and a payment of $1,400 was made 
on it. The new society was organized in 1873. with about forty members 
transferred from the old society. The church prospered and a new and 
larger place of meeting was desirable. Accordingly, the present edifice was 
erected in 1875 and dedicated in 1876. It is of brick and cost about 
$12,000. By the year 1S78 the church had attained a membership of over 
lOi. In the meantime Mr. Alexander J. Brown had devoted much time 
and means to the general welfare of the society, and in his honor the church 
and society was re-named the Brown Memorial Church, as it is now known. 
The following pastors have acted for this church : Rev. M. Pierce, Rev. T. 
B. Shepherd, Rev. Robert Brewster, Rev. Ebenezer Arnold, Rev. U. S. 
Beebe, Rev. Edmund M. Mills, Rev. L. B.Wells, Rev. .'\. S. Durston, Rev. 
T. F. Clark, Rev. D. W. Smith, and Rev. Thomas Stacey, the present in- 
cumbent. 

The officers of the church are as follows: Trustees, President, J. D. 
Coleman; Treasurer, William Posthill : Secretary, Fredrick Dygert ; John 
North, Thomas Faulder, Joseph A. Griffin, Jr., Richard Davis, Frank M. Spen- 
cer, George Stone. Membership 245. 

Furman Street M. E. Church.— Vr<tv\o\x%\.o 1870 occasional Methodist 
preaching had been enjoyed in what was then Danforth (now the Eleventh 



Free Methodist CiirRcii. S05 



ward). Meetings and prayer gatherings were held at the homes of the 
members of this faith. In the year 1869 steps were taken to organize a 
church, and in October of that year a Board of Trustees was appointed, 
consisting of George Raynor, .Selah Stocking, Rev. Curtis Palmer, Calvin 
Frost, and William R. Cleaveland. In the summer of 1870 Rev. Ebcnezer 
Arnold began regular preaching and continued until November. On the 
30th of that month a meeting was held at which it was resolved to purchase 
a lot and build a church, This was done, the lot being part of the present 
church site on Furman street, and the small wooden church was dedicated 
March 9th, 1871. At the Conference hekl in Ithaca in 1S74 this mission was 
made a regular station of the Central New York Conference and Rev. 
Elijah Wood was appointed as the first pastor. He continued to 1875, 
when he was succeeded by Rev. J. M. Wells. He was followed by Dr. 
Charles H. Bennett as a supply for three years. Rev. John Easter came 
next and was succeeded in October, 1881, by Rev. Jay N. Taft. During his 
term the church grew rapidly and many wealthy families who had been 
members of other churches, transferred their allegiance to this one. The 
debt of $1,100 which had been left on the lot, was paid off. Rev. Dr. E. C. 
Bruce was the next pastor. During his administration the church had be- 
come so large that in 1885 the subject of building a new and larger one was 
agitated. A subscription paper was finally started headed by subscriptions 
from several of the more wealthy members, of $1,000 each. In 18S5 the 
next pastor. Rev. W. H. York, came to the church and saw at once the 
great necessity of pushing forward for a new church. The subscription soon 
reached $10,000 ; additional land was purchased and paid for by the Sunday 
School and the ladies of the society ; plans were obtained and on the 21st 
of September, 1886, the corner stone of the handsome brick church was laid. 
The building was finished and dedicated in July, 1887. The church is now 
one of the most energetic and prosperous in the city. Present membership 
270. Members in Sunday School 430. 

The officers of the church are as follows : President of the Board of 
Trustees, S. J. Clark; Treasurer, J. D. Lane: Clerk, C. W. C.Howe. 
Trustees, S. J. Clark, W. P. Rogers, O. E. Hayden, James W. Reed, I. S. 
Wright, J. D. Lane, C. W. C. Howe, C. P. Edwards, and Spencer Beard. 
Organist, Miss Alice Adams. Present pastor, Rev. Charles M. Eddy. 

The First Free Methodist Church of Syracuse. — Was organized by Rev. 
B. T. Roberts, at the house of Charles T. Hicks, August 5th, 1S63. The 
following composed the first Board of Trustees: Charles T. Hicks, J. D. 
Osterhout and William T. Gere. 

The society first worshipped in the brick church, corner of Church and 
Franklin streets. In 1874 they erected the neat church on Linden street 
64 



5o6 Memorial History ok Syracuse. 

which they have since occupied. The church officers are : Trustees, John 
Lee, 15. Austin, Henry Tague, John Keene, and Smith Moore. 

The first pastor was Rev. D. W. Thurston, who served the church in 1864. 
He was succeeded as follows: Rev. W. Cooley, 1865 ; Rev. W. J. Selby, 
1867-1868; Rev. G. \V. Anderson, 1869; Rev. C. Damon, 1870; Rev. W. 
H. Steeger, 1871; Rev. O. M. Owen, 1872-1873; Rev. W. Southworth, 
1874-1S7S; Rev. E. Owen, 1876; Rev. L. H. Robinson, 1877-1878; Rev. 
W. H. Clark, 1879-1880; Rev. O. W. Young, 1881 ; Rev. J. N. Fulford, 
1882-1883-1884; Rev. J. A. Odell, 1885; Rev. M. D. McDougall, 1886: 
Rev. A. Smith, 1 887-1888-1889; and Rev. T. Whiffen, the present pastor. 

Wesleyan Methodist Churcli. — The first meeting preparatory to the organ- 
ization of this church was held on the 2d day of May, 1843, in the basement 
of the First Methodist Church of this city. The organization was perfected 
the same evening with a small number of members, among whom were the 
following: A. F. Green, Dr. A. Bliss, Arthur Hughes, H. I. Fritcher, 
Charles Merrick, M. Merrick, P. W. Rice, James Connell, and James White. 
In 1845 the church was erected on the corner of East Onondaga and Jeffer- 
son streets, and cost about $2,500, but it has since been enlarged and im- 
proved. The following pastors have served the church for the respective 
periods named : Luther Lee, D. D., one year ; P. R. Sawyer, one year ; B. 
Rider, three years ; P. M. Way, one year ; Marshall Frink, two years ; 
Samuel Salisbury, three years ; Luther Lee, two years; D. B. Douglass, 
one year; Samuel Salisbury, two or three years; J. P. Betker, four years; 
A. S. Wightman, four years ; T. H. Keniston, two years, and died during 
his pastorate ; S. H. Foster, four years, and down to 1877 ; N. E. Jenkins, 
to 1881 ; E. Jones, to 1S84 ; E. W. Bruce, to 1887 ; J. B. Knappenberger, 
to the present time. 

The present church officers are as follows: Clerk, James Brown ; treas- 
urer, Henry J. Hart ; trustees, Robert Bowers, Joshua McKinney, A. J. 
Post, Wm. Brown, C. H. Merrick ; organist. Miss Minnie Carr. 

The Zion M. E. Church. — (Colored.) — This society was organized in 1835, 
by Rev. Thomas James, of Rochester, N. Y., who was then missionary to 
the western part of the State. He was ordained minister in May, 1833, by 
Bishop Christopher Rush, of the A. M. E. Zion Church. The society have 
a small brick church on Crouse avenue, near Washington street. The 
church records are very incomplete and we can only give the following list 
of pastors who have served the society : Thomas James, Rev. Dempsey 
Kennedy, Rev. John Chester, Rev. Sampson Talbort, Rev. J. W. Loguen, 
Rev. John Tyles, Rev. John Tappen. Rev. A. Coleman, Rev. W. H. 
Decker, Rev. W. Cromwell, Rev. John Anderson, Rev. John H. Burley, 
Rev. M. H. Ross, Rev. John Thomas, who served two terms, Rev. J. C. 
Lodge, Rev. J. C. Gilbert, Rev. James E. Mason, Rev. N. E. Collins, Rev. 



Trinity Church. 507 



M. H. Ross, the present pastor. The present trustees of the church are as 
follows: C. J. Lewis, president ; John Henderson, Thomas Coleman, John 
Cloe, W. Brown, Richard Stewart, Win. H. John.son. 

St. James' Church. — The first service preparatory to the organization of 
this .society was held January 27th, 1S48, in the chapel built for the Mission 
of St. Paul's church. St. James Parish was organized Augu.st 14th, 1848, 
and at the first communion service there were twenty-one communicants. 
Among the earliest pari.shioners were James D. Wallace, Abraham IJartlett, 
William W'. Green, Barent Filkins, Cornelius Shirley, Henry D. Hatch, 
Thomas Hurst, Nehemiah H. Earll, Dr. R. F. Trowbridge. The present 
church edifice was begun in 1851 and finished in 1853. It was enlarged in 
1866. Dr. Henry Gregory was Rector from 1848 to 1857; Rev. C. C. Bar- 
clay in 1857 and 1858; Dr. Joseph M. Clark from 1858 to 1 886, and was 
succeeded by Rev. Henry L. Teller. The present rector is Rev. Charles 
Ferguson. The present officers of the church are : W^ardens, Daniel (). 
Salmon, George J. Gardner. Vestrymen, D. O. Knowlton, J. Wesley Yale, 
J. C. White, Charles L. Behm, Louis A. Sherbano, George H. Armstrong. 
Organist, Thomas Blair. 

This was the first Free Parish church in the Diocese of Western New 
York and the second in the entire State of New York. 

Grace Church. — The first service which led to the organization of this 
church was held in a small wooden chapel which stood on the site of the 
present handsome church, corner of University avenue and Madison street. 
Rev. Thomas E. Pattison was the originator of the movement and the par- 
ish was organized early in 1871. John V. Needham and Wells B. Hatch 
were the first Wardens, and Arthur Crittenden, John R. Hawkins, Henry A. 
Leggett, and John C. W^hite the first Vestrymen. The corner stone of the 
church building was laid in June, 1876, and the edifice was consecrated in 
February, 1877. The structure is of blue rough-dressed Onondaga lime- 
stone, and cost, including furniture and organ, about §25,000. The church 
property, including the rectory, is now valued at $40,000. 

Rev. Mr. Pattison was Rector of the parish about seventeen years and 
was followed by Rev. Mr. Gates who remained only six months. Rev. 
John T. Rose succeeded him on January ist, 1888. January 25th, 1891, 
he was succeeded by the present Rector, Rev. Herbert G. Coddington. 

The present officers of the church are as follows: Wardens, W. B. 
Hatch, V. B. Chase. Vestrymen, C. A. Nott, J. Barber, F. Ayling, A. 
Weidman, George Jack, \. C. Waterbury, F. J. Stewart. Clerk of Vestry, 
George Jack. Treasurer, F. J. Stewart. Organist, Lizzie Guibault. 

Trinity Church. — In July, 1855, the Trinity Mission School was estab- 
lished by the society of St. Paul's church, from which Trinity Church de- 



5o8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

veloped. A congregation was gathered and a chapel erected on Seymour 
street, which was consecrated November 25th, 1855, and the parish was 
organized March 3d, 1856. Rev. William Long, assistant in St. Paul's, began 
the Mission and was succeeded, in 1856, by Rev. David E. Barr. In 1869 
the present church edifice was erected at a cost of about $9,000. The follow- 
ing pastors have served the church for the periods mentioned : After Rev. 
Mr. Barr, Rev. N. F. Whiting, two years ; Rev. D. F. Lumsden, nine 
months ; Rev. J. K. Lewis, four years; Rev. S. R. Jones, two and one-half 
years; Rev. J. E. Pratt, five years; Rev. J. A. Staunton, until 1877; ^^v. 
J. F. Taunt, until the present time. 

The following offlcers officiate in the church at the present time: Senior 
Warden, David N. Phinney ; Junior Warden, John L. Kling ; Vestrymen, 
George E. Congdon, Frank L. Lyman, H. J. Stevens, Leroy Reimer, D. W. 
Marvin, George H. Swift, Charles E. Pruyne, Samuel C. Smith. Treasurer, 
H.J. Stevens ; Clerk of Vestry, George E. Congdon. 

St. Pau/'s C/iurck. — This society was organized on the 22d of May, 1826, 
Rev. John McCarty presiding. The first wardens were John Durnford and 
Samuel Wright, and the first vestrymen, Amos P. Granger, Archy Kasson, 
James Mann, Matthew Davis, Mather Williams, Barent Filkins, Othniel 
Williston, and Jabez Hawley. These were all prominent men in the little 
village. In the year 1825 the Syracuse Company donated a lot to the parish 
and in September of that year the frame of a church was erected and the 
building finished in 1827. The lot was a part of the site of the present 
Granger block. The building stood on the Warren street side of the tri- 
angular lot. Prior to the erection of this church the society held services 
in the school house and occasionally in the First Baptist Church. This 
church did not meet the desires of the congregation after it had been used 
a number of years and on the I2th of July, 1841, the corner stone of a stone 
edifice was laid on a new lot on Warren street on the site of the present 
government building. The new church was finished in 1842, and soon after- 
ward a wing was added in which was kept a parochial school under the 
charge of the rector. Rev. Henry Gregory, D. D. In 1844 the old church 
was sold to the Roman Catholics, who removed it to the corner of Mont- 
gomery and Madison streets, where it was used by St. Mary's society until 
the erection of the new St. Mary's church. In 1858 the St. Paul's church 
was enlarged by an extension on the rear, and in 1S70 about $6,000 were 
expended in the interior. In 18S3 the church property was sold to the 
United States government for $70,000 and arrangements were at once made 
for the erection of the present magnificent church on the corner of East 
Fayette and Montgomery streets. The services of Henry Dudley, a dis- 
tinguished architect of New York, were secured and the building erected at 
a cost of about $150,000, including the cost of the lot. The corner stone 



St. Mark's CiiURcn. 509 



was laid on the 25th of June, 1884. The clergymen who officiated for the 
parish previous to the church organization were Revs. Lucius Smith, Wil- 
liam B. Thomas, Wilcox, William J. Bulkley, Augustus L. Converse; 

and at later dates, Revs. John McCarty, William Barlow, Palmer Dyer, 
Richard Salmon, John Griggs, Francis Todrig. Clement M. Butler, Charles 
H. Halscy, William Walton, Isaac Sewart, John B. Gallagher, and Henry 
Gregory. Rev. Dr. Gregory was succeeded by Rev. William Bliss Ashley, 
December 1, 1848. who remained until March 10, 1857. On the 3d of May, 
1857, Rev. George Morgan Hills became rector, continuing until August 21, 
1870. In January, 1871, he was succeeded by the Rev. Simon Greenleaf 
Fuller, who filled the station until November 21, 1872. He died suddenly 
of apoplexy while in his study, on the date mentioned. Rev. Henry R. 
Lockwood, S. T. D., the present rector, was settled over the parish January 
19, 1873. The present officers of the church are as follows : Senior Warden, 
L. L. Alexander; Junior Warden, Charles Andrews; Vestrymen, W. D. 
Dunning. J. Dean Hawley, Hamilton S. White, Howard G. White, George 
F. Comstock, Seymour H. Stone, S. P. Pierce, George F. Comstock, jr.; 
Clerk of Vestrj', J. Dean Hawley ; Treasurer, S. H. Stone ; Organist, Rev. 
H. R. Fuller. 

St. Mark's {Protestant EpiscopaF) Cliurth.—The mission which was the 
forerunner of this church was organized in 1883, and in the following year 
the church organization was effected. In the same year the stone church 
edifice was erected at a cost of $5,500. It is located on the corner of 
Bridge and School streets, in the Fourth ward. The Rev. E. W. Mundy 
has been Rector since the organization. The officers of the church are as 
follows: Wardens, Cyrus D. Avery, Guy Terry; Vestrymen, James L. 
Belden, Joseph Collins, George G. Cotton, P. Schuyler Knapp, John D. 
Pennock, P'rank Power, J. William Smith, George H. Timmins. 

Calvary Church. — {Protestant Episcopal.) — This church is located on the 
corner of Highland and Beecher streets, and saw its beginning in a Sunday 
School opened by Bishop Huntington in a small house on Butternut street, 
in September, 1873. Thence it was transferred to a barn near by, which was 
altered to suit the requirements of a chapel. Attendance at the school in- 
creased, services were held every Sunday evening and before winter a Sew- 
ing School was inaugurated on Saturday afternoons. This mission con- 
tinued to grow in numbers and importance, and on the 20th of September, 
1877, the corner stone of the present church was laid by the Bishop. The 
structure is of wood with stone basement. The first service in the new 
church was the Morning Prayer and the celebration of the Holy Communion 
on Christmas morning, 1877. The Rectorship was held by Bishop 
Huntington, with Rev. J. O. S. Huntington, since so widely known, as 
assistant, until 1883, when Rev. William Hubbard assumed the duties of 



5IO Memorial History of Syracuse. 

the position. He was succeeded by J. E. Johnson, the present pastor. 
The present officers are : Trustees, F. D. Huntington, J. O. S. Huntington, 

A. H. Green, Richard Jones, E. S. Dawson, Jr., Charles Franchot, Jacob E. 
Reals. Executive Committee, J. E. Reals, chairman, J. B. Chapin, treas- 
urer ; F. Oliver, William F. Dolan. Organist, John Bates. 

This church is now enlarging its edifice to make room for a new organ. 

St. Andrews Divinity Sc/iool. — This is an institution for the education 
of candidates for the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church. It was 
opened by Bishop Huntington in 1876 at Highland Place, with the follow- 
ing as trustees : Rt. Rev. F. D. Huntington, S. T. D., president e.\-officio ; 
Rev. J. M. Clark, D. D., Rev. H. R. Lockwood, D. D., Horace O. Mo.ss, 
and Hon. William Marvin. The following were the first faculty : Rt. Rev. 
F. D. Huntington, President; Rev. C. P. Jennings, Dean; Rev. J. M. 
Clarke, D. D., and Prof. Rudolph Wahl. The school is now located at 720 
East Jefferson street, south side of Forman Park, and has fifteen resident 
students. The present Board of Trustees are Bishop Huntington, Rev. Ur. 
H. R. Lockwood, Hon. William Marvin, Horace O. Moss, and Charles H. 
Smyth. 

Instruction is given by the Bishop in the Sacraments, Sacramental 
Offices, Preaching and Spiritual Life. By the Dean, in the History and 
Contents of the Bible, Contents and right use of the Prayer Book, and in 
Church History, with special reference to the English and American 
Churches, in Hebrew and in the Greek Testament. By the Rev. J. Everett 
Johnson, in the Articles and Systematic Divinity. By the Rev. D'L. Wil- 
son, in Parish Work and Pastoral Care. 

Park Avenue Methodist Protestant CliureJi. — Located on the corner of 
Park avenue and Geddes street. This church organization was an out- 
growth of mission work carried on by Rev. E. VVinshurst and was incor- 
porated in 1866. Rev. Mr. Winshurst has been pastor since that time. 
The church building is of brick, 72x45 feet and seats about three hundred. 
The trustees are N. D. Yordon, William Robinson, Charles Barley, T. Par- 
sons, H. Brown ; Organist, Miss Jessie Brown. 

Tlie Reformed {Dutcli) Cliurch. — The Reformed Church of Syracuse was 
organized by the Classis of Cayuga, March 10, 1848, and consisted of eleven 
persons dismissed for this purpose from the Reformed churches of Chit- 
tenango and Geneva, and from the First Presbyterian and Park Presbyterian 
churches of Syracuse. Their names are as follows : Wessel B. VanWagenen, 
Lavina VanWagenen, Cornelia D. VanWagenen, Mary Ann Beardsley, 
Peter Burns, Elizabeth Pope, Harriet S. Walters, Mary E. VanRennselaer, 

B. C. Vrooman, Susan Vrooman, Simon \ . A. Featherly. 

The Rev. James A. H. Cornell, called to be the first pastor, was installed 
in August, 1848, the society holding services in the old Unitarian chapel on 



Reformed Church. 5" 



East Genesee street. The present location of the church on James street 
was purchased for $1,900 and a building committee composed of John G. 
Forbes, John B. Burnet, John A. Robinson, W. B. VanWagenen, and 
James Noxon supervised the erection of the original church structure, the 
cost of which was $14,000. The Collegiate Church of New York city loaned 
$2,000 of this and about $5,000 was contributed by eastern friends, prin- 
cipally through the efforts of the pastor and Elder VanWagenen. 

The edifice was designed by Mr. Lcfever, the celebrated architect. The 
corner stone was laid in the spring of 1849, and the building was finished 
early in the summer of 1S50 and dedicated on July 16, of that year. 

Resigning on account of ill health in September, 1851, Mr. Cornell was 
succeeded by Rev. Dr. Maltbie as a supply until May, 1852, when Rev. J. 
Romeyn Berry was called. After a service of five years Rev. Mr. Berry 
was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Condit, as a supi)ly. From 1859 to 1862 Rev. 
T. Dewitt Talmadge filled the pastorate and upon his retirement Rev. 
Joachim Elmendorf was chosen in 1862 and remained until near the close 
of 1S65. The Rev. Jeremiah Searle then served for about two years, when 
Rev. Dr. Condit again supplied the church until March, 1869. Martin 
Luther Berger then became the pastor, continuing until the spring of 1875. 
For the next year Rev. W. P. Coddington, of Syracuse University, acted 
as a supply, and in November, 1876, Rev. Evert Van Slyke was installed 
and began his labors. 

The last sermon in the old church was delivered by the pastor February 
3, 1878, for, in the afternoon of that day the beautiful church, upon which 
about six thousand dollars had been recently expended, was burned to the 
ground. Services were then held in Association Hall, and in March, 1878, 
the society decided to rebuild on the old site. For this purpose the follow- 
ing committees were appointed : Finance, R. A. Bonta, A. VV. Blye, Jon- 
athan G. Wynkoop, George B. Leonard, and L. A. Svvarthout ; Building, 
N. F. Graves, Charles Nichols, John B. Burnet, William A. Judson, Charles 
T. Redfield, P. J. Brumelkamp, and Bradford Kennedy. Plans were pre- 
pared by Architect J. L. Silsbee and the work begun on the rear portion, 
which was used for a time before the main edifice was finished. The corner 
stone was laid July 23, 187S, with impressive ceremonies, and the dedicatory 
services were held February 10, 1 881. 

Early in 18S5 Rev. Evert Van Slyke offered his resignation, to take 
effect May 1st, after which time the pulpit wassupplied by Rev. R. Bethune 
Welch, of Auburn, and Rev. W. P. Coddington, D. D., until the installation 
of the present pastor. Rev. Henry D. B. Mulford, which occurred in Sep- 
tember, 18S9. 

The new church is of Onondaga limestone and cost about $43,000. 
The present officers are as follows : Elders, J. H. Stutterd, H. B. Andrews, 



512 Memorial Histokv of Syracuse. 

John Marsellus, R. A. Bonta ; Deacons, Oscar D. Byers, Graham K. Betts, 
Jacob Ackerman, Howard N. Babcock ; treasurer, Frank M. Bonta ; Clerk, 
Graham K. Betts; Organist, Mrs. L. E. Fuller; Musical Director, Tom 
Ward. Present membership 275. 

Unitarian {May Memorial) C/iurch. — The " Church of the Messiah " 
(First Unitarian Congregational Society) was organized October 4, 1838, by 
Rev. George \V. Hosmer, Dr. Hiram Hoyt, Stephen Abbott and others. 
The first trustees were Elisha Walter, Joel Owen, and Stephen Abbott. 
Prior to 1836 several influential Unitarian families had become residents of 
Syracuse, but they were deprived of public religious services in that faith 
until about the year 1837, when Rev. Samuel Barrett, of Boston, and Rev. 
Mr. Green, of the same vicinity, preached by invitation on two different 
occasions, in the old Baptist church on West Genesee street. These efforts 
led to the movement which resulted in the organization above described. 
The society was organized in Dr. Mayo's school house on Church street, 
where some services had already been held and continued to be held for a 
short time after the society was organized. In January, 1839, a small 
chapel, which cost only about $600, was finished and dedicated. It stood 
on East Genesee street, opposite the present Grand Opera House. Here 
the Rev. J. P. B. Storer began a ministry which terminated only with his 
death, March 17, 1844. His installation took place in the First Methodist 
Episcopal church, which was generously offered for the occasion, and an 
able sermon was preached by Rev. OrviUe Dewey, D. D. 

The society soon outgrew the little chapel and in August, 1840, a com- 
mittee consisting of Captain Hiram Putnam, John Wilkinson, William 
Malcolm, Parley Bassett, and Hon. Thomas Spencer, was appointed to 
select and purchase a site for a new church. This was found on the corner 
of Burnet and Lock streets and was bought of the Syracuse Company for 
$550; to this lot was subsequently added another adjoining it on the south, 
for which $450 was paid. Here was erected an edifice costing about $5,000, 
which was dedicated November 23, 1843. The pastor preached the sermon 
and was assisted in the services by several eminent clergymen. 

On the death of Mr. Storer a correspondence was begun with Rev. 
Samuel J. May, who, after a full statement of his views on Christian doc- 
trine, was called and .settled over the society in 1845. Samuel J. May was 
a remarkable man, whose death left a void that was difficult to fill. He was 
an early and outspoken opponent of slavery and a zealous and earnest ad- 
vocate of liberal and progressive education. He was endowed with a 
peculiarly courteous demeanor and a disposition of rare sweetness. Such 
were his admirable traits that even his opponents were forced to extend to 
him the friendship and courtesy that should always be tendered to a good 
man. In charitable endeavors in this city he was always found at the front 



First English Litiikran Ciiukch. 513 



and his acknowledged abilities and nobility of character gave him an influence 
enjoyed by few and which extended far beyond the limits of his own church. 
He died July 2, 1871, having resigned his pastorate some time previous. 
At the time of his resignation from his labors, his church settled on him a 
life annuity. This church was known during this period as " The Church 
of the Messiah." The building was enlarged in 1850 and in 1852 was almost 
demolished by the falling of the tower in a furious gale. It was rebuilt 
nearly on the former site at a cost of about $10,000 and dedicated April 1 1, 

1853- 

The Rev. Samuel R. Calthrop, the present pastor of the church, accept- 
ed a call on the 7th of April, 1868, and on the 29th of the same month was 
installed. During his long pastorate the church has prospered and his 
thoughtful sermons and lectures are listened too with deep interest. 

The present handsome edifice on James street was erected in 1885 at a 
cost of about $50,000. Rev. Mr. Calthrop still continues in the pastorate. 
The present church officers are as follows: E. B. Judson, president ; A. 
Padgham, clerk and treasurer; trustees, E. B. Judson, H. M. Rowling, G. 
D. Merrell, D. Crichton, A. Padgham, Stanley Bagg, C. W. Snow, Salem 
Hyde and James Barnes. Organist, Henry M. Chase. 

The First English Lutheran Church. — This church was organized July 
6, 1879, by the present pastor. Rev. Jeremiah Zimmerman, of Manchester, 
Md. During the first fifteen months of the organization, services were held 
every Sunday and on Wednesday evenings in the Court House. At the 
end of that period the brick church on South Salina street, which had been 
built for the Independent Society, was for sale and the Lutherans pur- 
chased it. The edifice was improved and re-dedicated on the 31st of Octo- 
ber, 1880, as the First English Lutheran Church. The membership his 
yearly increased and now numbers over four hundred, with a flourishing 
Sunday school of over three hundred scholars. There is also connected 
with the church an active Woman's Missionary Society, a Circle of The 
King's Daughters, and The Young People's Association and The Young 
Men's Association. The congregation is in connection with the New York 
and New Jersey Synod, one of the district Synods of the General Synod. 

The officers of the church are as follows : Elders, Charles Eckel, Ed. S. 
Kellett, Killian Krause ; Deacon, Philip J. Arheidt ; Trustees, George 
Mahlerwein. President ; Robt. R. Needham, .Secretary ; Philip J. Arheidt, 
Treasurer ; Adam P. Brown, David Schmelzle, Philip J. Arheidt, George 
Minnekeim, Wm. West, H. C. Peters and Dr. R. C. Nanchett ; Organist, 
Miss Lizzie Winter ; Sexton, Geo. Yeakel. 

Church of Christ. — The Church of Christ (Disciples, or Christians) was 
organized in the old City Hall on the 8th of February, 1863, W. A. Belding, 
Evangelist, officiating. Thirty-five persons constituted the original mem- 
65 



514 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



bership, nine of whom were baptized by immersion, and the remainder re- 
ceived by letter and right hand of fellowship. The church was legally or- 
ganized under the Corporate name, Church of Christ, on the 3d of June, 
1863, the following constituting the first Board of Trustees : Charles Tuck- 
er, John B. Garrett, and James M. Clapp. Meetings were held in the City 
Hall until the fall of 1S63, when the Court house was procured for the pur- 
pose and used until June, 1864. Meanwhile a lot on East Onondaga street 
had been purchased and by the date last mentioned the church edifice was 
finished and occupied. It is a brick structure and cost about $9,000. The 
successive ministers of the church have been as follows : W. A. Belding, 
February 1st, 1863 to May i, 1865 ; A. N. Gilbert, May i, 1865, to October 
I, 1S67; G. G. MuUins, October i, 1867, to April 15, 1871 ; J. M. Atwater, 
July 30, 1871, to June 30, 1872 ; John Enckell, September i, 1872, to May 
1, 1874; J. L. Darzie, July i, 1874, to November 1, 1875 ; J. M. Streator, 
February i, 1876, to February i, 1877; N. J. Aylsworth, April, 1877, to 
18S0; E. G. Laughlin, June, 1880, to December 23, 1884; J. L. Pinkerton, 
June I, 1885, to December 1, 1885 ; S. M. Cooper, July i, 1886, to July i, 
1887; L. R. Gault, January 15, 1888, to October 15, 1888 ; R. W. Steven- 
son, May 9, 1889, and present pastor. 

The present officers of the church are as follows : Elders, A. J. Brewster, 
William Doust ; Deacons, John B. Garrett, H. C. Day, C. G. VanWormer, 
A. J. Spire, I. U. Doust, Eli Rogers ; Trustees, John B. Garrett, L. A. 
Nearing, R. C. Chope ; Treasurer, C. G. VanWormer; Clerk, I. U. Doust. 

Church of Christ.— {Scientist)— Th\s church is the natural outgrowth of 
the teaching of Christian Science in this community. This new-old doc- 
trine was first brought to the attention of the people of Syracuse in 1886 
through the demonstration of its healing power, the healing from sin being 
its main feature, and the healing of disease but a secondary fact which 
must follow the first. 

This theory dissiminates the great fact of salvation through the Imper- 
sonal Savior, and, the understanding of God as the only Power, and the 
Divine Principle of man. 

An Academy of Christian Science was incorporated under a charter 
granted by this state, in 1887 ; the same sending out many students. Also, 
private classes were taught by another teacher, bringing many into an un- 
derstanding of the Truth, and from these last named classes the church- 
thought grew. Informal meetings were held for the study of the Bible, 
and Science and Health, the only te.xt books of Christian Science. A de- 
mand for public meetings was answered by the opening of services in the 
hall of the old County Clerk's office, corner of North Salina and West Willow 
streets, which were soon transferred to Greyhound Hall, where they have 
since been held each Sunday. 



First Universai.ist CiiURCir. 515 



On the 1 2th day of May, 1889, the church was duly organized according 
to the laws of the State of New York, and the following trustees were 
elected : Edward P. Bates, Royal E. Fox, Harmon B. Ransier ; and a 
certificate of incorporation was issued by the Clerk of this county. Twelve 
members joined this church on the day of its organization, and there have 
been frequent acquisitions since. To-day the membership numbers nearly 
forty. 

One important feature of the work of this church is its dispensary, which 
is open every day for the dispensing of literature; for conversation on the 
subject of Christian Science; and for the healing of the sick. Scientists be- 
lieving that this work should be continual, and that the "lamp on the altar" 
should always give light. 

The members of this church are bound by no creed or dogma, but take 
the Golden Rule as the basis of every action. They subscribe to the fol- 
lowing tennets : 

1st. As adherents of Truth, we take the Scriptures for our guide of Life. 
2d. We acknowledge our Father, Son and Holy Ghost — one God, the 
brotherhood of man, and Divine Science. And the forgiveness of sin, which 
is the destruction of sin. And the atonement of Christ, which is the efifi- 
cacy of Truth and Life. And the way of salvation marked out by Jesus 
healing the sick, casting out devils (evils), and raising the dead — uplifting 
a dead faith into Life and Love. 

3d. We promise to love one another, and to work, watch and pray; to 
strive against sin, and to keep the Ten Commandments; to deal justly, love 
mercy, walk humbly; and inasmuch as we are enabled by Truth, to cast 
out error and heal the sick. 

First Univcrsalist Church. — In September, 1859, Rev. A. A. Thayer 
came to Syracuse and organized a society under the name of the First L^ni- 
versalist Society of Syracuse, of which the following were elected the first 
Trustees: Sampson Jacqurth, President ; David Wilcox, Wheeler Trues- 
dell, Gardner Woolson, John F. Clark, B. Austin Avery, E. K. Reed. 
Harry GifTord was elected clerk. The church organization was perfected 
in i860, and Rev. Mr. Thayer became the pastor. In 1862, the first church 
building was erected and dedicated, through the persistent efforts of the 
few members then living here. This property was afterwards sold to the 
city for the High School, and in i86g the present church was built on the 
site of the first edifice of the First Baptist Church. This building cost 
about §28,000 and was dedicated in 1S70. The following ministers have oc- 
cupied the pulpit: Revs. A. A. Thayer, C. W. Tomlinson, E. C. Sweetser, 
George P. Hibbard, Dr. J. G. Bartholomew, George B. Stocking, Rich- 
mond Fisk, D. D., who continued to 1884, and was succeeded by a supply 
for about a year, when Rev. C. Weston came and remained until May 1, 



5i6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

1885. The next regular pastor was Rev. J. C. F. Grumbine, who came 
September i, 1885, and continued to February i, 1888. The pulpit was 
then supplied until November i, 1889, when Rev. F. W. Betts was called. 
The present officers of the church are : President, George B. Clark ; Clerk, 
James N. Betts ; Treasurer, G. A. Clark ; Trustees, John Eastwood, Geo. 
W. Englehart, A. Martin, F. L. Emmons, Charles Hall, Geo. B. Clark, 
Alex. Soul. 

Reformed Presbyterian {Covenanter) Chnreh. — Organized in Syracuse in 
1849, with the following officers : Elders, John McClure, Sr., James Mc- 
Clure; Deacons, John Scott, VVm. Faulkner, George Hunter. First church 
building was in Warren street, junction of Salina. The second and present 
building is in South Salina street — then New Brighton, now Eleventh ward. 
The present officers are: Elders, John McClure, James McClure, Hugh 
Scott ; Deacons, Charles Dougall, Renwick W. McClure. The pastors of 
the church were John Newell, J. M. Johnston, J. M. Armour, S. R.Wallace. 

Chirch of Assumption {Roman Catholic). — This church is located on 
North Salina street, near Isabella. In the year 1844 the following persons 
were made trustees of this society, then called St. Mary's, and they pur- 
chased the church site of E. W. Leavenworth and erected a wooden building 
30x46 feet in dimensions, surmounted by a spire. The builder was Emer- 
son Thayer. The church bore the motto " Deo." The trustees were John 

B. Lange, George Miller, and I. Afferdick. The first pastor was Rev. P. 
Adelbert Inama, who was appointed in 1843 by Rt. Rev. John McClosky. 
first Roman Catholic Bishop of the Albany Diocese. He was succeeded 
by Rev. Theodore Noethen, Rev. P. Flarian Schweninger, O. S. B., Rev. 
P. Simon Sanderl, and he by Rev. Joseph Raffeiner, under whose adminis- 
tration the church was enlarged to meet the growing demands of the con- 
gregation. 

In the year 1861 began the administration of that branch of the Francis- 
can Fathers, known as Minor Conventionals. They built the new church 
edifice in 1865 at a cost of about $125,000. The work was done under di- 
rection of their CommissaryCeneral, V. P. R. Lapold Morzygemba, O. M. 

C, and the Guardian of the Convent and Pastor of the church, Rev. P. 
Norbert Stoller, O. M. C. The church was consecrated on the 3d of May, 
1867, by the Rt. Rev. John J. Conroy, then Bishop of the Albany Diocese, 
and the two towers were finished in 1872 by V. R. P. Fidelis Dehm, Guar- 
dian and Pastor. He remained pastor until 1878, when he was made a 
Bishop and sent to Europe. Father Jo.seph succeeded him as Superior of 
the Franciscans and appointed Rev. Father Leonard Erich as pastor. He 
remained until 1880. In July of that year a Chapter of the Franciscan 
Order was held at the church and Father Alexis Rossbauer was elected 
Superior and Pastor. He remained until November, 1883, During his 



St. Mary's Church. 517 



pastorate he erected a school building and introduced steam heat through- 
out the buildings, at a cost of $40,000. Father Lou. Reich was elected 
pastor in 1883 and continued to May, 1888. At that time another chapter 
was held and elected Rev. Dr. Louis Miller as Superior and Pastor. He 
remained until October, 1889, when another Chapter was held and the Rev. 
Francis Neubauer, D. D., was elected Provincial of the Order and Rev. 
Father Honaveutura Zoller was appointed Pastor. The other officials are 
Rev. Nazareno Graziani, D. D., O. M. C; Rev. Anthony Gehring, Rev. 
Conrad Elison, O. M. C. Francis Baumer is Director and George J. 
Baumer, Organist. It was found necessary to erect a new building as the 
old one was insufficient. The new school on Townsend street cost $40,000. 

5/. Marys {Roman Catholic) Church. — Previous to the year 1842 there 
were only a few Catholic families in the village of Syracuse ; but they early 
felt the need of a religious organization, which sentiment resulted, in 1842, 
in the organization of this society. In 1844 they purchased the wooden 
church building of the St. Paul's Episcopal society and removed it to the 
corner of Montgomery and Madison streets, where they had acquired a site. 
The building was enlarged and improved in 1848. Rev. Michael Haes was 
the first pastor and continued at the head of the church until his death in 
1859. He was succeeded by the Rev. James A. O'Haraon the 4th of July, 
that year, who was pastor for thirty years, during which long period he 
labored with the most faithful solicitude for his congregation as well as in 
many ways for the good of the entire community. He won to himself the 
confidence and love of every member of his large congregation, and of 
thousands outside of his church. 

During the administration of F"ather Haes the church grew rapidly and 
by the year 1852 the congregation had become very numerous, and in that 
year was organized the Church of St. John the Evangelist, the edifice for 
which was erected under his charge in 1854. In this undertaking he was 
greatly aided by the late Dennis McCarthy and Cornelius Lynch. Father 
Haes also brought the first Sisters of Charity to this city and three of them 
opened a school in the basement of the St. Mary's church. The sisters 
have now three schools under their charge; these schools are the St. Vincent 
de Paul Orphan Asylum and School, on Madison street, owning a brick 
edifice which cost $125,000; the Orphan Asylum for Boys and Home for 
Old and Infirm People, situated in the town of Geddes. The site for the 
latter was purchased by Andrew Lynch for Rev. Dr. O'Hara in 1867, who 
inaugurated an Industrial School for Boys, under the management of the 
Christian Brothers. Two years later, while Dr. O'Hara was in Europe, the 
undertaking was abandoned. In 1872 Messrs. Thomas McCarthy, Patrick 
Phelan, and Timothy Sullivan, of the General Conference of the St. Vin- 
cent de Paul Society, re-established the institution under the management 



5i8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



of the Sisters of Charity, as a home for old and feeble of both sexes and an 
orphan asylum for boys. Connected with the institution is a farm of about 
sixty acres, which is worked by the inmates. Recently a large and very 
elegant building has been erected at a cost of $50,000 to take the place of 
the old one, and fitted up with all modern improvements ; it adds greatly 
to the comfort of the orphans. 

In course of time the growth of the congregation in number and wealth 
made it expedient that a new and more commodious house of worship should 
be provided. Accordingly Rev. Dr. O'Hara purchased a prominent site on 
the corner of Montgomery and Jefferson streets, consisting of four lots. 
Here, during the succeeding ten years, was erected the finest and costliest 
church edifice in Syracuse. Its cost has been about $250,000. It is now 
complete, with the exception of the towers. 

Rev. Dr. O'Hara was born in Ballyshannon. Donegal county, Ireland, 
Nov. 2, 1829. In his nineteenth year he came to America and began the 
study of law in Philadelphia, but soon abandoned it for the ministry. He 
pursued his studies, and taught in the Augustinian College of St. Thomas 
of Villanova, in the arch-diocese of Philadelphia, and in St. John's College, 
Fordham, where he completed the philosophical and theological course. He 
then spent some time in St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, from which he 
graduated with honor. In July, 1857, he was ordained by Cardinal McClosky, 
at Albany, and remained with the Bishop for a time as assistant priest. He 
was then appointed pastor of St. Patrick's Church at Oneida, and fifteen 
months later was sent to Syracuse and installed as pastor of St. Mary's 
Church, succeeding Rev. Father Haes, who died in 1859. Father O'Hara 
assumed his charge here July 4, 1859, and remained therein until his death. 
During the first fifteen years of his pastoral service here he held missions at 
Lafayette, Fayetteville, Otisco, and Pompey. In i860 he built the St. Vin- 
cent de Paul Orphan Asylum and committed it to the charge of the Sisters 
of Charity. In 1868 he was presented with the grounds of the House of 
Providence in Geddes, and he there established an industrial school for boys, 
to which reference is made on another page. Father O'Hara must also be 
credited with the establishment of St. Mary's Cemetery, for which the lands 
were bought by him in 1870. 

Previous to the opening of the last Ecumenical council held at Rome, 
Italy, December 8, 1889, the Rev. Father O'Hara accompanied thither the 
late Bishop Lynch, of Charleston, S. C, as his theologian. Meanwhile, in- 
spired by his love for study and investigation, he entered the University of 
Sapienza, where he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. The distinc- 
tion thus conferred on Doctor O'Hara by this famous seat of learning is all 
the more noteworthy on account of his being the first American student 
and graduate thus honored. 



St. John's Catiikdrai,. 519 



Doctor O'Hara's name, liowever, will be more intimately associated 
with the noble structure at the intersection of Montgomery, Jefferson, and 
East Onondaga streets, to the building of which the best years of his life 
were devoted. The site was bought by Ur. O'llara from Peter Burns for 
$30,000. 

The new St. Mary's church is one of the finest houses of worship in Cen- 
tral New York. It is a crown of glory to the memory of the venerable pas- 
tor, through whose efforts it was erected. Dr. O'Hara died December 26, 
1889. 

Dr. O'Hara will always remain a historical character of Syracuse. Prob- 
ably no man has accomplished more for Catholicism than he, and his lovable 
traits of character and disposition endeared him to all with whom he came 
in contact. 

The officers of St. Mary's are, Rev. John Grimes, Pastor ; Assistant Pas- 
tor, Rev. Francis J. Quinn; Secretary, Frank Diel ; Treasurer, John 
O'Reilly; Organist, William O. Fiske. 

St. John's Cathedral {formerly Church of St. John the Evangelist). — This 
church is an outgrowth of St. Mary's church, an account of which precedes 
this. In 1852 the congregation of St. Mary's had outgrown its accommoda- 
tions in that church and Bishop McClosky delegated Rev. John McMenony, 
Assistant Pastor of St. Mary's, to begin the erection of the Church of St. 
John the Evangelist, on the corner of Lock and Willow streets. The build- 
ing was finished and opened in 185^^. Rev. John McMenony was appointed 
pastor and officiated until 1S68, when he was succeeded by Rev. Joseph 
Guerdet. He continued the active duties of the pastorate until 1882. Rev. 
Thomas W. Reilly then took charge of the affairs of the parish. During his 
administration the new school house, corner Lock and Hickory streets, was 
erected and the Parochial School for Girls was opened by the Sisters of St. 
Joseph, in September, 1883. The boys' department continued under the 
care of the Christian Brothers. Father Reilly was ably assisted by Rev. Mat- 
thew Merns, now pastor of St. Johnsville, N. Y., and Rev. John F. Don- 
ohue, now pastor of Salem, N. Y. 

Rev. J. J. Moriarity, L.L. D., succeeded Father Reilly in the admistra- 
tion of the parish ; he came in December, 1883, and continued in charge 
until May i, 1887. Syracuse became the seat of a new Episcopal See in 
1887, and on May ist, of that year, Rt. Rev. P. A. Ludden, D. D., was con- 
secrated the first Bishop of the Diocese of Syracuse. He selected the 
Church of St. John the Evangelist for his Cathedral and Very Rev. J. S. M. 
Lynch, D. D., was transferred from St. John's church, LUica, N. Y., and 
became Vicar-General and Rector of St. John's Cathedral, Syracuse, N. Y. 
Rev. P. F. McEvoy was appointed Chancellor and Secretary of the new 
diocese. 



520 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

To meet the requirements of the new order of things the church was 
considerably enlarged and completely renovated. A large addition was 
also made to the school building. 

St. John's Catholic Academy was founded in August, 1887, as a Cath- 
olic High School, and received a charter from the Regents of the University 
of the State of New York, admitting it to all of the privileges of the Uni- 
versity. Recently a building was purchased by St. Vincent de Paul Society, 
on the corner of Greenway avenue and Vann street, where Sunday school 
is held for the accomodation of the children residing in the eastern portion 
of the parish. 

The Church of Si. John the Baptist. — The Church of St. John the Bap- 
tist, a large, elegant brick structure in the Romanesque style of architecture, 
is situated in the Second ward near the dividing line on the corner of Park 
and Court streets. It was built in the year 1866 by Rev. James Duffy, 
now pastor of St. John's Church, East Albany. Before his time the Cath- 
olics of Salina and surrounding country worshipped in the old wooden 
church on North Salina street. It stood in the First ward opposite the 
present Academy of the Sacred Hearts. It was commenced and the corner 
stone laid in 1829. Through the exertions of Thomas McCarthy and 
James Lynch, together with the assistance of the few Roman Catholics, 
and donations made by Protestants, and Catholic friends along the line of 
villages between Syracuse and Albany, the little society of Catholics in 
Salina were enabled to bring their Church of St. John the Baptist to com- 
pletion. It was dedicated toward the beginning of 1830. Rt. Rev. John 
Dubois was the Bishop of the Diocese of New York, and for two succeed- 
ing years, the congregation being small, was visited by clergymen only once 
a month. The first regular resident pastor who ofificiated in the church 
was Rev. Francis O'Donohue, who was pastor for about six years, and was 
succeeded by Fathers Balfe and Drummond, who in turn gave place to 
James O'Donnell. The latter remained in charge of the church and mis- 
sion for some four or five years. The next pastors were Fathers Radigan 
and Cartier. Father Michael Haes came ne.\t. Under his supervision the 
church was much enlarged and changed. After a pastorate of about fifteen 
years he was transferred to the newly erected parish of St. Mary's, Syracuse. 
He was succeeded by Revs. Philip Gillick and Joseph Guerdet (who after- 
wards became pastor of St. John the Evangelist, the present cathedral of 
this city). The succession of pastors since has been Revs. T. A. Muilady, 
Michael Hackett, Maurice Sheehan, James A. Duffy, (the builder of the 
present church,) Father Brown and Rev. William J. Botirke and Rev. John 
F. Mullany, the present pastor. Rev. Father MuUany was formerly pastor 
of an extensive mission of which the village of Whitestown, Oneida county, 
was the center and his residence. Before his advent to St. John the Bap- 



St. Patrick's CiiuRni. 521 



tist Church he had erected in this mission three beautiful churches. Dur- 
ing his present charge in Syracuse he has erected the Church of the Sacred 
Heart, in the village of Cicero, and has another in process of building in 
the village of Liverpool ; it will be known as St. Joseph's Church. These 
two missions have greatly increased the work of the parish, but with the aid 
of one assistant, Rev. Joseph S. Ticrnan, he is enabled to give them ser- 
vices at least once a month. 

The Church of St. John the Baptist occupies a beautiful and commanding 
site on the hillside, gently sloping to the lake. The church will scat 1,500 
persons, was erected in 1871, and cost $125,000. This is now one of the 
leading parishes in the city and has a magnificent academy connected with 
it on Salina street. This academy is chartered under the Board of Regents 
of the University of the State of New York, and is known under the name 
of the Academy of the Sacred Heart. It was built by Rev. William J. 
Bourke, but chartered under Rev. John F. Mullany. It consists of a prin- 
cipal building and a wing extending from the rear thereof. It is two stories 
high, with a basement now utilized for Sodality purposes. In the second 
story there is a hall which will seat 600 persons, with a stage where the 
school children hold public e.xercises monthly. Ten teachers are employed 
in instructing an average attendance of 500 pupils. The academy building, 
convent and lot are valued at $40,000. 

St. Patrick's Church. — This church is located in Geddes, on the corner 
of Schuyler street and Lowell avenue. The society was organized in 1871, 
with the Rev. Hugh Shields as pastor, who remained but for a short time. 
He was succeeded by the Very Rev. Dr. Lynch, the present Vicar-Gen- 
eral of the Diocese of Syracuse, who completed the basement of the 
church and the work was continued by Rev. Patrick F. Smith, formerly of 
Hudson, N. Y., who was appointed pastor in July, 1871, and who finished 
the handsome structure. Father Smith was succeeded, in 1875, by Rev. James 
P. Magee, the present pastor, about 1875. Amongst the assistant pastors 
may be named the Rev. P. F. McEvoy, the present Chancellor of Diocese, 
Father Magee has remained in charge of the church since its organization 
and by his earnest and faithful work has made it one of the prominent 
Catholic societies of the city. Father Philip Ilerrick succeeded Father 
McEvoy as assistant, and he was followed by the present assistant, Father 
John C. Higgins. The church is a handsome brick edifice and was erected 
in 1872 at a cost of $50,000. A lot opposite the church has recently been 
purchased at a cost of $8,000, for school purposes. 

St. Joseph's Church {German Catholic). — This church was organized on 

the 19th of November, i88i,and the cornerstone laid in the following year. 

On the 2ist of November, 1882, the dedication took place. The building 

cost $20,000. A school building was erected in connection with the church, 

66 



522 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



in 1883, at a cost of $4,500. Rev. Joseph Pickl has been in charge of the 
church from the first and under his ministry the society has rapidly grown 
in numbers. The present officers are as follows : George Wolz, President ; 
Frank Schender, Secretary. 

Sf. Lucys Church. — The organization of this church was largely owing 
to the zeal of a few members of this faith who saw its need on account of 
the growth of the Catholic population in the Fifth ward. Permission to 
organize a society was obtained from Rt. Rev. John J. Conroy, Bishop of 
Albany, and the concurrence of nearly all of the Catholics of the ward, and 
meetings were held in the Cook block. The society promised rapid growth 
and it was resolved in the early part of 1872 to erect a church. To this 
end the following committee were appointed : Patrick Slattery, President ; 
John J. Lynch, Auditor; John Helmack, Treasurer; Thomas F. Delany, 
Secretary, and Francis Connolly, H. A. DufTy, Patrick Holloran, Anthony 
Chryst, Lawrence Ryan, Charles McFall, Thomas Kendrick, Francis Murphy, 
William Michaels, and Dan Mooney. On the 15th of August, 1872, digging 
for the basement was begun, and about September 12th was finished, at 
which time the Rt. Rev. Bishop Conroy appointed Rev. John J. Kennedy 
pastor of the congregation. The society was then incorporated under the 
name of " St. Lucy's Church, Syracuse, N. Y." Plans were obtained for a 
church edifice and the work of its erection was pushed with vigor. The 
corner stone was laid by Rt. Rev. Francis McNeirny, the successor of Bishop 
Conroy, June 22, 1873, and the basement of the building was occupied for 
worship on the 1st of November, 1873. The church was entirely finished 
December 23, 1875, on which day it was dedicated by Rt. Rev. Francis 
McNeirny. Rev. John J.Kennedy has continued as the pastor of the church 
to the present time, and is assisted by Rev. P. Donohue. 

St. Joseph's {French Catholic) Church. — This society was organized in 
1869 by the Rev. Joseph Guerdet, at which time there were nearly two 
hundred members. In the same year the church building on East Genesee 
street was bought of the Central Baptist Society. The first trustees of the 
church were (). Duplessis and M. Rodier. The first rector was the Rev. 
Joseph Quevillon, who received his appointment from Rt. Rev. Bishop Mc- 
Nierny, of Albany. He remained until April, 1870, and in July of that 
year the Rev. J. S. Robillard succeeded. He was followed by the Rev. Mr. 
Brouillet, and he by the present pastor, the Rev. B. C. Thibault. This 
church has grown with the increase of French population, and various im- 
provements have been made to the property, including a new rectory next 
to the church edifice. The church officers are : T. DuPlessis and N. Goss, 
Trustees ; Mrs. A. Harney, Organist. 

Seventh Day Adveutists.—ln October, 1879, P. Z. Kinne, of Kirkville, 
opened a flour and feed store at 49 East Water street, Syracuse, with N. J. 



Society of Concord. 523 



Walsworth, manager, who with his family, were among the early Seventh 
Day Adventists in the city. Soon afterward Elder E. \V. Whitney, with 
his family, came, and in connection with Mr. Walsworth, rented a house on 
Cherry street, where meetings were held every Sabbath. A little later S. 
N. Walsworth and others of the Adventist faith moved into the city. The 
Syracuse church of the faith is an offshoot from the Kirkville church. In 
1882 the Kirkville church, organized in 1861, numbered fifteen members. 
Believing Syracuse to be a more central place of meeting, they changed 
their place of worship to this city. Members of the same faith in Syracuse 
united with them. This was the beginning of the Syracuse church proper. 
In 1S84, mission rooms were opened in the Crouse building on Warren 
street, and in connection with these a free reading and lecture room was es- 
tablished. Here the society worshipped for three years. The mission was 
then removed to another point on the same street for one year, when prop- 
erty was purchased at log Harrison place, for a permanent place of worship. 
Through earnest missionary effort the membership has increased to seventy- 
eight at the present time, (1891,) besides eighteen Sabbath-keepers who are 
not yet members. Although the Seventh Day Adventists have no settled 
pastors, their ministers being missionaries mainly, still, besides Elder E. 
Whitney, who was the first Seventh Day Adventist minister that came to 
this city to labor, Elder A. E. Place has labored here principally. Elder 
M. H. Brown, a former President of the State Conference, has labored here 
to some extent ; also. Elder S. H. Lane, the present President, and Elder 
E. E. Miles, and H. E. Robinson, and J. E.Swift. The church officers are: 
Church Elder, C. V. Gilbert ; Deacon, N. J. Walsworth ; Treasurer, Wm. 
Lamb ; Church Clerk, A. D. Kellogg ; Trustees, C. V. Gilbert, W. R. 
Booth, S. N. Walsworth. 

Society of Concord. — In 1841 there stood on the site of the present Bas- 
table block, the wholesale notion house of Bernheim & Block. This store 
was a sort of headquarters for traders from the East, and in the evening a 
meeting place for the Jewish young men living here. It was at one of these 
gatherings that a proposition to establish a Hebrew place of worship was 
first made. Here and throughout the State the suggestion was well received. 
On September 26, 1841, in New York city, twelve gentlemen met at the 
house of H. Weiksheimer, and decided to remove to Syracuse, then a thriv- 
ing village, and to establish there a Hebrew place of worship. These men 
were the founders of the Society of Concord. The first meeting was held 
on November 21, 1841, at the residence of Jacob Garson, Mulberry street. 
The officers chosen were : President, Ma.x Thalheimer ; Treasurer, Joseph 
Schloss ; Trustees, H. Rosenbach and S. Manheimer; Secretary, E. Roths- 
child. None of these gentlemen are now living. The Rev. A. Gunzen- 
hauser was engaged as minister and reader. The first services were held in 



524 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

an upper room of Mr. Garson's house. Sometime afterwards services were 

held in the Townsend block on Water street. The Rev. Gunzenhauser 

» 

having then retired, the Rev. Joseph Goodman was chosen his successor. 
He entered upon his duties in August, 1846. The congregation having in- 
creased in membership, a house and lot on the south side of Madison street, 
at the corner of Mulberry, was purchased for $800. The house was trans- 
formed into a synagogue, and dedicated as such by the Rev. Dr. Isaac Wise, 
of Cincinnati. At that period, I. H. Rronner was President of the congre- 
gation, and after a few years was followed by Aaron Henocksberg. As 
time went on, the little church around the corner, as it was called, became 
too small to accommodate the congregation, and the necessity for a more 
convenient and larger house of worship was felt on all sides. 

The first step toward the execution of the project was the election of 
Jacob Stone as President, a very popular man in the community and the 
senior member of the firm of Stone & Manheimer. He set himself vigor- 
ously to the task of building a place of worship suited to the growing needs 
of the congregation. The members co-operated with him in the heartiest 
and most energetic manner. A large number of ten dollar bonds were issued 
and each member took one or more. The result of their combined exertions 
was the erection of the present synagogue, corner Mulberry and Harrison 
streets, in 1850, which was dedicated by the Rev. Dr. Raphael, of New York, 
and the Rev. Dr. Lesser, of Philadelphia, and assisted by Dr. Leopold Eis- 
ner, of this city. The Rev. Joseph Goodman having resigned, the Rev. 
Jacob Levi was chosen in his place. During his administration two factions, 
one called the Reform and the other the Orthodox party, sprang up in the 
congregation. The Reform party was headed by Joseph Falker, who was 
elected President of the Society in March, 1861. During Mr. Falker's ad- 
ministration, organ playing, choir singing, family pews were introduced, the 
custom of men worshiping with covered heads during services was abolished, 
and many doctrinal alterations were made. These reforms meant nothing 
more than the reconciling of the old spirit of Judaism with the newer light 
and the newer requirements of the newer age. The majority of the congre- 
gation felt that Judaism can never be preserved from decay by galvanizing 
dead forms, by rites and views which collided with modern civilization. 
They wanted a broad, enlightened Judaism, a Judaism appealing to the 
heart as well as to reason, a Judaism congenial to the free soil of America. 
These innovations introduced into the service stirred up a violent opposition, 
and the minority finding they could not reconcile their consciences to the 
actions of the majority, finally seceded in a body and established themselves 
into an Orthodox society, which is still in existence. 

After the division, the Rev. Dr. Deutsch, a highly cultured and promi- 
inent divine, was put in charge of the spiritual interest of the congregation. 



New Beth Israel. 525 



On Mr. Falker's retirement from office men of equally advanced ideas were 
successfully elected to the presidency, namely : Simon and Isaac Lovventhal, 
Lazar Leiter, David Hamburger, and Moritz Marx, the latter gentleman 
having served the congregation for fifteen consecutive years. Mr. William 
Henocksburg, the present President, has followed worthily in the same path 
of progress and reform, and has acquitted himself very creditably. 

For the past eight years the Rev. Dr. A. Guttmanhas had the spiritual 
interests of the congregation in his keeping. With his advent a new and 
vigorous spirit has been infused into the congregation, and under his guid- 
ance it has prospered wonderfully. There are few Jewish ministers in 
America who have gained such an influence in their congregations and have 
such a firm hold upon the hearts and sympathies of their members, as has 
Dr. Guttman. He has proven himself a warm supporter of every humane 
and charitable movement, and he is recognized as one of the prominent 
leaders of Reform Judaism in America. 

The present oflficers of the congregation are, President William Henocks- 
burg ; Vice-President, August Falker ; Treasurer, Aaron Lesser; Trustees, 
David Danziger, Herman Leiter, Leopold Schoener, George Freeman ; Sec- 
retary, S. Lowenthal ; Sexton, J. Glazier. 

The Society has at present sixty-five members and forty-two pew-holders, 
altogether about 500 souls. 

This sketch would, however, be incomplete were we to overlook the 
philanthropic work carried on by the Society of Concord. This congrega- 
tion has not merely narrowed itself down to Creed, but it emphasizes Deed. 
It has a noble record for its liberality and for its active participation in the 
cause of charity. With this Society the following institutions are connected : 

1. A Sabbath School, in which eighty-two boys and girls, the children 
of the members, receive religious instruction. 

2. A Mission School, which is divided into two branches : 

(a) A religious school in which girls and boys of indigent parents 
are taught Biblical history. 

{l>) A sewing school where fifty-eight girls, between the ages of 
seven and fourteen, are taught plain sewing. 

3. Ladies' Auxiliary Society, whose aim is to help the Congregation. 

4. Ladies' Aid Society. This organization has for its object the allevia- 
tion of suffering caused by poverty or sickness. 

5. Sewing Circle. Ladies meet weekly at the residences of the mem- 
bers for the purpose of making garments for general distribution. 

6. Young Men's Hebrew Association, whose aims are to elevate the 
youth morally, impart religious enthusiasm, and refine them socially and 
intellectually. 

Nfii' Beth Israel. — This congregation was organized August 7, 1854. 
The first services were held at the house of Moses Hart, on Adams street, 



526 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



between Mulberry and Montgomery. The following were the first officers 
of the society ; Joshua Jacobs, President ; Henry Lazarus, Vice-President; 
M. Bendetsen, treasurer ; P. Lee, Secretary ; Moses Hart, J. Samson, E. 
Labischinsky, N. Marks. After holding services a short time on Adams 
street, the congregation met at Myers' Hall, corner of Montgomery and Gen- 
esee streets. The present synagogue was built in 1856 and remodelled in 
1887. The basement has also been remodelled, making the structure com- 
plete and convenient. The cemetery owned by the congregation lies in the 
southern part of the city. There are now about forty members and one 
hundred seat holders, who with their families comprise a membership of 
about four hundred. The present officers of this society are as follows : 
M. Rashkower, President; Levi Solomon, vice-President ; L. Manson, 
Treasurer; Abe Levi, Secretary ; Trustees, M. Bloom, E. Goldstein, H. 
Ferguson, M. Myer. Minister, S. Cantor. The Synagogue contains seven 
rolls of Holy Scripture. 

Congregational Poiley Zedeck. — In the fore part of the year i888 Joseph 
Wallen, Marks Baliban, Moses Kline, David L. Cohen, Abraham Moses, 
and others, became interested in the organization of a new Jewish Church 
in Syracuse. Their efforts resulted in the establishment of Congregation 
Poiley Zedeck. Its charter is dated September 23, 1 888, and bears the names 
of the following Trustees: Herman Wolfson, Ruben Rubenstein, Samuel 
Berman, Isaac Heitner, and Philip Kaufman. First President, Alexander 
Cohn ; Secretary, Joseph Honig. The first meeting was held in Sugar- 
man's Hall, corner of Grape and Harrison streets, at which twenty-six mem- 
bers joined and paid five dollars each. The church now numbers thirty-six 
members who pay six dollars per year each. Services are held every morn- 
ing and evening in the year for prayer. The minister preaches Friday eve- 
ning and Saturday morning and afternoon, and also on other days of special 
religious observances. Rev. M. Finberg has been the only minister. 

In 1889 the congregation rented of Marcus Joel a building on Mulberry 
street, where they now worship. Three rolls of Holy Scripture belong to 
the society and they intend to increase that number. In February, 1891, 
this church bought apiece of ground at Oakwood for a cemetery, costing 
$350. The present officers are Moses Kline, President; G. B. Gordon, 
Vice-President; Joseph Honig, Secretary; Trustees. B. Kaufman, Solomon 
Port, M. Baliban, B. Daunsfsky, Levi Oppenheimer, M. Schuman, Treas- 
urer. 

Adathjcshurun (which signifies gathering of religious people) was organ- 
ized June 6, 1864, and received its charter March 3, 1866, Joseph Swartz 
was the first President ; Joseph Wiseman, vice-President, and Moses Bron- 
ner, Treasurer. The first place of worship was a one-story building on Har- 
rison street, between Mulberry and Montgomery. In 1874 a hall which was 



Adatii Israel. 527 



built for this society in the Reidy building, corner of Mulberry and Madison 
streets, was rented by them and occupied until the present church was 
erected. In 1887 Solomon Rosenbloom purchased a lot on Orange street, 
between Madison and Harrison streets, and insisted on the society having 
a home of its own. Largely by his efforts and contributions and the effi- 
cient management of the building committee, composed of Solomon Rosen- 
bloom, Morris Thalheimer, Daniel Rosenbloom, and K. A. Wolf, the 
present beautiful Gothic wooden edifice was erected at a cost of about 
$9,000. At that time there were but nineteen members, which in Jewish 
churches means about nineteen families, as none but male adults are eligible 
to membership. The new edifice was dedicated in August, 1887. About 
1 87 1 Solomon Rosenbloom was elected President and Joseph Wiseman 
vice-President. From that time to the present Mr. Rosenbloom has held 
that office, with the exception of two years, when Morris Thalheimer and 
Abraham Light served one year each. The first leader of religious services 
was Rev. W. B. Newcity, who officiated until 1875 ; he was succeeded by 
Rev. Jacob Levi, who still officiates. The present officers are Solomon 
Rosenbloom, President ; Morris Thalheimer was vice-President at the time 
of his death in October, 1890, which office he filled about fifteen years. 
His successor has not been elected. David Oberdorfer has been the Treas- 
urer for fourteen years. The Trustees are K. A. Wolf, Moses Labschinsky. 
Philip Zenner, and David Stolz, Secretary, M. J. Altman. The member- 
ship of this active, growing society has increased to 41 , and connected there- 
with is a large Sabbath school doing good work for the children. Each 
Jewish society owns a separate cemetery, in which each member is entitled 
to requisite space without any individual purchase. Rural Cemetery, south 
of Oakwood Cemetery, belongs to this society. 

Adath Israel. — This congregation was organized at the house of Jacob 
Groginsky, June i, 1882. The first President was James B. Harrison; 
Nathan Levi, vice-President ; Philip Kaufman, Secretary ; Moses Jacobs, 
Treasurer. The society met in the Wolf block, corner of Mulberry and 
Adams streets. Desiring a more suitable place of worship, Jacob Groginsky, 
Nathan Levi, and Morris Jacobson were appointed a building committee. 
These gentlemen contracted at once with Marks Rashkower, to rent of him 
for a term of years a building which he agreed to construct according to 
plans submitted and accepted. The work was vigorously pushed by Mr. 
Rashkower, and in a few months the society was pleasantly located in their 
present Synagogue, a brick structure which seats two-hundred and fifty. 
So well pleased were the people with the services of their building com- 
mittee that it was voted to present Jacob Groginsky with a gold medal, 
which bears date of September 16, 18S2. A silver medal was also presented 
to Samuel Eisner. 



528 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

The present officers are: Jacob Groginsky, President; James B. Har- 
rison, vice-Fresident ; David Groginsky, Secretary ; Nathan Levin, Treas- 
urer. Benjamin Yaffa was the first minister, and was succeeded by David 
Argin, the present pastor. Daily meetings for prayer are held morning and 
evening, with special services Friday night and Saturday. 

Adatli Yeslinnin. — In 1870, thirty-five young men seat-holders of New 
Beth of Israel, left that society and began holding meetings in Tabor's hall. 
Their first minister was Marcus Radin, and Elias Labeschinsky was Presi- 
dent. 

In 1872, they organized under co-State charter with the corporate name, 
Adath Yeshurun. Solomon Harrison was President ; Jacob Tumim, vice- 
President ; Samuel Solomon, Secretary. The next year the society bought 
a house and lot. No. 75 Mulberry street, for $3,000, on which they built the 
present church in 1877, at a cost of $6,000. Two years later $2,000 more 
were raised and expended in completing and furnishing the structure. The 
building committee was J. L. Shevelson, chairman ; Jacob Tumim, C. Fre- 
lander, Sol. Harrison, S. A. Harrison, Isaac Solomon. In 1887, a cemetery 
was purchased on the plank road for $1,300. Elias Labischinsky was the 
first President, since which the following men have served in that office : 
Solomon Harrison, I. L. Shevelson, Jacob Tumim, Abraham Rosenson, 
Levi Pakelinschky, Levi L. Silverman. 

Rev. Marcus Radin was succeeded by Rev. J. Leavison, and Revs. C. 

Caplin, Fisher, M. L. Grossman, J. Switzer, and E. Rosenzweig 

have since officiated. M. L. Grossman is the present pastor. The trustees 
of the church are as follows : Levi Pakelinscky, President ; Levi Harris, 
vice-President ; Harris Rossman, M. Abelson, A. J. Strasburg, M. C. Roths- 
child, Samuel A. Harrison. Membership, forty-four. A flourishing Sun- 
day school is connected with the church. 

Rescue Mission. — In the early part of 1887 a number of christian people 
became impressed with a desire to accomplish something for the cause of 
Christianity in certain districts in Syracuse. An article which appeared 
about this time in a New York religious journal attracted attention. The 
author was Mr. H. B. Gibbud, of the Florence Night Mi.ssion of New York 
city. An invitation was extended to Mr. Gibbud to come to Syracuse for 
consultation in the matter, and in June, 1887, he arrived, accompanied by 
his wife. After a careful study of the situation the experienced missionary 
declared that the thing to do was to establish in the very midst of the dis- 
trict where information was most needed, a place to which the people would 
be constrained to come and in which they would be met by sympathetic 
hearts. This suggestion was acted upon. A place was selected on East 
Washington street, near Mulberry. Here, with drinking saloons, gambling 
dens, and houses of ill repute within a stone's throw in every direction, the 



Rescue Mission. 529 



Rescue Mission was established ; and on the night of Sunday, September 
4, 1887, began its work among tlie non-church-going masses. Mr. and Mrs. 
Gibbud were placed in charge as superintendents, and Mr. John E. Ilend- 
sey was their assistant. 

Many people became friendly to the Mission at once. They flocked to 
the meetings and seemed to feel at home in the half-way house to the 
church and to be grateful for the interest manifested in them. 

Every night since that first night, a meeting has been held. Thus far 
more than 1,300 consecutive meetings have been held, at which the total 
attendance has been about 125,000. 

From the very first the rooms of the Mission were inadequate. This 
was especially so during the last year in the old quarters (May 1889 to May 
1890). It became more and more evident that a larger hall was a necessity. 
At this juncture H. B. Andrews, a prominent business man of the city, 
purchased the building and site at 115 Mulberry street, near Railroad. He 
altered, enlarged and repaired the building and grounds and leased them to 
the Mission for a merely nominal rental, and on May i, 1890, the Mission 
took possession of its new quarters. The present rooms are spacious and 
attractive, well lighted and adorned. They seat 500 people. The work of 
the Mission is not restricted to its evening meetings. Bible instruction is 
provided during the Winter and Spring on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. 
Monthly gatherings have been instituted to bring the converts together in 
a social way. Then there are the song services conducted by the Mission- 
workers at the hospitals and like places. Missionary visits are made to sa- 
loons and from house to house, along the canal tow-path and on canal 
boats. Missionary work, including distribution of tracts and other gospel 
literature is done at fairs, circus shows, street processions, conventions, etc. 
An unique way of preaching the gospel to the masses, instituted by Mr. 
Gibbud, is the "Gospel Wagon " service. A carryall fitted with signboards, 
bearing gospel inscriptions, is employed by some twenty members of the 
Mission, on Sunday afternoons in summer, who take with them a small cab- 
inet organ. They drive about the streets, stopping at different points where 
people congregate. At every stopping place the music of the organ and 
the singing of the hymns soon attract an assemblage. Then Mr. Gibbud 
and his assistant preach the gospel to the people thus gathered, and ex- 
hort them to accept it. 

The government of the Mission is in the hands of a board of managers 
consisting of representatives from the various evangelical churches. The 
following named ladies and gentlemen constitute the board for 1891 : E. W. 
Parmelee, Edward S. Gaylord, Harlow B. Andrews, Henry Babcock, Ras- 
selas A. Bonta, Frank T. Kent, Charles A. Horton, David Milne, Prof. H. H. 
Sandford, James M. Rose, Prof. W. A. Brownell, Mrs. Justus Eddy, Mrs. 
H. H. Gurley, Mrs. F. T. Davis, Mrs. W. O. Hewitt, Miss Olive Wood. 
67 



530 Memorial History ok Syracuse. 

President, Prof. W. A. Brownell ; Secretary, F. T. Kent ; Treasurer, Har- 
low B. Andrews ; Executive Committee, R. A. Bonta, E. Burt Beckwith, 
F. T. Kent, Henry Babcock, Mrs. Justus Eddy. 

In March, 1891, The Rescue Mission Alliance of Syracuse was duly in- 
corporated. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 



The early History of the Schools of Syracuse — The Foundation laid for the Present Superior 
System— L.inguage, Art and Science Taught — Syracuse .Academy Chartered— Public Schools Before 
the City Organization — Public Schools Under the City Government. 

THE early history of the schools of Syracuse is somewhat involved in 
obscurity. Those engaged in educational pursuits in the earlier times, 
failed to preserve records that would now be intensely interesting. 

The pioneers did not neglect education ; but the best work was done in 
the early days by private schools, and the lessons inculcated in them by 
faithful teachers had no doubt much to do with founding the splendid pub- 
lic school system of which the city of Syracuse is now so justly proud. 

The first school within the present city limits was kept by Mr. Conner in 
a salt block at Salina. He divided his time between teaching and boiling 
salt. We have no means of knowing which occupation proved the most 
remunerative ; but it was probably the latter. 

VVelthia Ann Lathrop, widow of the late Edward Allen, Esq., of Auburn, 
taught a select school in a building furnished by Captain Joel Cody, in the 
rear of the present First Baptist Church for many years, beginning in 1826. 
In 1830 Miss Guthrie taught a private school in a building called "The 
Wheeler House," on the corner of Salina and Center streets, in what is 
now the First ward. 

During si.x months of the year 1835, Hon. Geo. F. Comstock taught a 
select school in the upper story of a yellow building which stood on the 
present site of the Bastable block. He was elected Inspector of Schools for 
the town of Salina in 1S37. 

At different times D. C. Leroy and Dr. James Foran were connected 
as teachers with a school known as the "Salina Institute." The building 
occupied by this school stood on Turtle street between Park and Salina 
streets. 



Syracuse Academy. 531 

A select school for girls was organized by the Misses Chamberlain. 
Dr. Mather Williams erected a temporary frame building for this school on 
Water street near the corner of Clinton. It was neither ceiled nor plastered 
and on the approach of cold weather the school was removed to a room 
fitted up by Captain Putnam, over his wood house on Montgomery street. 
The school became known as " Montgomery Institute." The schools of 
those days seem to have made up in names what they lacked in other respects. 
Among the teachers in "Montgomery Institute" were Miss Richardson, Miss 
Alexander, the Misses Newton, from Massachusetts; Miss Fitch, from 
Trumansburg; Miss Collins, Miss Laurie, from Whitesboro, and Miss Gould, 
from South Carolina. 

At this period the standard of education was well advanced, the higher 
mathematics, French, Latin, drawing, painting and music being taught in 
Miss Collins' school. The study of sciences to any extent was at a later 
day introduced by Miss Amelia Bradbury, who numbered among her pupils 
many heads of prominent families now living in the city, who cherish 
gratefully and affectionate!}- the memory of her conscientious, tender coun- 
sels, and who owe to her advanced views of education the stimulus towards 
that higher culture which has fitted them to adorn responsible positions in 
life, and to become useful, reliable, and intelligent women. The school of 
Miss Bradbury was located on Montgomery street. 

Miss Emily Chubbuck, afterwards Mrs. Adoniram Judson, wife of the 
famous missionary to Burmah, taught a select school at one time in a small 
building which stood where McCarthy, Sons & Co.'s wholesale store now 
stands, on the corner of Washington and Clinton streets. 

From September, 1847, to June, 1861, the late Madame A. J. Raoul, one 
of the old inhabitants, taught a select school in this city. She was an ac- 
complished teacher of music and French, the last of which she continued to 
give to a few pupils till 1872 (she died in 1875), when growing infirmities 
brought to a close a longer term of years consecutively devoted to teaching 
than, probably, has been given by many teachers in Syracuse. 

Syracuse Academy. — Through the exertions of Aaron Burt, Harvey Bald- 
win, and Oliver Teall, who owned a large tract of land in the locality, a 
charter was obtained for the Syracuse Academy in 1835. A lot was donated 
by Mr. Baldwin and, under many discouragements, a building was erected 
and completed for the Academy, situated on " Lodi Hill," East Fayette 
street, which was supplied with competent teachers and supported by the 
benefactions of its founders. The first Principal was a Mr. Kellogg, of New 
York, who was succeeded by Orrin Root, for many years later a pro- 
fessor in Hamilton College. At one period the late A. G. Salisbury, who 
became the first Clerk of the Board of Education of the city of Syracuse, 
was its Principal. At a later day in the existence of the Academy it was 



532 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

conducted by Joseph A. Allen and Oliver T. Burt, part of which period was 
after its removal to a more central location. 

But the Academy did not prosper. After it went into operation, jeal- 
ousies in reference to it were awakened, interest in regard to public schools 
was aroused and district school houses sprang up and soon attracted the 
sympathy and patronage of the public. The cause of education profited by 
the efforts of the founders of the Academy, but they were, and continued 
to be, the losers, so that the Academy was finally abandoned and the house 
designed by its originators to subserve the cause of education, providentially 
became the home of the helpless orphan and the abode of charity — the 
Onondaga County Orphan Asylum. 

Mention cannot be made of all the numerous select or private schools 
which have done efificient work in the educational cause. They wonld con- 
stitute a chapter. 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS BEFORE THE CITY ORGANIZATION. 

The public schools existing prior to the city organization were all formed 
and maintained as district schools of the town of Salina under the general 
school law. Neither the charter of the village of Salina, adopted in 1824, 
nor that of the village of Syracuse, in 1825, made any change in the status 
of the schools within their limits: they were from the first and continued to 
be until 1848, common schoois of the town of Salina. 

The first public school within the present limits of Syracuse was District 
No. I, Salina, situated in the First ward, near the present site of Jefferson 
school. The school house was built in 1805 and was commonly known as 
the " Old Red School House." It stood on what was afterward the south- 
east corner of Washington Park. It was at this school house that elections, 
many times very spirited, were held for many years. Isaac Van Tassel was 
among the first teachers; he was at the time fitting himself for the Presby- 
terian ministry. He afterwards became a successful missionary, and died 
among the Maumee Indians about the year 1847. 

As the town became more widely and thickly settled, other districts 
were formed in numerical order. At the time of the city organization the 
schools existing within its limits were as follows: In the First ward, Nos. 
I, 8, 15 and 16. In what is now the Second ward there was none. In the 
Third ward was No. 4, occupying the building now used by Mr. Young as 
a stable, on Church street. There was one in the Fourth ward, the old 
Prescott School on Lock street, near St. John's church. The Fifth ward 
contained one, which occupied a little, old wooden building, since removed. 
No. 6 was in the Sixth ward, on the north side of Fayette street near Franklin 
street. In the Seventh ward was the old Putnam school, on the corner of 



Public Schools. 533 



Montgomery and Jefferson streets, now used as a temporary city hall. No. 
lo was in the Eighth ward on East Fayette street.* 

On the lOth of February, 1848, a public meeting was held in Market 
Hall, presided over by Alex. McKinstry, to devise a system of common 
schools for the city of Syracuse. A series of resolutions prepared by the 
Rev. Samuel J. May, referring to the formation of the city and the great 
need of taking early and eflficient steps to provide for educating the young 
of the place was passed. The fourth resolution read as follows : 

4. That it is fitting and proper that a complete system of schools, free lo all the children of the 
city, should be amply sustained at the public expense, as that our city government, or tire depart- 
ment, or highways should be so supported. 

Kcsolved, That the noble example set by many cities in our State and country in respect to com- 
mon schools, should be generously emulated by the city of Syracuse. 

Resolved, That a committee of live from each ward be appointed to consider the plan of public 
instruction originally proposed by those who drafted the Charter of our city and compare it with the 
plan in operation in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Providence, Rochester and liuffalo, and report 
to an adjourned meeting, in detail, such a plan of public schools as they shall deem best adapted to 
the circumstances and wants of Syracuse. 

Mr. Salisbury then read the following statistics: 

" The following number of pupils can be accommodated in each of the 
four central schools in the city: No. 4, with its three rooms, seats 170; 
No. 5, with its four rooms, seats 275 ; No. 6, with its two rooms, seats 100 ; 
No. 7, with its five rooms, seats 340; making an aggregate of 885. 

"In the last annual report of the Trustees of District No. 7, 947 children 
were reported as between the ages of 5 and 16 — making an excess in that 
single district alone of 62 over and above the entire accommodations of 
these four public school buildings. 

"The whole number reported from the fourth district (and between the 
ages above named) is 2,124, or nearly three times the number provided for, 
showing that of the whole number of children in the central portion of the 
city, and of a suitable age to be placed in school, less than one-third are in 
attendance upon the public schools, and by a somewhat careful investiga- 
tion it has been ascertained that less than one-half of the remainder are in 
attendance upon the private schools of this same portion of the city. So 
that if the above statements may be relied upon, more than one-third of the 
whole number are in no school. 

"The whole amount paid for teachers' wages during the year ending De- 
cember 31, 1847, was $3,311.83. Of this sum only §677 was raised from 
the rate bills. Adding to this the contingent fund of these four districts, 
amounting to $675, gives $3,986.83 aggregate expense for the year. Of 
this sum the rate bills pay but about one-sixth, leaving five-sixths to be paid 

* During the first six years of the city's organization. Its territory comprised only four wards, 
but the reader will better understand the location of these schools by giving their situation after the 
city was divided into eight wards. 



534 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



by moneys received from the Literature Fund of the State and by a prop- 
erty tax. 

" By the last assessment roll the taxable property of these four dis- 
tricts amounted to the sum of $3,100,000. Now, on the supposition that 
the above named $677 were paid by the property of these districts, how 
much would it add to the tax already paid for educational purposes? If 1 
have figured correctly it would be $00.001,5." 

The chair then appointed the following as the committee contemplated 
in the fourth resolution : 

First Ward.— Wm. Clarke, Michael Lynch, I. R. Quereau, Miles W. 
Bennett, Noah Wood. 

Second Ward.— John Wilkinson. Dennis McCarthy, L. W. Hall, Henry 
J. Sedgwick, Alex. McKinstry. 

Third Ward.— Hiram Putnam, Theodore Ashley, Rev. Mr. Raymond, 
Phares Gould, P. S. Stoddard. 

Fourth Ward.— Hamilton White, David Bonta, W. W. Newell, A. G. 
Salisbury, E. T. Hayden. 

It was resolved, "that the committee be requested to meet at the trus- 
tees' room on Saturday evening next." 

Also, "that this meeting adjourn to meet again at the call of the com- 
mittee." 

This meeting led to the establishment of the present system of public 
schools in the city. 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS UNDER THE CITY GOVERNMENT. 

" An Act in Relation to the Public Schools of Syracuse" was passed 
April II, 1848. This act with some slight amendments, is the basis of the 
present public school system of the city. It provided for the appointment 
by the Mayor and Common Council, of two classes of School Commission- 
ers, one of which should hold ofifice one year and the other two years from 
the date of the first appointment, and that thereafter one commissioner 
should be elected from each ward annually. The commissioners so elected 
have control of everything relating to the public schools. The act was 
amended March 11, 1865, March 26, 1866, and March 27, 1868. One com- 
missioner is now elected by the people, from each ward for two years, and 
it is so arranged that the even wards elect one year and the odd wards the 
next year. 

In pursuance of the Act, eight commissioners were appointed by the 
Mayor and Common Council, who met at Market Hall (later the old City 
Hall) April 21, 1848, and after choosing Hiram Putman and R. A. Yoe, 
President and Secretary, pro tern., proceeded to draw for their respective 
terms as follows: 



Punuc Schools. 535 



First ward, William Clark, two years, J. P. Babcock, one year; Second 
ward, JJamcs Noxon, two years, C. M. Brosnan, one year ; Third ward, 
Hiram Putnam, two years, Daniel Bradley, one year; Fourth ward, Oliver 
Teall, two years, C. A. Wheaton, one year. 

(-)liver Teall resigned and his place was filled by T. B. Fitch. Wm. 
Clark was elected President of the Board, but declined to serve, whereupon 
Hiram Putman was elected in his place. At the next meeting of the Board, 
April 26, 1 8^8, A. G. Salisbury, who had been principal of Putman school 
previous to the city organization, was chosen clerk, upon whom also de- 
volved the duties of Superintendent of Schools, at a salary of $500 a year. 

The Board, upon its organization, adopted the following resolutions: 

" Resolved, That the Board of Education will not employ any teacher in any of the public schools 
of the city who uses intoxicating liquors as a beverage or who is addicted to the use of tobacco. 

"Resohed, That the President of the Board give public notice that the common schools of the 
city will be opened free to all children of the city." 

The first teachers appointed by the Board were: First ward. — No. i, 
Lewis Cornell, principal, monthly salary $35 ; No. 8, Edward Smith, princi- 
pal, $35 ; No. 15, J. B. Brigham, principal, $30 ; No. 16, James Johonnot, 
principal, $35, Miss Delia Earll, assistant, $15. 

Second ward. — No. 4, N. P. Stanton, principal, $48, Mrs. N. P. Stanton, 
assistant, $18, Miss Palmer, assistant, $15 ; No. 5, R. R. Stetson, principal, 
$45, Mrs. R. R. Stetson, assistant, $16, Miss M. A. Clapp, assistant, $18, 
Miss J. A. VanDenburg, assistant, $18. 

Third ward. — No. 6, J. B. Beal, principal, $35, Miss Mannah Burnet, as- 
sistant, §15 ; No. 20, Miss A. Bennett, principal, $18. 

Fourth ward. — No. 7, W. W. Newman, principal, $50, Miss E. E. Will- 
iams, assistant, $|S, Miss E. Williams, assistant, §15. Miss J. Brooks, assist- 
ant, $18, Miss S. M. Cox, assistant, §18, Mrs. R. C. Newman, assistant, $18; 
No. 12, J. M. Winchell, principal, $35, Miss A. Barker, assistant, $15 ; Miss 
H. Kingsley, assistant, $18. 

W. VV. Newman, now of South Onondaga, was married in the old Put- 
nam school, the only " wedding in school " on record. 

James Johonnot, the first Principal of No. 16, became a successful con- 
ductor of Teachers' Institutes throughout this and other States, and an 
author of several educational works. 

Edward Smith, who was appointed Principal of No. 8, in 1848, had been 
for several years a teacher in the village schools of Syracuse. After the city 
organization he continued in the service of the Board of Education as Prin- 
cipal till 1865, when he was elected Clerkand Superintendent. He held the 
office of Superintendent of Schools until 1889, a period of twenty-three 
years, when he was made Principal of Prescott School in the P'ourth ward. 
He is a man of untiring zeal, having advanced views concerning all matters 
pertaining to common schools ; and during his long term of service, now 



536 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

nearly forty-five years, has, perhaps, done more for the cause of education 
in Sj'racuse than any other person. 

A. E. Kinnie, Principal of Madison School, in the Eighth ward, who 
has been in the employ of the Board since 1S55, excepting about two years, 
is another veteran to whom large credit is due. 

A. G. Salisbury was for many years connected with the schools as Prin- 
cipal, and also for some years as Clerk of the Board of Education. He is 
held in grateful remembrance by many who came under his efficient in- 
struction. 

Syracuse was one of the first cities in this country to abolish corporal 
punishment in its schools. This important action was taken in 1867, on 
motion of Commissioner Orrin Welch, of the Sixth ward. Many thought 
at the time that it was too radical a step ; but subsequent experience has 
proved that it was a wise one. The moral tone of the schools is infinitely 
better than when whipping was in vogue. 

In 1854, a high school department was organized in the old Prescott 
School on Lock street, with Charles O. Roundy as principal. This depart- 
ment was removed to No. 4, now Young's stable, on Church street, in 1855. 
It was continued in the Pike block, corner of Salina and Fayette streets, 
and in rooms over what was then Sherman's grocery, at the corner of War- 
ren and East Fayette streets, till 1S69, when it was removed to the present 
commodious building on West Genesee street, which was erected at a cost, 
including lot, of $100,000. Prof. Roundy has been succeeded by W. A. 
Browneli, A. M., Ph. D.; Samuel Thurber, A. M.; George A. Bacon, A. M. 
Ph. D.; and William K. Wicks, A. M., in the order in which they are named. 

The High School has been a success from the first. It is now first in 
the State in the number of Academic scholars. It contains an average of 
about six hundred students, five hundred and fifty of whom hold Regents' 
certificates. 

First Graduating Class. — The names of the first graduates from the High 
School in 1856, are as follows: Rossiter Raymond, H. Wadsworth Clarke, 
Samuel M. Comstock, Osgood V. Tracy, Arinda L. Adams, Catherine B. 
Poole, Ellen A. Evans, EUyette W. Casey, Ellen V. Bowen. There were 
eighty-three graduates in 1889. 

There is nothing which shows so well the growth and prosperity of Syr- 
acuse as the wonderful progress of her schools. The people of the Central 
City have always shown an increasing interest in education, and have taken 
care of their schools, even when other public interests had to be neglected. 
Twenty-four, the number of teachers employed by the first Board of Edu- 
cation, in 184S, has increased to two-hundred aud seventy-eight in 1889. 

In 1889 there were registered in all the schools, 12,977 pupils; average 
number belonging, 10,644; average daily attendance, 10,198. 




^n^ fiyi:S.K»r-n.on^y 








Plmimc Schools. 537 



There are (iSgi) twenty-eight school buildings, one of which is a High 
school and eight are Grammer Schools. Eight new school buildings have 
been erected since 1S80. Several of these are commodious and costly, con- 
taining all of the modern improvements, including power ventilation. As 
example, Prestcott School, finished in iSSi, cost (not including lot) §29,000 ; 
Seymour School, 1S83, (not including lot) $40,000; Putnam School, 1888, 
(including lot) $65,000. 

Following is a list of schools, principals and location: High School, 
West Genesee, corner Wallace, Third ward, Wm. K. Wicks, A. M., Princi- 
pal. Adams School, Adams street, between Grapa and Orange, Seventh 
ward, Bessie M. Lowe, Principal. Bassett Street School (annex to the 
Madison School), Eighth ward, Marvin E. Bushnell, Principal. Brighton 
School, South Salina street, near Colvin, Eleventh ward, Mrs. L. E. Thomas, 
Principal. Clinton School, Lodi street, near Hawley, Fourth ward, Mrs. 
L. L. Goodrich, Principal. Danforth School, Furman street, near South 
Salina, Eleventh ward, John Q. Adams, Principal. Delaware School, Del- 
aware street, near Merriman avenue, Mary W. Flanagan, Principal. Frank- 
lin School, Butternut street, corner Peters, Second ward, Charles E. White, 
Principal. Frazer School, Frazer sft-eet, corner of Smith, Ninth ward, 
Eliza A. Kennedy, Principal. Genesee School, Genesee street, corner Wal- 
lace, Third ward, Mary Lounsbury, Principal. Gere School, Willis avenue, 
near Essex, Tenth ward, Laura M. Geary, Principal. Grace School, Grace 
street, corner Ontario, Fifth ward, Sara C. Terwilliger, Principal. Irving 
School, East Fayette street. Eighth ward, Eliza G. Chapman, Principal. 
Jefferson School, corner Park and Court streets. First ward, Mary L. Ford, 
Principal. Prescott School, Willow .street, above Lock, Fourth ward, Ed- 
ward Smith, Principal. Madison School, Madison street, corner Walnut 
avenue. Eighth ward, R. Bruce White, Principal. May School, Seneca 
street, between Otisco and Tully, Plfth ward, Mary A. Van Antwerp, Prin- 
cipal. Merrick School, South avenue, near Sheldon, Fifth ward, L. May 
Cameron, Principal. Montgomery School, Montgomery street, between 
Adams and Jackson, Sixth ward, Samantha C. Lincoln, Principal. Onon- 
daga County Orphan Asylum, East Genesee street, Eight ward, Maria B. 
Parish, Principal. Porter School, St. Mark's Square, between Bridge and 
Emerson avenues, Tenth ward, W. H. Scott, Principal. Putnam School, 
corner Montgomery and Jefferson streets. Seventh ward, John D. ^\'ilson, 
Principal. Rose School, Eighth ward, Bessie L. Hurd, Teacher. Salina 
School, Salina street, between Center and Bear, First ward, H. E. Barrett, 
Principal. -Seymour School, Seymour street, near West, Fifth ward, Bruce 
M. Watson, Principal. St. Vincent de Paul Orphan Asylum, Si.xth ward, 
Mary Mallynn, Principal. Townsend School, corner Townsend and Ash, 
68 



53S Memukial History of Syracuse. 



Second ward, Kate INI. Cullen, Principal. Vine Street School, Burnet ave- 
nue, near Vine, Fourth ward, Anna Holkings, Principal. 

The following comparative school statistics are worthy of preservation : 

1859. 1889. 

Registered, .-.-.. 5,279 12,977 

Average attendance, . . . . 2,776 10,198 

School census, ..... 9,823 23,460 

Cases of tardiness, - - - - 27,183 8,160 

Days, ...... 76,776 100,128 

The following have served as Clerks of the Board of Education : A. G. 
Salisbury, 1848-1849; W. L. Crandall, 1849- 1850 ; A.G.Salisbury, 1850- 
1851 ; E.A.Sheldon, 1851-1853; Wm. Hall, 1853; M.L.Brown, 1854; 
Geo. L. Farnham, 1855-1862; Chas. E.Stevens, 1862-1864; Edward Smith, 
1865-1889; A. Burr Blodgett, 1889. 

The present .School Board is as follows : President, William Spaulding; 
Clerk and Superintendent, A. B. Blodgett ; Commissioners, First ward, 
John J. Keefe ; Second ward, Daniel Scheer ; Third ward, James H. 
Meagher; Fourth ward, A. von Landberg ; P'ifth ward, Warren D. Tallman ; 
Sixth ward, E. C. Wright; Seventh ward, P. R. Kiely ; Eighth ward, 
Alexander Grant ; Ninth ward, Patrick Cody ; Tenth ward, G. H. Stilwell ; 
Eleventh ward, James R. McAllister; Twelfth ward, Charles F. Wyckoff; 
Thirteenth ward, John A. Mackay ; Fourteenth ward, John A. Tholens. 

The number of wards in the city was increased to eight in 1854, and the 
number of School Commissioners to sixteen. In 1857, the number of Com- 
missioners was reduced to eight. In 1887, the number of wards was in- 
creased to eleven and the number of Commissioners to eleven. 

Syracuse University. — The Syracuse University had its inception in the 
celebration of the Centennial of Methodism in 1866. The Methodist Epis- 
copal Church had resolved to raise that year two millions of dollars, and to 
make its educational institutions the chief objects of its benefactions. There 
were at that time, under the care of the Methodist denomination, several 
seminaries in the State of New York, but only one college. This — Genesee 
College — was located in Lima, in western New York, a small village several 
miles distant from a railroad station. It had been in operation since 1851, 
doing excellent work, but because of the disadvantage of its location had 
not prospered as much as had been anticipated. When efforts were to be 
made for centennial educational collections in New York, the question of a 
new University site at once became prominent. After much discussion it 
was resolved to seek a central location to which the Genesee College might 
be removed. All the trustees of the latter institution, save one, favored re- 
moval. Of course the citizens of Lima violently opposed such action, and 
secured an injunction against the trustees, prohibiting it. The work, how- 



SvRACUSF Unix KKsiTV. 539 



ever, of founding the new University did not halt. In 1867 the city of 
Syracuse voted an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars to the 
new University, conditioned upon the raising of four hundred thousand dol- 
lars additional, for endowment. On the 22d of February, 1S70, a Methodist 
Episcopal convention for the State of New York was held in Syracuse, at 
which it was determined to establish the University here. The following 
resolution, passed by the convention, declared its purpose : " Resolved, that 
this State Convention of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in New York, 
approves of the plan to establish, without delay, in the city of Syracuse, or 
its immediate vicinity, a first-class university, and recommends that imme- 
diate measures be taken to raise at least five hundred thousand dollars for 
its endowment. Subscriptions were thereupon asked for and one hundred 
and eighty-one thousand dollars were pledged. This, with previous valid 
subscriptions and the pledge of the city, made the amount of funds for the 
new enterprise three hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars. A provis- 
ional Board of Trustees was elected and steps taken to secure a charter. In 
January, 1871, the valid pledges to the enterprise reached four hundred and 
twenty-five thousand dollars, and on the 24th of April, following, the city 
issued bonds to the University amounting to one hundred thousand dollars. 
In May, Eliphalet Remington gave to the University an interest in a 
block in Syracuse worth eighty thousand dollars. During the same month 
a site of fifty acres, in the southeast part of the city, was selected and plans 
for building the Hall of Languages were adopted. 

On September i, 1871, the College of Liberal Arts opened its first ses- 
sion in the Myers block with forty-one students and five professors. It con- 
tinued to occupy this building until the Hall of Languages was completed 
and dedicated in May, 1873. 

In December, 1871, the Medical College was ordained, and began its 
work in the autumn of 1872. 

The College of Fine Arts was established in June, 1873, and opened on 
September 18, following. Its declared purpose was to give in.struction in 
Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Engraving, Music, Oratory, Poetry, 
Belles-lettres, Literature, etc. 

In the autumn of 1886, Mr. E. F. Holden determined to erect a work- 
ing observatory as a memorial to his son, Charles Demarest Holden, who 
graduated in the class of 1877, and died in Syracuse, February, 1S83. This 
Observatory is built of rock-faced, gray limestone, and is about 40x40 feet 
in extreme dimensions. It is equipped with an eight-inch Alvin Clark tele- 
scope, a four-inch reversible transit, micometer, chronograph, chronometer, 
astronomical clock, and all other needed appliances for practical astronomy. 
It is also fully equipped with apparatus for meteorological observations. 

In April, 1887, Mrs. John M. Reid, of New York city, purchased the 
great library of Leopold Von Rancke, of Berlin, Germany, and offered it to 



S40 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Syracuse University on condition that a suitable building be erected to con- 
tain it. Accordingly in the following September a Library Building 80x90 
feet, with a capacity for one hundred and thirty thousand volumes, was 
begun, and was completed in June, 1889. It is provided with abundant 
rooms and facilities for all departments of library work. 

One of the most magnificent gifts ever received by the University is the 
Memorial College for Women, erected by the late John Crouse, of Syracuse, 
and completed bj' his son, D. Edgar Crouse. This structure is of long- 
meadow, red sandstone, 162x190 feet extreme measurements, and is one of 
the most imposing college edifices in the world. It contains a magnificent 
music hall, a large organ and has been amply and elegantly furnished by its 
donors. 

The Medical College occupies three brick buildings on Orange street, 
well adapted to its purposes. 

The University has at present three well-equipped colleges. The College 
of Liberal Arts, with Classical Latin-Scientific and Scientific courses, is ad- 
mirably furnished with apparatus, laboratories and museums, and has an 
enrollment of four hundred and fifty students. 

The College of Fine Arts has courses in Painting, Architecture, and 
Music, and an attendance of two hundred and fifty students. 

The College of Medicine has a graduated three-years course, with an 
attendance of sixty students. 

Among the notable gifts to the University have been the following: 
Philo Remington, §100,000 ; John D. Slayback, $20,000 ; "A Friend," for 
library, $100,000 ; Milton S. Price, $10,000 ; Mrs. Lydia Morehouse, §30,000; 
Eliphalet Remington, $80,000 ; Bishop Jesse T. Peck, $50,000; J. Uorman 
Steele, §50,000 ; Ge9. F. Comstock, $50,000 ; Rev. R. H. Robinson, $15,000; 
Rev. William Grififin, D. D., §40,000; Hon. David Decker, $10,000; Mrs. 
W. r. Abbott, $10,000 ; Mrs. Harriet T. Leavenworth, Wolff Collection of 
Engravings ; E. F. Holden, the Observatory; John Crouse and D. Edgar 
Crouse, John Crouse Memorial College ; Mrs. J. M. Reid, \'on Rancke Li- 
brary ; Mrs. J. Dorman Steele, support of Professorship of Theistic Science 
($2,500 per year), and the equipment of the department of Physics, $10,000. 
Besides these have been many other gifts of various amounts. 

The Presidents of the Board of Trustees have been as follows : Rev. 
Jesse T. Peck, D.D., 1870-73 ; Alexander Winchell, LL. D., 1873-74; Hon. 
David Decker, 1874-79; Hon. l-"rancis H. Root, 1S79, to the present date. 

The Chancellors have been Rev. Daniel Steele, D. D. (President of Col- 
lege of Liberal Arts), 1871-72 ; Alexander Winchell. LL. D., 1872-74; E. 
O. Haven, D. D., LL. D., 1874-80; Chas. N. Sims, D. D., LL. D., i88i,to 
the present date. 

At this writing the University has property amounting to one million, 
seven hundred thousand dollars, of which five hundred thousand dollars is 



Meads' Business College. 541 



productive endowment. Its students number nearly eight hundred, with a 
teaching force of forty-nine. The University is co-educational and opens 
all its courses of study on ceiual terms to students of both sexes. 

JLitds' Biisi/trss Col/cgc. — In or about the year 1857 a Mr. Kelsey es- 
tablished and maintained a Commercial School in the old Wieting block 
until the year 1862, when Prof. D. T. Ames, who had been in partnership 
with Prof. C. P. Meads in conducting the Commercial College at Oswego, 
purchased the Kellsey School. 

There was at that time in the block now occupied by D. McCarthy & 
Co., corner South Salina and Fayette streets, the Bassett Commercial Col- 
lege, which was afterwards conducted by the Mead Bros, (no relation to 
Prof. C. P. Meads). By reason of the disturbed condition of the country 
from 1861 to 1865, many commercial schools suspended operations, among 
them the one in the McCarthy block. This gave to Prof. Ames the field in 
this city without competition until 1S65, when Bryant & Stratton, of unlim- 
ited fame and resources, established a branch college in the Malcolm block, 
corner Railroad and South Salina streets. 

The competition between Prof. Ames and the latter college became ani- 
mated and at times decidedly fierce. This condition of affairs continued until 
the Spring of 1S68. Prof. Meads, who became connected with the Oswego 
Commercial College in 1S59, <*"'^> excepting the copartnership with Prof. 
Ames for a period of some two years, was the sole owner and conductor of 
the college in that city until the burning of the Grant block, where his 
school had been located, with all desirable appointments, for several years. 
The fire destroyed everything connected with the material effects of the 
college, but with pluck and energy Prof. Meads secured quarters in the 
Mansard block, and with somewhat crude appliances at first, had his college 
in running order, with the loss of but a few days. This occurred on the 
9th of January, 1868, and the school continued in that location until April 
following, when a co-partnership was formed with J. H. Warren, of Syra- 
cuse, who had succeeded to the management of the Bryant & Stratton Col- 
lege in this city. A consolidation was effected, and the Oswego interest 
was brought here and combined with the Bryant & Stratton school. This 
arrangement continued for a short time when Messrs. Warren & Meads pur- 
chased the Ames College and moved into the rooms of the latter, covering 
the entire upper floor of the Pike block, corner South Salina and Fayette 
streets. 

In the fall of the .same year (1868) Prof. Meads purchased the interest 
held by Mr. Warren and the school was then, and continued to be for sev- 
eral years, the only commercial or business college in this city. In 1882, 
rooms were taken in Grand Opera House block, covering three stores on 
second floor and fitted up expressly for the growing needs of the college. 



542 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Prosperity attended the entire period from 1882 to the fall of 1888, when 
the "Grand" was destroyed by fire on the 13th of September. This event, 
occurring twenty years after the fire at Oswego, would have had a depress- 
ing effect on the average man in like circumstances, but Prof. Meads lost no 
time in securing another location for his school, which was found in the 
Washington block, corner South Salina and Jefferson streets, formerly oc- 
cupied as the Washington House. Here, with spacious rooms and all mod- 
ern appliances for conducting a business college, the school is enjoying the 
prosperity it deserves. 



LIliRARIE.S. 



The first circulating library in Syracuse was known as the " Parish Li- 
brary " and was established chiefly through the efforts of the Rev. Palmer 
Dyer, then rector of St. Paul's Church. Mr. Dyer took a deep interest in 
the welfare and growth of the village and this feeling prompted him to seek 
a means of giving the people healthful reading. This small library was ac- 
commodated, at least during a part of its existence, in a room provided by 
the late L. H. Redfield, who also appreciated the value in the community 
of good reading matter. It was subsequently removed to the old Academy 
and consolidated with the library of that institution. 

Madame A. J. Raoul, a lady who took a deep interest in educational and 
intellectual affairs, had a circulating library at one time, before the organiza- 
tion of the city, which accomplished much good. 

A building which formerly stood on the northeast corner of Salina and 
Washington streets, acquired the title of " Library Hall " from the fact that 
in it was a public hall, and also a library which was the offspring of the 
" Syracuse Library and Reading Room Association." This hall and library 
acquired considerable distinction. Public lectures were given in the hall 
before the Association and its friends b)^ several prominent persons, and on 
one occasion Mrs. P'annie Kemble-liutler gave readings there. Ole Bull, 
then at the height of his fame as a violinist, gave an entertainment there. 
The library which was accumulated by the Association never reached more 
than 1,200 volumes, and was for a period under the care of Thomas A. Smith, 
who had his law office in the rooms of the Association and acted as librarian. 
This Association was not very long-lived and under a burden of debt finally 
closed up its affairs and the books were purchased by E. \\\ Leavenworth, 
Capt. Hiram Putnam, Dr. Lyman Clary, and others, and placed as a library 
in Dr. Clary's office. At a later date the books were presented to the 
" F'ranklin Library and Institute." 



CiRCUl.ATINC; LlliKAKIICS. 543 

This was an institution that exercised a wide-spread influence for good 
in the community and for many years was very successful. A number of 
leading citizens became interested in the establishment of a library and in- 
stitute of such a character and after considerable agitation, made an appeal 
to the public for contributions of books, pamphlets, periodicals, etc. This 
appeal was made at the close of a lecture given in Market Hall (the old City 
Hall) by Dr. Mark Hopkins, then President of Williams College, and the cit- 
izens were notified that they would be called upon for contributions the next 
day. The next morning two boys (one of them Daniel W. Fiske, afterwards 
professor in Cornell University, and the other Edwin Smith, who became a 
successful attorney of Kennebunkport, Me.) started out on the work with a 
large basket. Their success was most encouraging. One of the first librar- 
ians of the Institute was Dr. Henry Gregory, then rector of St. Paul's 
church, and his zealous and untiring efforts contributed in a large measure 
to the success of the institution. The Franklin Institute, as it was com- 
monly known, gained a reputation that extended throughout Central New 
York and drew to its fairs, held annually in Wieting Hall, crowds of de- 
lighted people from surrounding counties, as well as from the city. The 
Library was for manj' years located in commodious apartments in the 
Wieting Block, and it became one of the established and useful institutions 
of Syracuse. Before its members and friends such men as Thomas T. 
Davis, Zaccheus Newcomb, Wing Russell, Judge James Noxon, Judge 
North, C. B. Sedgwick, S. D. Dillaye, and many others, delivered lectures 
which were listened to with appreciation. 

But this institution, brilliant as were its prospects at one time, at last 
fell into decline, and was finally closed out and its effects sold. Many of 
its books found their way into the other libraries of the city. 

About the year 1844 the Society for Mutual Instruction was founded, 
which, although not a library strictly speaking, bore a close relationship 
thereto, through the character of the benefits conferred by it. The officers 
and members of the society were each assigned a branch of natural science, 
and in rotation each furnished an original essay at each weekly evening 
meeting, with natural specimens for illustrations, which were supplemented 
by information contributed by all the members upon the topic under dis- 
cussion for the evening. The first year the members met in the school 
house on Church street, and the last year in A. G. Salisbury's school room, 
near the old Congregational church (site of the present Convention block) 
on East Genesee street. This society was of great benefit. A member 
afterwards reported the first course of lectures delivered in this country by 
Professor Agassiz, and wrote to a friend that he could not have filled that 
position had it not been for information acquired as a member of the Soci- 
ety for Mutual Instruction. The record of its organization is as follows : 



544 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



OFFICERS. 

President, Rev. Samuel J. May. Elyniology. 

Secretary A. G. Salisbury, Conchology. Teacher till July i, iSfq, Paymaster at New Orleans in 
the war of the rebellion, superintendent of .Auburn prison. 

Treasurer, \V. II. Scram, Geology. A teacher in No. 7 public school, removed in 1S47 to New- 
York city. 

M KM HERS. 

Miss A. Hradbury, .Vnamakul.i.'. Principal of Young Ladies' Seminary in .Syracuse died Sep- 
tember 12, 1S51). 

Mrs. A. M. Kedlifld, Radiates. 

Miss Mary Allen, Conchology. Principal of female seminaries in Rochester and Syracuse. 

Dr. 1 )unlap, Physiology. 

Kev. Stebbins, Anthropology. Removed in 1S4S to Florence, Ga. 

Mr. Stetson, Icthyology. Teacher at No. 5 public school, died in 1S4S or 1S49 in Syracuse. 

Joseph A. .Allen, .Meterology. Teacher in the Academy. 

.M. Burr, Herpetology. Printing in New York in 1S4S. 

Dr. T. D. Washburn, Knto/^oa. Removed west. 

Mr. Stanton. Afterward a teacher in Buffalo, and later Secretary of the State of New York. 

School Libraries. — Small circulating libraries were connected with the 
district schools from almost the date of their formation, and were continued 
a few years under the city organization. These school libraries did a vast 
amount of good. They were almost the only free source of reading for the 
masses of the people. The report of tlie Superintendent of iS5"said: "No 
equal amount of public money is doing more good to the community than 
that expended in the purchase of books for the district libraries. There are 
nine of these libraries, so distributed over the city as to be conveniently ac- 
cessible to every one. The aggregate number of the volumes is 4,620. 
During the year (1857) twenty thousand volumes have been drawn. This 
extensive reading, principally by the pupils attending the schools, but 
largely by others, cannot fail to have an important influence in forming the 
taste and habits of those who thus devote their leisure hours." 

These libraries were continued until the adoption of the plan of a Cen- 
tral Library, at which time many of the less valuable and important books 
were sold, and the standard and valuable works turned over to that library. 

The Central Library. — This library was opened to the public on the first 
of May, 1855, in which year it was enlarged by the addition of two hundred 
volumes of standard works. When the High School building was com- 
pleted in I S69 it was transferred to its present well-arranged and spacious 
apartments on the first floor of that building. The Central Library is in- 
tended not so much for circulation as for collecting standard books of ref- 
erence, and keeping them where they may be conveniently consulted. Nev- 
ertheless, it has a circulating department, free to all citizens above ten years 
of age. The reference department is open to all persons above the age of 
fourteen. The Library is under the direction of the Board of Education, 
and is conducted by the Rev. E. W. Mundy and an assistant, under a strict 
yet liberal system of rules and regulations. 




J^^yi^'C'i'T^^ -^T/in^'iy^ 



^')i-/lJ^ 



The I'kess ok Syracuse. 545 

We <;ive the following comparative statistics of the Central Library, 
fruiu 1867 to 1889, inclusive: 

Years. In Library. Circulation. Average daily circulaliim. 

1867 5.227 

1,S6S ' 5,870 31 000 

1809 7,371 

1870 lo.cxx) 24,310 130 

1871 10,592 39.694 '29 

1872 ir423 3^'')S(> '28 

1873 12,423 36.o>o «3S 

1874 13,300 36.672 137 

1875 13,791 41.623 138 

1576 14.070 4«.057 "33 

1577 47,2iS 153 
1878 14,289 35.616 17s 

1579 13,344 47.760 165 

1580 13-423 40,525 138 
iSSi 13,692 36,878 137 

1882 14,603 39-7S5 130 

1883 15,494 37,906 123 
1SS4 15,889 34.296 1 14 
1885 17,107 4'.433 '35 
1SS6 17. 1S2 44,686 146 

1887 18,062 39.S23 129 

1888 18,687 40.542 131 
18S9 20,518 43.416 143 
1S90 21,541 44.303 «4S 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



THE PRESS OF SYRACUSE. 



The Public I'ress — Its Character in Syracuse — The Syracuse Staitilani and its i'redecessiirs — 
The Syracuse Joiirmil and its Origin — The Syracuse Courier — The Evening Ihiald — Weekly Pa- 
pers — The Religious Press — Defunct Newspapers. 

THE newspapers of a citj' are a mirror in which is, or shouiid be, reflected 
the daily, weekly, and monthly events that constitute the progress of 
the place in all its aspects ; and the character of the press of a city gener- 
ally indicates to a degree the enterprise and intelligence of the community. 
It is believed that the public journals of Syracuse are worthy of favorable 
comparison with those of any other city of similar size in the country. In 
searching the files during the past years we find not alone the evidences of 
active political partisanship evinced by keen and incisive editorials, especi- 
ally during the various campaigns and able discussions of various subjects, 
but also a general tone of elevated journalism pervading their columns. A 
degree of enterprise and ability characterizes their mechanical features that 
is most commendable. 



546 Memorial Histoky ok Syracuse. 

In compiling a brief historical record of the various publications that 
have come into being in Syracuse, only a few of which remain as perma- 
nent factors in the life of the city, while very many ran their brief careers 
and then joined the majority in oblivion, we will first treat of those that are 
now in existence, with their direct ancestors, leaving the suspentled and 
presumably less important publications for later consideration. 

The Syracuse Standard, now publishing daily, weekly, and Sunday 
editions, may properly claim the longest life of any newspaper in the city. 
In the year 1816 Evander Morse, who was quite a prominent citizen of 
Onondaga Hill, published the first number of the Onondaga Gazette, which 
he continued about five years. The village on the Hill was then contend- 
ing lor supremacy with the Valley, and this early newspaper was one of the 
evidences that the former was gaining the asctndenc}' through its import- 
ance as the county seat. The i)aper passed into possession of Cephas S. 
McConnell in 1S21, who changed its name to the Onondaga Journal. In 
1827 Vivus W. Smith became its proprietor, and two years later, following 
the tide of migration towards Syracuse, already inaugurated, he removed 
the establishment to this village. There was then in existence in Syracuse 
a newspaper called the Syracuse Advertiser, which was started as the sec- 
ond journal in the village (preceded in 1823 by the Onondaga Gazette) 
by John V . Wyman and Thomas P. Harnum. Norman Rawson was also 
connected with it for a time, but Mr. Wyman soon assumed the entire con- 
trol, which he continued until 1S29, at which time the Onondaga Journal 
was brought here, as stated, and the two papers were consolidated under 
the name of the Onondaga Standard, the firm style being Wyman & Smith, 
with the latter as editor. John F. Wyman was a man of ability and con- 
siderable prominence in the early historj' of Sj'racuse, his name often ap- 
pearing as secretary of public meetings and in other capacities demanding 
good qualifications. 

The partnership of Mr. Smith and Mr. W)-man was dissolved in Janu- 
ary, 1832, Mr. Wyman retiring. Thomas A. and Silas F. Smith had 
been learning the practical part of the business in the office, and soon after- 
ward they assumed proprietorship of the paper, Vivus W. Smith continuing 
as editor. He soon withdrew, however, and the Journal was transferred to 
Asahel L. Smith, a brother of \'. W'., and William L. Crandall. The for- 
mer was then connected with the Jeffersonian, in Watertown, N. Y., and 
was a capable business man. Mr. Crandall was a vigorous and able writer, 
and his columns wielded a potent political influence. He remained on the 
paper until the close of the exciting political campaign of 1840, and was 
succeeded January i, 184 1, by Marcellus Farmer as editor and part owner 
of the establishment. Mr. I'armer was a printer and worked in the South, 
but came to New York and worked on the Tribune when he purchased his 



The Press of Svuacuse. 547 



interest in the Standard. The firm was Smith & Farmer, and under their 
management tlic paper flourished as an independent Democratic organ. 
Mr. Farmer retired at the end of four year.-, went to California, and while on 
the return voyage in 1852 was lost at sea. 

Mr. Crandall came back as editor of the paper for Mr. Smith, and con- 
tinued until January l, 1846, when Patrick H. Agan purchased a half inter- 
est and assumed the editorial control. This he continued for twenty years, 
until May i, 1866, when, owing to political changes, he withdrew. Mr. 
Agan, who is still living, is a fearless and independent writer, and under his 
editorial guidance the Standard gained the respect of his constituency. In 
1847 the Sj'racusc Democrat, started in 1S46 by Clark & West, and sold the 
ne.\t year to John Abbott, was absorbed by the Standard. 

Various political changes culminated in 1848 in the rejection of the reg- 
ular delegation to the Baltimore Democratic Convention, and left the "Barn- 
burners," as they were termed, no part in the choice of a Presidential can- 
didate and at liberty to bolt, which they did, and the Standard advocated 
the action and joined in support of Van Buren. The paper suffered some 
loss of patronage on accoimt of this policy, and soon afterward Mr. Smith 
sold his interest to Moses Summers, who had been foreman of the estab- 
lishment, and the firm became Agan & Summers. Eight years later Mr. 
Agan sold his interest to William Summers, brother of Moses, the firm style 
being Summers & Brother. The Democratic party had meanwhile become 
reunited, and the Standard continued as its local organ until 1856, when it 
refused to support Buchanan, accepted more liberal ideas, and hoisted the 
Fremont colors. In 1850 the Standard absorbed the Syracuse Reveille, 
started in 1848 by William L. Palmer and William Summers. 

Going back to May, 1846, a daily issue was published, but suspended 
three months later. It was resumed in January, 1850, and continued as a 
five-column sheet for two years, when it was enlarged to a seven-column, in 
which form it was publisheil until its change to a quarto, as hereafter 
noted. 

With the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion Moses Summers 
joined the army. He had become an active Abolitionist, and was one of the 
prime movers in the famous " Jerry Rescue," which occurred on the 3d of 
October, 185 i, as elsewhere described in these pages, and the Standard su^- 
ported the government through the Rebellion in the most unqualified man- 
ner. Mr. Summers returned in 1865, and continued at the head of the paper 
until May 9, 1866, when Charles E. F"itch, who had been connected with the 
Snnday Herald in this city, and was known as an educated and gifted writer, 
acquired an interest in the establishment. On July 23, of the same year, 
the firm of Summers & Company was formed, consisting of the Summers 
brothers, Charles E. Fitch, and Henry A. Barnum. Mr. I-'itch, Moses Sum- 



548 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

mers, and F. A. Marsh (the latter city editor) acted as editors of the paper, 
while William Summers acted as business manager. A more vigorous pol- 
icy was adopted, tlie paper was made a nine-column sheet, and it soon ad- 
vanced to a leading position among the newspapers of the State. 

After the death of President Lincoln the Standard opposed the John- 
son administration and supported Horace Greeley in his campaign for the 
highest office in the country. With his defeat and the election of Genera! 
Grant the Standard adopted an independent policy, but within a year fell 
again into the straight Republican ranks, where it has since continued, 
though in later years it has maintained a high standard of independence of 
utterance. 

In September, 1873, Mr. Fitch sold his interest to his partners, and not 
long afterward resumed his gifted pen as editor of the Rochester Chronicle, 
where he has won honorable ilistinction. Mr. Summers again put on the 
full editorial harness, and in the same year T. D. Curtis, C. H. Lyman, and 
George W. Edwards acq.uired a portion of the property, Mr. Curtis and Mr. 
Edwards joining the editorial staff. A little later a controlling interest fell 
into the hands of Charles E. Hubbell, who engaged Chester A. Lord, of tlie 
New York Sun, to act as editor-in-chief. This connection lasted only six 
weeks, when Hugh McDowell (then in Europe), a graduate of Syracuse Uni- 
versity, became the principal owner, Mr. Summers remaining at the political 
helm. A few years later he permanently retired from the profession and was 
given the government post of Warden of the Port of New York, where he 
was killed by a fall on June 15, 1882. 

In August, 1880, Mr. McDowell sold out to J. I-'. Durston and E. B. Al- 
vord, the stock company which had been the nominal owners of the estab- 
lishment turning over their entire rights to the new firm. Mr. Alvord soon 
afterward withdrew. Under the tlirect editorial management of Mr. Durs- 
ton the Standard maintained or excelled its former reputation, and its opin- 
ions were received with respect throughout the State. 

On the 25th of December, 1883, the paper was changed to a quarto, in 
which form it has since appeared. In the winter of 1883 J. F. Durston took 
in as partners Howard G. White, George I'^. Dana, W. W. Cox, and I'"orbes 
Heermans, as Directors of the business afTairs of the establishment. Soon 
afterward Mr. White bought out the entire interests of his partners, but 
Mr. Durston continued as editor until April, 1887, when the present man- 
aging editor, Charles R. Sherlock, was installed. 

On the I I til of October, 1887. the office was removed to its new building 
in East Genesee street, where is now located a modern, first-class establish- 
ment, in commodious, convenient, and handsome quarters. A web press 
was introduced and all other appliances necessary to the production of the 
representative daily newspaper. 



TiiF, Pkkss ok Syracuse. 549 



Mr. Sherlock began his editorial career on the Syracuse Courier in Oc- 
tober, 1875. whore he remained as a reporter five years. In September, 
18S0, ho accepted the city editorshi|) of the Standard, and in 1882 assumed 
the same duties on the All)any Evcitiitg Journal. In May, 1884, ho re- 
turned to Syracuse to edit the Simday edition of the Standard, and was pro- 
moted to the position of nianaghig editor under Howard G. White, in April, 
1887. Though still a young man he (ills his resiionsiblc station with abilitj' 
and dignity. 

The editorial statV of the Standard is as follows; Kditor-in- chief, 1 loward 
G. White; Managing lulitor, Charles R. Sherlock; Associate Editor, Rich- 
ard \\. Day ; Exchange Editor, W. W. Aldon ; Telegraph Editor, James E. 
Dever ; City Editor, Irvin K. Webb; Reporters, Eenner H. Webb, Dana 
C. Carroll, M. C. Kingsley, and John R. Cooper. 

The Syracuse Daily Courier was st.irted October I, 1856, during the 
Prcsidt^ntial campaign which resulted in the election of James Buchanan. 
Its founder was F. L. Ilagadorn. Subsequently it passed into the hands of 
II. S. McCullom. In the campaign of i860 the Cw/m-r supported Krcck- 
enridge for President. The friends of Douglass, therefore, started another 
paper which they christened the Syracuse Union, with Daniel J. Halstcad as 
proprietor. At the close of the campaign the two papers were united under 
the name of the Syracuse Daily Courier and Union, with Daniel J. Halstead 
as sole proprietor. The last name was dropped about 1872, and the Syra- 
cuse Daily Courier has been the name since. On liie ist of January, 1S70, 
Mr. Halstcad admitted into partnership with himself in the proprietorship 
of the Courier Messrs. Milton H. Northrii[) and S. Gmney I.apham, under 
the firm name of D.J. Halstead & Company, each of the partners owning a 
third. William W. Green, who had been editor of the paper for ten or 
twelve years, retired from that position and was succeeded by Milton II. 
Northrup, who has since held the editorship; S. Gurney Lapham became 
at the same time associate editor, and holds the same position to day. In 
May, 1873. D. J. Halstcad & Company were succeeded in the ownership by 
the Courier Printing Company, the bulk of the stock therein being held by 
the late proprietors. Judge Daniel Prait was made President of the new 
company, and S. G. Lapham, Secretary, with D. J. Halstead as business 
manager, and the editorial management remaining with M. II. Northrup. 
In 1879 Hon. William C. Rugcr was m.ide President of the companj', and 
Mr. Northrup, Secretary, Treasurer, and Manager. This organization has 
since remained unchanged. 

The same company publishes the Syracuse Semi- Weekly Courier, the out- 
growth of the Onondaga Weekly Courier. In 1874 they started the Sunday 
Courier, which was almost the pioneer in Sunday journalism, in conjunc- 
tion with daily journals, in this State. The Sunday edition was discontinued 
in 1884. 



550 Memorial History or Syracuse. 

The Syracuse Evening Herald was founded by Aitluir Jenkins in Janu- 
ary, 1877, tlic fir.st number making its appearance on the I5tli of tlie month. 
It was a six-column sheet, set in large type, and the place of publication 
was in a job printing office over the store ot J. & F. B. Garrett, The paper 
was started under ihe humblest auspices, the propiiett.r being i)raclically 
without capital to invest in the enterprise. The original list of employees 
consisted of five journeymen printers, one apprentice, and one editor, beside 
Mr. Jenkins himself, who filled the positions of business manager, reporter, 
and foreman of the composing room. Work on the first issue began as 
early as 5:30 o'clock in the morning, and it was nearly 7 in the evening be- 
fore the forms could be sent to the press, poor material and the lack of ex- 
perience in "making up" being the largest factors in the delay. On the 
thirtieth day of its publication the paper reached a circulation of 3,000 
copies An amusing incident in the Herald's early history was in connec- 
tion with the hanging of Kdward Thomas, the colored murderer, in the State 
I'rison at Auburn. On the da)' of the execution a pictme of the unfortu- 
nate man was published with the stor)- of iiis crime and death at the hands 
of the law. Tiie "cut" was a stroke of enterprise to wiiich the people here 
were altogether unaccustomed. It struck the p<ipular craving with regard 
to such matters, and the papers sold so fast in the street that, before the 
fict was realized, the entire edition liad been exhausted and there were no 
copies left for the regular subscribers. 

The obstacles encountered by Mr. Jenkins in his effort to establish the 
Herald on a firmer basis were of the most trying description. The meager 
capital with which he had set the enterprise on foot soon gave out, but the 
employees, who shared his own confidence ol ultimate success, came bravely 
and "enerously to his assistance and agreed to take part payment for their 
services each week and wait for the rest. Gradually the [prospects of the 
little paper grew brighter, until at last a condition of things was reached 
under which it became possible to pay the hands off regularly every Satur- 
day night. Up to this time the proprietor owned neither type nor press, 
all the work being done in the office of a job printer. Differences arising 
under this arrangement it became necessary that the [)aper should have a 
complete outfit of its own. The type was furnished by J & V. V>. Garrett, 
and soon afterward a single-cylinder Hoe press, with engine and boiler, was 
bought of Wells Hrothers. The task of paying for these improvements 
brought new trials, and at times the future looked dark indeed. At the 
right moment, however, a few citizens, of whom the Herald \\a.d made friends 
by its conduct up to that tiine, came forward with temporary loans, and one 
gentleman, whose business foresight was equal to the discernment of a 
career for the struggling sheet, lent liberally of his means to transfer the in 
stitution from individual to corporate control. A stock company was formed. 



TiiK I'Kiiss oi- Syracuse. 551 



a double-cylinder press was bouglit, and in August, 1878, the Herald's 
<joods and cliattols were moved to the building No. 41 West Water street, the 
size of the sheet being at the same time increased to seven coiunms. Then 
the circulation grew by healthy stages to 6,000 and more. Tlie facilities in 
use were unequal to the deniands made on them, and on the i 5th of January, 
18S0, the only four-cylinder press between Albany and Rochester at that 
time rolled ofl' its first batch of sheets in the /Aw?/;/ office. On the i6ih of 
IMaj- following the Sunday eilition began its career. The first issue was 
simply an eight column folio paper. The experience of a single day was 
siitficient to demonstrate that the Sunday edition was not large enough, and 
a supplement was accordingly i>sued from that time until 1882, when the 
paper was enlarged into an eight-page sheet. The Herald again outgrew 
its facilities of publication, ami a change of location to more commodious 
quarters also became imperatively necessary. On the first of May, 1883, 
the office was accordingly moved to the Crouse liuilding, in Warren street, 
where it still remains, anil the first stereotyped edition of the Herald was 
printed on that day from a Scott web perfecting press that had been bought 
in June of the preceding year. 

Upon the organization of the /A7V//(/Compan)' in June, 1878, Mr. Jenkins 
was elected President, and he has lillcd the position ever since. Francis 
E. Leupp secured an interest in the company soon after its formation, and 
he was its first Vice-President, his election being simultaneous with the 
creation of the ofifice on June 24, 1885. Mr. Leupp from his first connec- 
tion with the Herald was its managing editor until the opening of the Presi- 
dential campaign of 1884, when, in order to devote himself exclusively to 
editorial work, he yielded that desk to Henjamin E. Wells, who has contin- 
ued in the position up to the present time. Mr. Leupp's connection with 
the Herald ceased in the spring of 1885, James \i. Baily securing his in- 
terest in the company and succeeding him in the Vice- Presidency. 

In the summer of 1882 the Herald became a charter member of the 
United Press Association. 

The Syraeuse Journal IS the-oldest daily newspaper in Onondaga county. 
Its Weekly edition is al.so one of the oldest in Central New York This 
paper has gained a large circulation, and exercises a wide influence in pub- 
lic affairs. Three times in its history has its printing establishment been 
destroyed by fire, and at the writing of this account the Journal is replac- 
ing its plant after a visitation of fire that destroyed its entire material 
property. 

The pioneer was the Western State Journal, started March 20, 1837, by 
V. W. and S. F. Smith. In 1844 it became the Weekly Jonrnal, and July 
4th of that year S. F. Smith began publishing the Daily Journal. These 
papers have had various owners: In 1847, Barnes, Smith & Cooper ; in 



55- Memouiai. HisTouv of Svkacuse. 



[849, VivtisVV. Smith ; in 1S53, S. Haiglit & D. Merricle ; in 1854, Thomas 
S. Tiuair; in 1855, J. G. K. Truair ; in i860, Truair, Smith & Miles; in 
1872, Truair, Smith & Co.; in 1874, Truair, Smith & Bruce; in 1884, 
Smith & liruce; in 1885, the Syracuse yt^/zrwf?/ Compan)-, the present owners. 

Tile Journal lias had various editors in its long career. Its most distin- 
guished conductor was Vivus W. Smith, who was justly esteemed one of 
the very ablest political writers this State has ever produced. His son. 
Carroll K. Smith, has been its editor since 1862, and continues in ciiarge of 
the paper. Anson G. Chester, Andrew Sherman, Silas F. Smitli, D wight 
n. Hruce, Edward Cooper, George Tcrwilliger, Thomas S. Truair, and 
George G. Truair have at various times iield editorial relations u ith the paper. 
It has grown into a great establishment, sianding among the prominent and 
influential ncwspajjers in the State of New York. 

Tlic Weekly Express was established in 1887 by Stephen Stedman. It 
is largely devoted to the rural pojiiilation of Central New York, among 
whom it has a large circulation. 

The Sunday Morning Times was established in November, 1S76, by 
Fralick. Hitchcock & Weed. Mr. Fralick withdrew at the end of about a 
year, and the paper was continued by Hitchcock & Weed until the death 
of the former, soon afterward, when A. M. Knickerbocker acquired an in- 
terest. The establishment was bought, in 1888, by Messrs. A. M. Knick- 
erbocker and M. H. Robbins. The Times was edited during the first seven 
years of its existence by H. P. Smith This paper is now enjoying a pros- 
perous career, and is ably edited and managed. M. H Robbins, a publisher 
of experience and ability, is the manager, and Mr. Knickerbocker is the edi- 
tor. They are enterprising journalists and present a popular paper of large 
circulation. 

The Comnureial 'Traveler (monthly) was established in September, 
1875, as the organ of the Commercial Tr.iveKrs' Association It is still in 
existence. 

KUUCATIONAI. JOUK.N AI.S. 

The School Ihillelin is an odvicatioiial journal published monthly. It 
was started September:, 1874, ami in April, 1875, was consolidated \\ith 
the Neiv York State T.dneational Journal, and was published by Davis, 
15ardeen & Co. until I8^'o, wiien it passed under the sole ownership of C. VV. 
Baidcen, who has since owne.l and edited it. .Mr. Hardeen is a publisher 
of school books, and has made his journal an acknowledged authority on all 
matters pertaining to education. 

The Vo/tni^ Ladies' Miseellany was issued November 7, 1845, by a com- 
mittee of young ladies belonging to the Syracuse Female Seminary. It 
lived only twelve weeks. 




/iITVfz^Xv^^^ 



The Press of Syracuse. 553 



The Teachers Advocate was commenced in 1846, by L. W. Hall, pub- 
lisher, and Edward Cooper, editor. In 1847 it passed into the hands of 
Barnes, Smith & Cooper, and was continued about a year, when it was sold 
to Joseph McKean, and removed to New York. 

The District School Journal, ovgs.n of the State School Department, 
was removed from Albany to Syracuse in 1847 and published two years by 
L.W. Hall and one year by Barnes, Smith & Cooper, when it was taken 
back to Albany. 

The Free School Clarion was publi.shed a few months in the fall of 
1849, by Wm L. Crandall. 

The Seraph's Advocate (monthly) was started in the fall of 1852 by 
Miss Keziah E. Prescott, and continued about a year. 

THE RELIGIOUS PRESS. 

The Northern Christian Advocate (organ of the ]\I. E. church) is a 
weekly journal which was established in Auburn by the Rev. Mr. Robic, 
in 1840. In 1844 he sold the paper to the General Conference and from 
that time until 1862 it was published under the supervision of a Pub- 
lishing Committee, the Conference appointing the editors. In the last 
named year the Conference placed the paper in the hands of the Meth- 
odist Book Concern, of New York city. In 1872 they transferred it to 
Syracuse and its publication has since been continued here by Nelson & 
Phillips, as agents of the book concern. The Rev. O. H. Warren, D. D., is 
the present editor, succeeding the Rev. Dr. D. D. Lore. 

The American Wesleyan (organ of the Wesleyan Methodist church) 
was removed from New York to Syracuse January i, 1S48, by L. C. Mat- 
lock. In October, 1868, Cyrus Prindle became the editor, and he was suc- 
ceeded by Adam Crooks. He was succeeded by Rev. D. S. Kinney, who 
continued in the position until his death in 1889. The present editor is 
Nathan VVardner. In 1887, a handsome block was erected on Onondaga 
street, where is located a large printing establishment, book store, etc. 

The Juvenile Instructor (semi-monthly) was first issued from the \Ve.s- 
leyan office, and is under the same management. 

The Religious Recorder (Presbyterian) was started in May, 1844, by 
Terry & Piatt. In 1847, 't passed into the hands of Avery & Hulin, who 
continued it until 1853. 

The Christian Work is a monthly journal begun in April, 1876, by 
the Young Men's Christian Association. 
70 



554 Memorial History of Syracuse. " 

The Evangelical Pulpit was started in January, 1854, by the Rev. 
Luther Lee, and continued about two years. 

NEWSPAPERS OF THE PAST. 

The mortuary list of newspapers in Syracuse is a long one, as it is in all 
similar cities. No profession, no field of human labor, attracts to itself 
such enthusiastic workers, many of whom are, alas, either without 
experience or lacking in the necessary qualifications for newspaper success 
and hence their struggles are fruitless and their literary offsprings are 
doomed to early death. 

The third newspaper published within the limits of Onondaga county 
(two having been previously issued in Manlius) was The Lynx, which made 
its appearance at Onondaga Valley (or Hollow) in 1811, with Thomas C. 
Fay as proprietor. How long this journal survived we are unable to learn, 
but probably not very long. The beginning of the apprenticeship of Thur- 
low Weed is credited to this early printing office. 

In 1814, Lewis H. Redfield issued the first number of the Onondaga 
i?^^w/^r, at the Valley village. Mr. Redfield, had learned his trade as a 
printer with James D. Bemis, at Canandaigua, whose unlimited confidence 
in his employee was demonstrated by his aiding him in purchasing his out- 
fit for the newspaper. Mr. Redfield displayed excellent qualities as an editor, 
printer, and business man. He continued his paper at the Valley until 1829, 
when he removed it to Syracuse and consolidated it with the Gazette, the 
first paper published in the village. The consolidated papers took the name 
of the Syracuse Gazette and Onondaga Register. In 1832 the establishment 
was transferred to Sherman & Clark, who changed its name to the Syracuse 
Argus, and suspended the publication of it about two years later. 

In October, 1826, the village of Salina was favored with its first news- 
paper, which was called the Salina Sentinel and was published by Reuben 
St. John. In the next year it was changed to the Salina Herald and was 
published a short time under the management of Fred Prince,when the name 
w^as changed to the Salina Courier and Enquirer. It was suspended after the 
issue of a few numbers. We have been unable to find files or single num- 
bers of these early publications. 

The Onondaga i?f/«(5//Vrt« was started in Syracuse in 1830, by W. S. 
Cambell. In 1834 it passed into the hands of J. B. Clark & Co., and its 
name was changed to the C7(;;«/'//////(^'/rt/w/'. In 1835, L. A. Miller became 
its proprietor and changed the name to the Onondaga Chief. He sold it in 
1837, to J. M. Patterson, who issued it as the Syracuse Whig. In 1838 it 
passed into the hands of J. K. Barlow, who continued it about one year. 

The Syracuse American was started in 1835, by John Adams and lived 
about a year. 



Newpapers of the Past. 555 

Under the pretentious title of the Empire State Dcuiocrat ami United 
States Rei'ieiVy a paper was issued in 1840 by Hiram Cummings and contin- 
ued about three years. 

The Oncudaga Messenger WAS s\^x\.&A in 1841 by Joseph Barber. In 
1842 the name was changed to the Statestnan. and the paper continued one 
year. 

The first daily newspaper in Syracuse was the Evening Mail, whicii was 
published during three months in 1833, by Vivus W. Smith. 

The Morning Sentinel (daily) was started in January, 1843, by X. M. 
D. Lathrop, and continued about a year, when the name was changed to 
the Onondaga Sentinel, and the paper was issued weekly, excepting at brief 
intervals, until 1850. 

In 1844, J- ^- T. Tucker, as editor, and James Kinney, as publisher, 
started the Democratic Freeman. It continued thus a short time, when the 
name was changed to the Syracuse Star. In 1846 Kinney, Marsh & 
Barnes were the publishers; in 1847-8, Kinney & Marsh; in 1849-51, Kinney 
& Masters. It soon afterward passed into the hands of George F. Com- 
stock, as publisher, and Winslow N. Watson, as editor. In 1852, S. Corn- 
ing Judd became editor and proprietor. In October 1853, '^ passed into 
the hands of Edward Hoagland, who changed its name to the Syracuse 
Repnblican and continued it about one year. From the same office was 
issued, in 1846, the Syracuse Daily Star, which continued thus until the 
Weekly Star was changed to the Republican, when it took the name of the 
Syracuse Daily Republican and was discontinued simultaneously with the 
weekly. 

The Bugle Blast and Young Hickory were campaign papers, published 
about three months in 1844, the former by S. F. Smith, and the latter by 
Smith & Farmer. 

The Liberty Intelligencer was started in 1845 by Silas Hawley, and 
continued one year. 

The Free Soil Campaigner and the Clay Banner, campaign papers, 
were published about three months in 1848, the former by Agan & Summers ; 
he latter was issued from the Journal office. 

In 1848, Samuel R. Ward, a colored man of exceptional ability, started 
the Impartial Citizen, a semi-monthly, and continued it about one year. 

A temperance paper called the Crj'.f/rt/ /"<?//«/«/;/, was published about 
three months, in 1848, by B. F. Ormsby. 

The Adventist was published three months in 1849, by L. DeLos 
Mansfield. 



556 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

The Literary Union was begun April 7, 1849, by W. W. Newman, J. 
M. Winchell, and James Johonnot. It lived about a year and a half. 

'Y\\Q Liberty Party Paper was started July 4, 1849, by Julin Thomas, 
and continued two years. 

The Central City (daily) was published a short time in 1S49, by Henry 
Barnes. 

The Syracusan (monthl)') was established in 1850, by William H. 
Mosely. In 185 i the name was changed to the Syraeusan and the United 
States Revieiv. It continued thus until 1856, and the name was again 
changed to the Syraeusan and Onondaga County Reviezu. 

The Syraeitse Independent was published about three months in 1850, 
and the Evening Transeript (daily) was started in the same year, by Wash- 
ington VanZandt. 

The Arehiniedian was started in 1850, with B. F. Sleeper as publisher, 
and John Abbott as editor. It was discontinued in the following year. 

The Central Nezv Yorker was published a short time in 1850, by L. P. 
Rising; and the Family Companion (monthly) was also issued during a part 
of the same year. 

The Teviperanee Protector (semi-monthly) was started in 1850, by Wil- 
liam H. Burleigh, and continued about two years. 

The Carson Leagtie, another temperance paper, was begun in 1851, by 
Thomas L. Carson, publisher, and John Thomas, editor. At the end of 
about two years it was removed to Albany. After about 1852 this journal' 
was again published in this city a few years. 

The American 3/edieal and Surgteal Journal (monthly) was started 
January I, by Potter & Russell, and continued about five years. 

The Journal of Health was published about six months in 1851, by S. 
H. Potter. 

A monthly publication called the Unionist and another called the Union 
Herald, were issued a short time from the Reformer ofifice. 

A French papernamed La Rnehc was started in 1852 by A. L. Walliath. 
It lived only a few months. 

The Home Circle was published about a year (1855) by L. W. Hall. 

The Atnerican Organ (daily) was begun in 1855, by Way & Miner. It 
soon afterward passed into the hands of H. P. Winsor, who continued it 
about one year. 

The Cwr'w^/rr^rt //rtrfl^j/zf// was started October 26, 1855, but was discon- 
tinued after the second number. 



Music in Syracuse. 557 



In 1856, C. B. Gould started the Syracuse Daily News which lived only 
a short time. 

In 1968 Dr. Cadeaux, a French citizen, began the publication of the 
American C/A'jrw, a paper devoted to the interests of the French popula- 
tion. It lived less than a year. 

The Siimiav Nczvs, (weekh'i the first Suncla\- paper in the cit\^ was es- 
tablished by an association of practical printers in August 1872. It sus- 
pended publication in 1877 after several changes in proprietorship. 

The Siiuiiav Herald was established in 1877, by J. W. Gait. It lived 
several years. Charles E. Fitch was for a time the editor of this paper. 

The Union CPrw was a literary monthly established in May, 1877, by 
DePuy & Scoville. 

The Temperance Union, organ of various temperance associations, 
was .started as a monthly in June, 1S77. It was afterwards changed to a 
weekly. Samuel Gaylord, editor and proprietor. 

The Constitutionalist ami State Free Trader was discontinued in Dec. 
1863, after a life of about one year. It was conducted in the interest of 
the Liquor Dealers' Association, to defeat the prohibitory law and claimed 
to have aided materially in the election of Gov. Seymour.* 



CHAPTER XXXII. 
MUSIC IN SYRACUSE. 

THE development of the art of music in Syracuse constitutes a subject 
which is not fruitful of important facts. But there has been a constant 
growth of interest and the record of advancement which Syracuse can show 
may be decidedly to its credit when compared with that of many other 
cities. But it was especially during the last decade that there has been a 
notable development of musical culture, for during these years there has 
been a constantly increasing interest in the art in proportion to the steadily 
increasing advantages offered for acquiring musical education. In these 
da)-s the public exacts from all the professions a higher order of ability, 
and as the public taste for music becomes more and more cultivated as the 
years go by, it is required of teachers and conductors that they become ed- 
ucators as well as directors. That there is an abundance of musical talent 

• For history of the German press, see chapter on the Germans of Syracuse. 



558 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

of various grades of excellence in the city is unquestioned : but it has never 
been compactly and so permanently massed as to establish a nucleus for 
thorough organization. Numerous attempts have been made to organize 
societies, but such efforts have, until recently, always failed, e.xcept such as 
were undertaken by German citizens, as appears in the chapters devoted to 
German history. Efforts to permanently establish choral societies and or- 
chestras have repeatedly failed and such experiences must continue until 
the time shall come when musicians shall generally join their efforts in a 
common cause. Many highly meritorious societies have had their rise and 
fall. The late Dr. W. H. Schultze made the last effort to establish an or- 
chestra which should win renown ; but his tireless devotion went for naught. 
There are to-day several societies, small in number but capable in work and 
under excellent direction, which give some promise of permanence and fu- 
ture prosperity. Not a little responsibility fur their success devolves upon 
the public, without whose encouragment no society can prosper. 

The most prominence which has come in a musical way, was earned by 
Pauline L'Allamand. There are man}' others of both sexes, who have won 
deserved favor, upon some of whom the shades of death have passed, but 
whose names live in memory. They have from time to time graced the 
local lyric stage to the delight of large audiences, sometimes bringing out 
local compositions of merit. So-called jubilees and musical festivals under 
the management of earnest, devoted men have done much to arouse inter- 
est in music and educate the masses. And there has been a steady growth 
in the excellence of church choirs, some of which quartettes are of superior 
capacity and in some instances are strong attractions for calling large audi- 
ences under the voice of the preacher. The musical department of the 
College of Pine Arts of Syracuse University has conferred important bene- 
fits and in a degree takes the place of a conservatory of music. It may be 
said in conclusion that the city was never so well equipped with capable, 
competent educators in music as it is to-day. The system of teaching is 
the one most generally approved, and the development which is being 
made gives the very best of promises for the future, and in this connection 
it will not be invidious to mention the name of the veteran Professor Ernst 
Held, whose life has thus far been spent in art-culture in Syracuse. He is 
the dean of the musical faculty of the city, and every musician delights to 
honor him. 

To make a sketch of the various societies and orchestras which have 
risen only to fall, would entail considerable labor no more agreeable than 
that of writing other histories of misfortune. Let us rather look to the 
present and future for the fulfillment of bright hopes, and turn to the past 
only for teachings to help in the attainment of a degree of musical culture 
which shall give Syracuse a reputation throughout the land. 



Till-: Post-Office of Syracuse. 559 



CHAPTER XXXI II. 

Till-: POST-OFFICES OF SYRACUSE. 

The First Post-office and the First Postmaster— Its Insignificance— First Quarterly Receipts— 
.\ Stately Removal— First Free Delivery— The New Government Building— List of Postmasters. 

IN February, 1820, the Onondaga Register made the following interest- 
ing announcement : "A new post-office has been established at Syra- 
cuse (formerly Corinth), in the tuv\n of Saliiia, and John Wilkinson. E.sq., 
appointed postmaster. The name of the village was necessarily changed, 
there being a post-office of the name of Corinth previously established in 
the State." The naming of the village Syracuse, by John Wilkinson, has 
already been described in these pages. 

John Wilkinson, who was appointed postmaster February 24, 1820, dis- 
tributed his limited mail in the store of General Granger, on the site of the 
Syracuse Savings Bank Building, fronting on Salina street. Wishing for a 
change of office, in 1824, he proposed to John Durnford, then in the Coffin 
block, where the Onondaga County Savings Bank now stands, that the 
post-office be given room in Mr. Durnford's store, to which Mr. Durnford 
objected, giving as his reason his lack of rooin. To this Mr. Wilkinson de- 
murred, and as an all-sufficient proof that room was not lacking, went to 
his quarters and packing up the whole paraphernalia of the post-office, in- 
cluding mail matter, letter bags and boxes, lifted up Uncle Sam s property 
on his shoulders and marched into Durnford's store and was accorded pos- 
session. 

John Wilkinson was re-appointed July 9, 1836, and served until 1S40, 
when he was succeeded by Jonas Earll, Jr., Mr. Wilkinson resigning to be- 
come President of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad Company. 

As to how long the store of Mr. Durnford was thus occupied there is a 
question, but from there the office was moved to the east wing of the Syra- 
cuse House, where Willard & Hawley afterward opened a jewelry store, and 
during the interval from 1842 to 1853. was in charge at different times of 
Henry Raynor, William W. Teall, William Jackson, and in 1853, of Henry 
J. Sedgwick, who moved into the old Granger block, locating in the west 
end of the building. 

In 1834, the late Dudley P. Phelps, who was at that time in the office 
of Mr. Wilkinson, assisted in the making up and distributing the mails; 



560 Memorial History of Svracuse. 

there being but one mail a day the duties were not onerous. Among the 
postal clerks assisting during the latter service of Mr. Wilkinson were John 
L. V. Yates, who afterward settled in Wisconsin ; John R. Lambert, Rob- 
ert D. Phillips, who went to Texas ; and James A. Partridge. 

When Mr. Phelps left the office in 1S3S, he was succeeded by J. L. 
Bagg, then a student in the law office of Wilkinson & Outwater. who con- 
tinued his service as assistant during the remainder of the service of Mr. 
Wilkinson. Then the office was located in the store now occupied b_\' P. 
L. Ryan, on East Genesee street. 

In the final settlement between Mr. Wilkinson and the Post-office De- 
partment, a review of his books for the entire term took place, and showed 
that during the earlier part of his term the quarterly receipts were less than 
Sio, while during the last quarter they were about $2,000. 

During the term of Henry J. Sedgwick, beginning on May 4, 1853. an 
entire change of postage stamps was made, and Mr. Sedgwick published 
the following notice under date of August 19, 1861 : 

" The subscriber is prepared to exchange envelopes of the new style for 
an equivalent amount of the old issue, during a period of six days from the 
date of this notice, and that the latter will not be received in payment of 
postage on letters sent from this ofifice, nor exchanged." 

Mr. Sedgwick also published a similar notice in regard to stamps. At 
that time a question was raised as to the stability of the finances of the office 
and the bondsmen of Mr. Sedgwick, who were J. M. Jaycox, John A. Green, 
J. W. Barker, Thomas G. Alvord, and Dennis McCarthy, who appointed J. S. 
Plumb as receiver for the office. Some months before the termination of the 
appointment, Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Alvord secured a release from the bail 
bond, and at the final settlement the Syracuse office was declared indebted to 
the Department in the sum of at least $3,000 and the bail was sued for that 
amount. The matter was finally settled in 1879, the Government suffering 
the loss from inability to prove the payment of certain drafts. Mr. Plumb 
remained in the office several weeks, assisting the successor to Mr. Sedg- 
wick, P. H. Agan, in settling up the business. When done, Mr. Plumb 
found himself in possession of some $4,000 worth of old stamps, which he 
held for some months before the agent came to attend to the matter. The 
stamps were counted by the agent and consigned to a stove. The property 
went up in smoke and Mr. Plumb was released from his obligation. 

At that time a "penny postman" delivered all foreign letters and col- 
lected the postage on them with the additional one penny for carriage. 
The first postman was W. B. Hubbard, and the second, Thomas Connelly, 
who was retained in the corps when the free delivery was established. He 
is still living. 

On August 27, 1 86 1, Patrick H. Agan was appointed postmaster, and 
upon assuming the duties of his office appointed George J. Gardner as his 



Till-: Post-Offices of Svkacuse. 561 



ant. Mr. Agan's official postal life began at the beginning of the civil war 
and covered an eventful period. 

In 1863, consent was obtained from the department to change the post- 
office from the old Granger block to the IJastable block, providing Mr. 
Bastable would assume the rent for the old location during the life of the 
contract. Mr. Sedgwick, as part-owner of the Granger block, was persistent 
and emphatic in his opposition to the change. By one of the une.xpected 
circumstances constantly arising in the lives of men and public depart- 
ments, Mr. Sedgwick was summoned from the city on a Saturday, e.xpecting 
to return home as the shades of evening settled over the busy city, and un- 
con.^cious of the steps quietly taken by the officials of the post-office to 
move from one side of the street to the other. By reason of a delayed 
train he failed to arrive, and a telegram was received in the city giving the 
cause of his detention. Then !\Ir. Agan, Mr. Gardner and the employees 
of the office put their scheme of moving into execution. 

Once moved, of course the location of the post-office could not be af- 
fected by Mr. Sedgwick's opposition ; but the contest between Mr. Basta- 
ble and the owners of the Granger block became rather acrimonious and 
resulted in a law suit which continued until the Granger block was burned. 

In 1864, the Post-office Department issued an order establishing free 
delivery in Syracuse. The city was divided into nine districts, and one 
carrier was appointed for each district. At the time Thomas Connelly and 
Henry Stroh were delivering the foreign mail and were retained, the new 
appointments being Herrman Mueller, Martin Mara, Henry P. Shove, 
Thomas Clary, William Olmstead, John S. Larrabee and James H. Luther. 
These men carried the mail twice each day in the outer districts, and five 
times in the business district. Collections were made at stores where people 
left their letters for carriers, or at the residences as the postmen stopped to 
deliver their mail. Incredible as it may seem to the present younger por- 
tion of the city's inhabitants, most bitter opposition was made to the new 
state of affairs. The opposition was started by Finlay M. King, a local 
politician, and so aggressive and pertinacious was he that he swayed a por- 
tion of the citizens by his plausible reasonings, and by constant effort suc- 
ceeded in getting the city in a state of uncertainty not pleasant to peace- 
able and right-minded citizens. It was generally supposed that the disturb- 
ance arose more from a desire to oppose the administration, than for any 
other reason ; be that as it may, the malcontents went about and procured 
signatures to a petition calling a meeting at the City Hall for January 14, 
1865, at 7 p. m., for the purpose of consulting together in regard to the sy.s. 
tem of collecting and distributing the mails. This was signed by most of 
the leading citizens and firms, among them being E. W. Leavenworth 
William C. Ruger, U. McCarthy, L. H. Hiscock, Ira II. Cobb, C. T. Long! 

7' 



562 Memukiai. History ok Syracuse. 

street, S. P. Pierce & Co., Kennedy & Spaulding, John Crouse & Co., Pope, 
Alexander & Co., and many others, tlie list footing up to the number of 
about five hundred names. 

Among the arguments put forth against the free delivery system were 
several rather amusing ones. One argument was that private and business 
letters would be placed in the hands of irresponsible men, and that bribes 
and personal reasons would be brought to bear upon them and lead to tam- 
pering with the precious missives, and it really seemed as if those opposed 
to the system did not consider it possible for an honest man to be found 
in the ranks of the mail carriers. Dreadful and doleful were the prog- 
nostications as to the outcome of the system ; business affairs were to be 
spread broadcast on the waiting population ; lovers' letters were to be 
desecrated, and their sweetness disseminated by gossippers; persons en- 
gaged in intrigue would be exposed, and false husbands and unfaithful 
wives saw no end to the calamities overtaking their contraband vows. And 
so the meeting was called. The eventful evening arrived. Postmaster 
Agan and Assistant Gardner picked up a mass of documentary evidence in 
favor of the system and sallied forth to do wordy battle for the atlminis- 
tration against the foe. Of all the five-hundred signers of the petition four- 
hundred and seventy were absent and the meeting adjourned until the iSth 
of the month. At that time but fifty of the five-hundred were present, and 
the inciters of the movement withdrew their opposition. 

The post-office was removed to the new Government building in 1SS9. 
The force of the office now consists of Postmaster Carroll E. Smith, Assist- 
ant E. H. Maynard, 24 clerks and 43 carriers. 

Following is a list of the postmasters of Syracuse with the dates of ap- 
pointment : John Wilkinson, appointed February 24, 1820 ; John Wilkin- 
son, July g. 1836; Jonas Earll, Jr., June 26, 184O: Henry Raynor, March 
10, 1842; William W. Teall, July 23, 1845; William Jackson, April 14, 
1849; Henry J. Sedgwick, May 4, 1853; Patrick H. Agan, August 27, 
1861 ; George L. Maynard, April 1, 1863; Dwight H. Bruce, April 10, 1871 ; 
Austin C. Chase, January i, 1876; James M. Gilbert, February 23, 1884; 
Milton H. Northrup, 18S7; Carroll F. Smith, present incumbent. 



.Syracuse Fikk DKrAurMENT. 563 



ciiai'ti:r xxxn'. 

Till'. SVKACrsK ITKK I iFI'AKTM KNT. 

I'.arlv i'liileilion from 1-ire — 'I he First r.njjiiic — How it was I'urchascd — I'ire Regulations — 
Members of the First Company — A Seconil Knjjine House — Purchase of a Third Kngine — Re- 
organi/alion of 1S51 — Kstablishment of the I'aiil 1 k|>artnient — Present I'catiircs — Commissioners. 

PRE\'IOUS to the year 1825, the village of Syracuse was substantially 
without protection from fire, excepting such as might be afforded by 
the citizens with a few buckets or pails. No sooner was the village incor- 
porated, however, than steps were taken to provide an engine and other 
apparatus. 

At a meeting held on the 9th of Ma)', 1825, the following resolution 
was adopted: 

" Ki-.utlvfii , That the safely of the villiajje requires that iminediate measures be taken to procure a 
got)d fire engine, and that M. I>. liurnet, on behalf of this board, take measures to ascertain and re- 
port as soon as ma\ be, on what terms such engine with necessary hose, may be procured." 

The result of Mr. Burnet's investigation was the adoption, on the 7th of 
June, 1825, of the following preamble and resolutions: 

■■ WiiKKKAs, The Albany Insurance Company has proposed to this village, that the said Company 
will loan the sum of sfi.iKXJ, to be used in the purchase of a good and sufficient fire engine, with 
proper implements, to extinguish lires, on the following conditions ; — The village to secure the pay- 
ment of that sum in four years, by a bond under the corporate seal, two years without interest, and 
after that at three per cent, a year for the remainder of the time, therefore, 

" A'fselTtti, That the trustees or the village be authorized to efTect the loan of the sum of one 
thousand dollars on the terms aforesaid, and that the same be applied to the purchase of a good iirst- 
raie lire engine, and that they procure the same under the corporate seal. 

" AV.fc/: •<•</. That the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars be raised for the purpose of building an 
engine house, purchasing hocks and necessary ladders, which sum to be assessed on said village, 
pursuant to statute." 

It is only si.\t)--five years ago that these resolutions were passed, and 
they speak eloquently. of the earh- character of the place and of how very 
important to the inhabitants seemed the raising of so small a sum of money. 

Joshua Forman was delegated to make the purchase of this first fire 
engine and on the 1 ith of October of the year named he reported the pur- 
chase in New York of an engine and hose at a cost of $925. To render the 
machine effective Thomas B. Ileermans was appointed captain of Fire 
Company No. 1, and given authority to raise a coinpany of thirty-five men. 

Some difficulty seems to have been met in closing the arrangements for 
obtaining the money required for the purchase, and at another meeting 
held at the house of James Mann (the Syracuse House) on the 28th of 
November, resolutions similar to those above quoted were passed, but they 
provided for the payment of seven per cent, interest on the loan. 



564 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



On the 3d of January, 1826, the Board of Trustees adopted resolutions 
providing that housekeepers of the village should provide themselves with 
good leather buckets, with the name of the owner painted on therri, ordi- 
nary dwellings to have one each, two-story houses to have two, and taverns 
to have four each. John Rogers and M. D. Burnet were at the same time 
authorized to contract for the building of an engine house, "22 feet by 16 
feet, 8 feet posts, and to be neatly painted, and furnished with a good box 
stove, which building to be placed in a line with and next to the barn of 
John Rogers." 

Mr. Rogers then lived in the brick dwelling now occupied by a saloon 
adjoining the Bastable block and one of the very old buildings of the city; 
it was the first brick house built in the village, and as far as we have been 
able to learn, the engine house stood in that vicinity and on a part of the 
site of the Bastable block. Following is a list of the members of the first 
fire company: John Durnford, Stephen W. Caldwell, Paschal Thurber, 
Linneus P. Noble, Agrippa Martin, Thomas I. Field. Thomas Spencer, 
Edward Chapman, Joel Owen, William (). Chope, Henry Van Heusen, 
Barman Van Heusen, Russell Hebard, Zopher Adams, Humphrey Mellen, 
Samuel Mead, Theodore Ashley, John Wall, Volney Cook, Archibald L. 
Fellows, Seth K. Akin, and Henry Gifford. The reader who is familiar 
with this history will not need to be told that this list embraced a good 
many of the solid men of the village. 

Suitable fire hooks were ordered of Henry Van Heusen, at a cost of 
$18.75, and o" *'^^ -^^^ "^ December, 1827, a hook and ladder company was 
organized with the following as members: Daniel Fliiot, David Stafford, 
C. Walbridge, Ambrose Kasson, J. C. Fields, J. Whitney, and Captain 
Archer. 

These facilities served their purpose for the village until 1S32, when the 
authorities took steps to provide a second engine and company. At a meet- 
ing held on the 23d of January, 1S32, it was voted to levy a tax to raise 
$850 for this purpose, and in April Charles E. Leon was authorized to make 
the purchase. A company was at once organized with the following mem- 
bers: Parley Bassett, Wm. S. Campbell, Alfred Daumas, Henry Davis, Jr., 
T. B. Fitch, William M. Fitch, Ezra Fester, Jr., 1. A. Hall, L. P. Hall, 
Solomon R. Howlett, A. A. llud.son, Benjamin C. Lathrop, Charles L. 
Lyons, James Manning, Horace Pemberton, Jacob Raynor, Willett Raynor, 
Charles T. Stanton, Joseph H. Starin, R. A. Voe, Wm. K. Lathrop, Gard- 
ner Lawrence. 

This action necessitated a second engine house, and a meeting to make 
provision for it was held' on the 26th of April, 1832. There were only 
eighteen persons present, for some unexplained reason, but the business 
was dispatched. John Wilkinson made a motion that "the location for the 
two engine houses be fixed at the west end of the public square (Clinton 



Syracuse Fikk Dki'aktment. 565 

Sqiiare'l in the center of said village, one on each side of the canal, imme- 
diately contiguous to the bridge." This motion was adopted by a vote of 
twelve to six; but M. D. Rurnet entered a protest against using the Square 
for this purpose on the ground chiefly that the village had no right to thus 
obstruct the public place. On the same day the trustees met to consider a 
proposition of Henry Gifford to build the two houses for $300, and he was 
awarded the contract. The buildings were located according to the ex- 
pressed intention. It has not been learned how long they stood there, but 
eventually, and probably in 1S35, as a resolution was adopted that year to 
appropriate $595 for the purchase of two lots, the house of No. 2 company 
was removed to the rear of the old County Clerk's building and that of No. i 
was taken west on Water street and served for many years as a boiler house 
for Alexander, Hradley & Dunning: it was burned only a few years ago. 

In September, 1S36, a meeting was held to consider the purchase of a third 
engine, at a cost of $i.ioo,and the erection of a new hook and ladder house. 
The engine was purchased and a house built for it at a little later date. 
There seems to be no record of a No. 4 compan)*, but one was organized 
and in the year 1S43 the tax-payers again came together to consider the 
erection of a new house for No. 5, which was built in June 1X43, on the site 
of the olil No. I, at a cost of $500. The sum of ^75 was appropriated for a 
"bucket wagon," and at about the same time a new engine was purchased 
at a cost of $750. Meanwhile, the company of No. 5 was dissolved for un- 
explained reasons, and a new organization at once effected. In 1844 W. 
A. Cook was occupying the office of Chief of the department, with J. W. 
Barker as Assistant. At the annual election later in the year, Henry Gif- 
ford was made Chief, and at a little liter period hckl the office man)' years; 
Stephen W. Caldwell was Assistant in 1844. 

On the 4th of August, 1S45, it was resolved by the Hoard of Trustees 
"that the Bucket Company No. i be permitted to take engine No. 4 and 
become a fire company, provided they give up their warrants as bucket men, 
together with their keys, and leave the bucket wagon and house in good 
order, so Engine Company No. 4 can be filled up to its full complement." 

Philo N. Rust was appointed Chief, and Hamilton White, Assistant. 
These gentlemen prepared a report, at the request of the trustees, that they 
had examined into the condition of the several fire companies, and found 
two with no efficient organization; also, that it was difficult to induce a 
sufficient number of "spirited )'oung men" to join them, as the membership 
was a tax upon them financially and otherwise. Therefore, they suggested 
that the "corporation appropriate Sioo for each of the fire engine compan- 
ies, one hook and ladder, and one bucket company, to be expended for 
equipage, to be under direction of the trustees." These suggestions were 
carried out a little later. 



566 Memorial MistorV of Syracuse. 



In 1S46 it was decided that radical changes were necessary to render the 
department as efficient as it should be with the resources at hand. Notice 
was accordingly published that the Legislature would be asked to incorpo- 
rate the fire department of Syracuse, and in 1847 a committee consisting of 
John Wilkinson, James R. Lawrence, Hamilton White, Henry Gifford, 
and Captain Hiram Putnam was appointed to thoroughly re-organize the 
depaitment. This resulted in delegating the care of the engines and 
apparatus to a board of three men, who should have immediate control and 
be responsible only to the village authorities. Oliver Teall, Henry Gifford, 
and John Wilkin.son were named as this board. From that time until 1862 
the department did excellent service and was kept abreast of the needs of 
the city by the purchase of new engines, erection of new buildings, and the 
organization of new companies. 

From the year 1S5 1, after the re-organization of the department had 
been effected, the various changes in company officers, company names, 
and extension of apparatus, may be britfly noted as follows: 

Chief Engineer, Jacob Smith ; First Assistant, Abraham Fredendall ; 
Second Assistant, Elijah Clark. No. i, Salina Blues, organized about 1S25, 
motto, "Storm" ; foreman, David Smith. No. 2, Rough and Ready, organ- 
ized 1846, foreman, Edwin Brown. No. 3, Deluge, foreman, Peter Conrad. 
No. 4, Empire, foreman, Peter Ohneth. No. 5. Champion— Ever Ready, 
organized 1848, foreman, V. P. Effner. No. 6, Semper Paratus, Cataract, 
organized 1845, foreman, Benjamin L. J liggins. No. 7, Eagle, organized 
in 1850, foreman, George Scoville. 

About the date under consideration, the Salina Blues adopted the 
motto, "Onward and I'pward," instead of "Storm." Li the years 1853-4 the 
following changes had occurred in the department: Chief, V. P. Effner; 
First Assistant, F. X. Oliver; Second Assistant, William Tisdale. No. 2. 
Rough and Ready, foreman, Daniel P'arrcll. No. 6, Cataract, foreman, 
William Elliott. 

In the following years, 1854-55, numerous changes were made, and two 
new engines were added to the apparatus of the department and numbered 
7 and 8. Chief, Benjamin L. Higgins; First Assistant, James Spencer; 
Second Assistant, Francis Jackson. 

The Chief now acted as Fire Inspector, and was paid a .salary of $200 
annually. Companies were as follows: No. i, Croton Plug, E. E. Chap- 
man, foreman. No. 5, Champion, Henry Olds, foreman. No. 6, Cataract, 
Thomas 13. Heermans, foreman. No. 7, Franklin, J. F. Kidder, foreman. 
No. 8, Eagle, Alfred Wilkinson, foreman. 

The location of the various companies at this time were as follows : No. 
I, First ward. Salt Springs, No. 2, First ward. Young America, No. 3, 
Bank alley, Sixth ward. Empire, No. 4, Division street, Second ward. 



SVRACUSK FlKK DlCI'ARTMKNT. 567 



Champion, No. 5, Montgomery street, Sixth ward. Cataract, No. 6, Clin- 
ton street. Seventh ward. Franklin, No. 7, Kighth ward. Ragle, No. 8, 
VVe.st street, Fiftii ward. 

A bucket wagon was still kept with 100 buckets, also a well equipped 
hook and ladder truck. In the ne.xt year, 1856, James Spencer was made 
First Assistant, and August W. I'icld, Second Assistant, and Charles 
Ilenson, F'oreman, of No. 6. 

Chief Higgins remained at his post, though several changes were made 
of his assistants, until 1S62, when he resigned. lie was succeeded by 
Walter Welch, with Charles I.. Guerber as First Assistant ; John .'-^tead- 
man. Second Assistant, and Edmund Schneider, Third Assistant. Chief 
Welch resigned after one year's service and Simeon Luce was appointed to 
fill the vacancy, until March, 1.S64, when Philip Eckel began his long and 
successful career at the head of the department. He remained in the office 
until 1877, when, on the 2d of April, the Fire Department was organized on 
the [ilan which has existed ever since. The Board of Fire Commissioners 
then consisted, as appointed by Mayor James J. Belden, of Henry L. 
Duguid, President of the Board, Henry J. Mowry, Francis Hendricks and 
Chauncey B. Clark. At the first meeting of the Board, Ira Wood was 
appointed Chief Engineer of the Department, and two weeks later, Charles 
J. Miller was appointed Clerk ; Philip Eckel, Assistant Engineer, and Hor- 
atio Kirtland, Superintendent of the I*"ire Alarm Telegraph. The Depart- 
ment was placed on a paid basis, the salary of the Chief being made $1,200; 
A.ssistant, $Soo : Clerk, $600; Superintendent, §800; Engineers, $720; 
Foremen, ^600, and the members of companies, $480. 

The force at the completion of this re-organization consisted of thirty- 
four paid men, including officers, all being properly uniformed. The appar- 
atus comprised four Amoskeag engines (one in reserve), one Champion 
chemical fire extinguisher, one hook and ladder truck, and five hose car- 
riages (one in reserve), with 1 1,000 feet of hose. There were si.xteen horses 
and the engine houses were all in good repair. Two-hundred and fifteen 
hydrants were distributed throughout the city and there were fifteen cis- 
terns, only eight of which were in good repair. The fire alarm system was 
equipped with thirty-four signal bo.xes. 

On the 20th of July, 1878, Henry L. Duguid resigned as President of 
the Board of Commissioners, and Hamilton S. White was appointed to the 
vacancy. Citizens of Syracuse do not need to be reminded of what Mr. 
White has done for the department ; but without incurring the charge of 
partiality we may quote the following from the report of the board for 
1878-79: 

" Chemical Extinguisher No. 2, bought and maintained by Commissioner 
White, at his own expense, has proved an invaluable aid to the department. 



568 Memoriai, History of Syracuse. 



Commissioner White has erected and furnished an engine house which is a 
model of beauty and convenience. It possesses every facility for prompt 
responses to alarms and is lacking in nothing which could add to the com- 
fort and efficiency of his company, which is composed of young men well 
known in this community, possessing the conlidence and respect of all, en- 
thusiastic and capable in their work; they add greatly to the strength of 
the department, giving their services heartily and promptly without cost to 
the city." Mr. White is a natural and enthusiastic fireman, and his capa- 
bilities are known among firemen throughout the country. 

In October, i8Si, Chief Ira Wood resigned his office and Philip Eckel 
was again placed at the head of the active service, with Henry Reilly as 
Assistant. Hamilton S. White was made an honorary member of the force 
and appointed Second Assistant. 

In April, 1883, Chemical No. i was organized and entered the service of 
the department. In 1885, a new Silsby engine was purcha.sed and the old 
No. 1. a very heavy engine, placed in reserve. A new Sil.sby hose cart was 
also added to the equipment. 

On the first of June, 1886, Chief Philip Eckel was thrown from a ladder 
truck, while going to a fire, and fatally injured. It was said of him that he 
had been "connected with the department almost continuously since 1848. 
On the organization of the paid department in I 877, he was appointed First 
Assistant Chief, and three years later, on the retirement of Chief Wood, 
was by the unanimous vote of the Board, appointed Chief Engineer. Chief 
Eckel was an excellent fireman and an honest public servant, who dis- 
charged his duties faithfully and well." 

The vacancy caused by the death of Chief Eckel was filled by the pro- 
motion of Eir>t Assistant Chief Reilly, and Steamer Engineer Nicholas 
Eckel, of Co. Xo. 2. was promoted to the position of F'irst Assistant Chief. 
John P. Quigley, of Co. No. i, was made Second Assistant, the new office 
being created to meet the requirements of the extended district. A Hayes 
truck was added to the equipment .11 cl stationed at the house of No. 1, and 
the old truck was removed to the house of No. 2. 

In 1888, the department was strengthened by the addition of Hook and 
Ladder Company. No 2, with a Gleasoi & Haily truck, which was located 
on Division street,and a second-class Silsby engine located at Engine House 
No. 2, Wyoming street. A new lot was also purchased in tlie new Ninth 
ward, and an engine hou.se erected at a cost of $7,785 for steamer No. 5. 
In 1889 President White was succeeded in the board by Oramel G. 
Jones, but again became a member of the board in March, 1891. A new 
Silsby engine was stationed at the hou.se of Engine No. 1, Engine Com- 
pany No. 5 was organized and a supply wagon was added to the t(]uipment 
of the department. 



Syracusk iMKi; Dki'aktment. 569 

At the present time (1891) the Fire Department comprises the following 
officers and companies: Henry Reiley, Chief Engineer; Nicholas Eckel, 
John V. Quigley and Hamilton S. White, First, Second and Third Assist- 
ants, respectively. 

Engine Company No. i, located on Montgomery street, between Wash- 
ington and Water streets, with a .second-class Silsby engine. Entered the 
service April 12, 1S88. George T. Shean, foreman. 

Engine Company No. 2, located on Division street, between North 
Salina streets, with a second class Amoskeag engine, entered the service 
October, 1867. Christopher Gebhardt, foreman. 

Engine Company No. 3. located on Wyoming, near Fayette street, a 
second class Silsby engine, which entered service December, 1SS7. This is 
also the location of the Hose depot. In reserve a second class, single pump 
Amoskeag engine, which entered service in March, 1866. Thomas F. Ryan, 
foreman. 

Engine Company No. 4, located on Wolf street, between North Salina 
and Park streets, second class, double pump Amoskeag engine; entered 
service November, 1871. William Roushe, foreman. 

Engine Company No. 5, located at the corner of Hamilton and Furnace 
streets, third class Silsby engine, entered service June, 1885. Company or- 
ganized March 31, 1888. L. Dean Avery, foreman. 

Chemical Company No. i, located on East Genesee street, between 
Orange and Grape streets. Two Champion Chemical extinguishers 
equipped with ladders and hand extinguishers. Company organized April 
24, 1883. John Murphy, foreman. 

Hook and Ladder Co. No. i, located on Montgomery street, between 
Washington and Water streets. Hayes hook and ladder truck and fire es- 
cape fully equipped ; entered service November 30, 1886. Charles Eckel, 
foreman. 

Hook and Ladder Company No. 2, located on Division street, between 
North Salina and Townsend streets ; second class Gleason and Bailey 
truck, organized May 30, 1887. Andrew VVolfrom, foreman. 

Supply wagon, located at hose depot, Wyoming street, entered service 
May 8, 188S. Edward O'Brien, driver. 

Boards 0/ Fire Commissioners: — 1877-8 to end of fiscal year — Hon. James 
J. Belden, Mayor; Henry L. Duguid, President; Henry J. Mowry, Francis 
Hendricks, Chauncy H. Clark; Charles J. Miller, Clerk. 

18789 — Henry L. Duguid, President ; resigned July 20th, and Hamilton 
S. White, then appointed. Chauncy B. Clark, President, after July 20th. 
Henry J. IMowry, Francis Hendricks; Charles J. Miller, Clerk. 

187980 — Hamilton S. White, President; Henry J. Mowry, Charles 
Listman, Thomas McManus; Charles J. Miller, Clerk, 
72 



570 Memokiai. IIistokv ov Syracuse. 

1880-81 — Hamilton S. White, President; Henry J. Mowry, Charles 
Listman, Thomas McManus ; Charles J. Miller, Clerk. 

1881-82 — Thomas McManus, President ; Charles Listman, Archimedes 
Russell, Charles Demong ; Matthew Leahey, Clerk. 

1882-3 — Thomas McManus, President; Archimedes Russell, Charles 
Demong, Charles Listman ; Matthew Leahey, Clerk. 

1883-4 — Archimedes Russel, President: Charles Demong, John Dunfee, 
Charles Listman ; Matthew Leahey, Clerk. 

1834-S — Archimedes Russell, President ; Charles D.;mong, John Dunfee, 
Peter Kappesser ; Matthew Leahey, Clerk. 

1885-6— Hamilton S. White, President ; M. L. Yann, Peter Kappesser, 
John Dunfee ; Matthew Leahey, Clerk. 

1886-7 — Hamilton S. White, President; John Dunfee, Peter Kappesser, 
Martin L. Yann; Matthew Leahey, Clerk. 

1887-8 — Hamilton S. White, President; John Dunfee, Martin L. Yann, 
Edward A. Powell ; Matthew Leahey, Clerk. 

1888-9 — Oramel G. Jones, President ; John Dunfee, Martin L. Yann, 
Clarence G. Brown ; ^latthew Leahey, Clerk. 

1889-90 — Oramel G. Jones, President ; John Dunfee, Martin L. Yann, 
Clarence G. Brown ; Matthew Leahey, Clerk. 

1890 91 — Oramel G. Jones, President; Hamilton S. White, Edward 
Kanaley, Martin L. Yann ; Patrick Sullivan, Clerk. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



CEMETERIES. 



The First lUirial in the County — Eirsl lUiri.-il (iround in Salin.i — The Second .ind I'rcscnt Hiiry- 
ing (Iroiind in the First Ward — The Old liurial I'lace of Syracuse Village — Rose Hill Cemetery — 
Movement for Establishment of Oakwood Cemetery — Dedication. 

ON the shores of Onondaga Lake, in the rear of the residence of the late 
Wm. A. Judson, on West Genesee street, now occupied by his widow, 
is the grave of a man who is supposed to have been the first white person 
buried within the limits of Onondaga county. This assumption leaves out 
of consideration the possibility, the probability, perhaps, that some one or 
more of the Jesuits who visited this locality about the middle of the 17th 



Cemeteries. 57 • 



century died and were buried somewhere in Onondaga soil. But whether 
that is true or not, is unimportant. The lone grave is that of the pioneer, 
Benjamin Nukerk. Tlie rude stone bears this inscription : 

Benjamin Nukerk, 
Died December 7, 17S7, 
Aged thirty-seven years. 

Nukerk came to this locality as an Indian trader about the time that 
Ephraim Webster came, in 1788, and died soon after his arrival. In making 
excavations near this grave about the year 1845, the late Joseph Savage, 
who then owned the land in that vicinity, discovered a series of graves ex- 
tending in a direct line some thirty feet and containing the remains of sev- 
eral human beings. The bones were mostly decomposed excepting the skulls. 
Among them was also found a number of bullets. Other remains were 
found on the same little eminence, the skull in one instance appearing to 
have been cleft by a tomahawk. A gun, a brass kettle, pipes, flints, and 
other implements have also been found at various times in that locality. 

Whether this may be considered as having been a spot set apart in the 
days of earliest settlement, as a burial place, or was known by Ephraim 
Webster to have been used by the Indians for that purpose and he, there- 
fore, deposited the body of Nukerk there; or whether it was an Indian 
burial place and Nukerk's interment was a coincidence, cannot be answered 
now. The story of those decaying bones must forever remain untold. 

The first burial in the village of Salina (and the first, therefore, in what 
now constitutes the city of Syracuse) was made near the intersection of 
Free and Spring street.s. There were not many burials made there and 
they ceased in 1794 and a new ground was used on a part of what is now 
Washington Park, near the former site of the Presbyterian church. Mrs. 
Mary T. Gilchrist was buried there in 1794 and a number of members of 
other families. This site was soon judged too near the business and resi- 
dence part of the little hamlet, and it was abandoned and burials were next 
made, and continued down to iSoi, on the ridge in rear of the residence of 
the late James Lynch. 

When this spot was given up, in 1801, Sheldon Logan, then Superin- 
tendent of the Salt Springs, laid out a new burying ground on State land. 
This ground was on block No. 59, (see map herein,) and most of the remains 
interred in the Washington Park ground were removed thither. This was 
used as a public burying ground until 1829, when by an act of Legislature 
the land on block 43 (see map) was substituted for the other. The trustees 
of the village, as directed by law, removed the bodies from the old ground 
to the new, and it has ever since been used as a public cemetery. The old 
ground was sold at public auction. 

The first burial ground within the original corporate limits of the vil- 
lage of Syracuse, was at the intersection of Clinton and West Fayette 



572 Memorial History of SvRACUsfi. 



streets, now partly covered bj' the Hotel Burns and contiguous buildings. 
Burials ceased here before 1.S19, not more than thirty interments having 
been made. (See map of the village^ 1834, on another page.) When the village 
was laid out and mapped by Owen Forman and John Wilkinson, provision 
was made for a burying ground. It was on the west end of block -j"/ and 
extended north from Church street to the Walton line. We cannot learn 
that it was ever used for burial purposes, and from 1819 to 1824 burials were 
all, or nearly all, made at Salina, Onondaga Hill, and Onondaga Valley. 

What was afterwards known as the "Old Cemetery," located on West 
Water and Franklin streets, was laid out by John Wilkinson and Ovven 
Forman when they surveyed the Walton Tract. The first person 
interred there was Eliza Spencer, the first wife of the Hon. Thomas 
Spencer, who died April 2, 1824. The second burial was the body of a 
Mr. West, a circus rider, who was killed by being thrown from his horse 
while riding in the old Circus House, on Church, now West Willow 
street. This ground was used for burials until 1S51. On the com- 
pletion of the Northern railroad this cemetery was chosen as the place for a 
station. What remained of those who had been buried there was carefully 
gathered and removed to other cemeteries, and the ground appropriated for 
purposes little thought of when the first interment was made there. 

The village of Lodi was incorporated with Syracuse in 1835 (Act of 
Legislature, chapter 160). In 1834, previous to this change, the inhabitants 
of Lodi established a small burial ground on the hill bordered by Beech 
street. The late Oliver Teall offered for the purpose an acre of ground 
there, or more, if desired, with the provision that the people of the village 
should clear and fence it. About half an acre was thus prepared and it was 
largely filled with graves. This site was long ago abandoned for burial 
purposes, and most of the remains were removed. 

On the first of July, 1841, the grounds for Rose Hill Cemetery, contain- 
ing a little over twenty-two acres, were purchased of George F. Leitch by 
the Trustees of the village in compliance with a vote of the citizens. The 
purchase of this tract and its use as a cemetery met with considerable 
opposition on account of its proximity to the center of the village. A 
second vote was taken, but it resulted, like the first one, in favor of the 
purchase and it was made. At a succeeding meeting Gen. Granger made a 
motion, which was adopted, appropriating $200 for the improvement of 
these grounds, and the Trustees proceeded to lay out the tract. The first 
person buried in this cemetery was Ambrose S. Townsend, who died on 
the 24th of August, 1 84 1. ]5etween 7,000 and 8,000 burials have been 
made in this cemetery, but interments have substantially ceased. In 1863- 
4-5 a great many bodies were removed to Oakwood and since the opening 
of Woodlawn cemetery the removals have exceeded the interments. About 
1S45 one-half acre in the north-west corner of the ground was set off for a 



Ckmktkriks. 573 



Jewish burial place. It is now used by the Reformed Jews exclusive- 
ly, who bury all their dead there. Between 2,ooo and 3.000 bodies have 
been buried in the Totters' Field which occupies about three acres on the 
north side of the tract, but no burials have been made therein since 1855. 

Dissatisfaction with Rose Hill Cemetery increased as time went on, 
rather than decreased. It was said to be not easily accessible, nearly des- 
titute of natural beauty, and did not seem adapted to artistic improvement. 
Moreover, it soon became apparent that in a few years it would be much 
too near the business center of the village (soon to be made a city), and its 
vicinity would be covered with dwellings. Accordingly, many prominent 
men interested themselves in projects looking to the establishment of a 
new cemetery which should be exempt from all the objections of this one, 
and remain forever a beautiful and appropriate spot for the burial of the 
dead. Prominent among those who first agitated the matter were the late 
E. W. Leavenworth and John Wilkinson. In 1852 and the few succeeding 
years several meeting were held for consideration of the important subject. 
Committees were appointed to carefully e.vamine proposed sites and all the 
questions entering into the matter, resulting in the final recommendation 
of the one hundred acres which constituted Oakwood Cemetery as first laid 
out, as the most available and appropriate tract to be had for the purpose. 
By this time such leading citizens as Henry A. Dillaye, Charles B. Sedg- 
wick, John B. Burnet, Hamilton White, E. W. Leavenworth, C. T. Long- 
street, Robert B. Raymond, Charles I'ope, A. C. Powell, Israel Hall, Allen 
Munroe, and others had became deeply interested in the project. 

For vorious reasons, however, the enterprise was delayed until the sum- 
mer of 1857, when the subject was again revived and with more enthusiasm 
than at first. Hamilton White, E. W. Leavenworth, J. L. Bagg, Lewis H. 
Redfield, C. T. Longstreet, John Wilkinson, A. C. Powell, and H. A. Dil- 
laye particularly interested themselves in the movement. Papers were 
drawn up as a basis for organizing an association, and terms of purchase of 
the grounds were verbally agreed upon. Now came the severe financial 
stringency of that period, which for a short time delayed the consumma- 
tion of the plans. But in 1858 the final and successful effort was made 
for carrying out the project, Messrs. White and Leavenworth being foremost 
in the work, which continued with energy until the summer of 1859. Ar- 
rangements were made for the purchase of the first twenty acres of Charles 
A. Baker, and with Henry Raynor for the remainder of the tract. The 
Jamesville Plank Road ran through the grounds and it became necessary 
to secure the consent of a majority of the stockholders of the road to the 
necessary change in its course ; also of a majority of the inhabitants along 
the east and west road, crossing the Plank Road near the toll gate, to which 
the Plank Road was to be changed ; and also of the Commissioners of 
Highways of the town of Onondaga, in which the road is embraced, and 



574 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

finally the right of way across the lands of Charles A. Baker and Dr. David 
F. Colvin had to be obtained. These obstacles and their removal seemed 
interminable and required a great deal of time during the year before the 
object was finally and entirely accomplished. The necessary fund was raised 
by subscriptions, payable in one, two and three years, with interest. 

On the 15th of August, 1S59, the subscribers to the fund met at the 
Mayor's ofifice and organized the Association of Oakwood, and elected the 
following trustees : Hamilton White, J. P. Haskins, John Grouse, John 
Wilkinson, E. \V. Leavenworth, Archibald C. Powell, Austin Myers, Allen 
Munroe, Timothy R. Porter, Robert G. Wynkoop, Thomas G. Alvord, J. 
Dean Hawley. On the following day a meeting of the trustees was held at 
the ofifice of E. W. Leavenworth and the following officers were chosen: 
E. W. Leavenworth, President; A. C. Powell, vice-President ; Allen Mun- 
roe, Secretary, and Hamilton White, Treasurer. 

At the same meeting a resolution was adopted, on motion of Mr. 
Alvord, instructing the officers of the association to purchase of Messrs. 
Baker and Raynor the lands first embraced in Oakwood on the terms 
theretofore agreed upon, viz : $9,500 for the twenty acres in front, bought 
of Mr. Baker, and $1 5,000 for the seventy-two and seventy-nine one hun- 
dredth acres, bought of Mr. Raynor. Agreeably to such resolutions, the 
purchase was made and the papers exchanged on the 5th of September 
thereafter. 

The trustees made immediate preparations for the improvement of the 
grounds, and early in October, Howard Daniels, an accomplished land- 
scape gardener from the city of New York, with the aid of fifty or 
si.xty men, commenced work and continued it till the month of December. 

The first person buried at Oakwood was Mrs. Nellie G. Wilkinson, who 
died on the 6th, and was buried on Tuesday, the 8th day of November, 
1859. The first monument of any kind erected within the bounds of the 
cemetery, was that of James Crouse, esq., on Section No. 13, during the 
winter of 1859-60. 

Oakwood Cemetery was dedicated with public ceremonies in the 3d day 
of November, 1859. Since that time there have been purchased thirty 
acres additional lying on the south side of the orignal tract, and twenty-five 
acres extending across the rear of the previous tract. There purchases cost 
about $22,600 00. 

A beautiful mortuary chapel with vault was erected at a cost of about 
$20,000 and dedicated on the 24th of November, i,S86. It occupies an at- 
tractive site on Midland avenue, near the entrance and affords convenience 
for .services in inclement weather and for temporary reception of the dead. 
The number of burials made in Oakwood down to May, 1891, is 7,600, and 
there are 2,100 lot owners. 



Cemeteries. 57: 



Oakwood, as its name indicates, was originally almost an unbroken oak 
forest, interspersed with a few pine, ash. maple, and many hickory trees, 
and filled with underbrush, logs and stumps. But the many diversities of 
gracefully rounded hillocks, sweeping slopes and spreading valleys, all 
gashed with deep ravines and long winding gullies, were there, and they 
caught the sagacious eyes of those to whom we are so deeply indebted for 
its present condition, years before any steps were taken towards its purchase 
and improvement. 

Generally speaking, the whole cemetery grounds face the west, rising 
with a gradual ascent to the eastern boundary on the hill-top, which com- 
pletely overlooks the valley, city and lake. There is, however, a sharp, for- 
est-covered ascent, to the southward from Midland avenue, from the top 
of which the land stretches away to the south. It is this southern portion 
which comprises the purchase of thirty acres, made in iS6g. Many beauti- 
ful lots crowning the knolls, or reaching far down the fair lawns, have been 
cleared of the natural forest, except here and there a specimen of more than 
ordinary beauty, and their places supplied with trees, shrubs and flowers of 
rare varieties and foreign nature. Sprinkled thus among the deciduous 
trees, are seen many symmetrical, upright cones of evergreen, their dark 
colors making a delightful contrast with the lighter foliage and verdure sur- 
rounding them, while they also help to relieve the dreariness of the winter 
landscape. 

In his dedicatory address, Gen. E. W. Leavenworth thus spoke of this 
beautiful town of the dead : "Within its one hundred acres is embraced a 
combination of attractions which, if anywhere equaled, are nowhere sur- 
passed. Placed most fortunately, not too near the city, nor too remote 
from it, mostly covered with young, thrifty woods of the second growth, so 
abundant as to allow great opportunity for selection, its surface diversified 
by the most beautiful and varied elevations and depressions presenting 
views unrivaled in their extent and their magnificence — rendered already 
attractive by lawns, and the most picturesque scenery, it is all that the high- 
est judgment and taste can demand, or the liveliest fancy paint. And the 
careful hand of improvement will, each successive year, develop and height- 
en the charms with which nature has so liberally adorned it." 

In this lovely enclosure have been erected many beautiful examples of 
memorial tombs and monuments, and the number is being added to each 
year. Nearly every family of prominence in the city has purchased as their 
taste directed from among the innumerable beautiful lots and expended lav- 
ishly from their means in the erection of memorials to their "loved and lost." 
The burial grounds at Salina and at Geddes are sufficiently described in 
the earlier chapters devoted to those villages. 

St. Marys Conctery. — The purchase of the old Episcopal church by 
Rev. Michael Haes, in 1S43, which long served as St. Mary's church, at 



5/6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



the corner of Montgomery and Madison streets, was very soon followed by 
the purchase of the burial lot facing on what is now Renwick avenue, for a 
Catholic cemetery. The cemetery remained under control of the Bishop, 
together with other church property, until the passage of the law requiring 
all Catholic cemeteries to be incorporated, when this one became an incor- 
porated institution. The present Board of Trustees are : Bishop Ludden, 
Vicar-General Lynch, Father John Grimes, ( pastor of St Mary's church,) 
John A. O'Reilly, and Eugene Mack. 

This old burial ground is nearly filled, and its use has been a great deal 
curtailed since the establishment of St. Agnes Cemetery. 

SL Cecelia (Round Top) Cemetery. — This cemetery is now in disuse, and 
its history is very brief. The tract of land comprising about fifty-five acres 
was purchased by the late Father O'Hara in September, 1S64, the purchase 
price being $ 1 1,000. A subscription was circulated and about $2,000 col- 
lected, which was applied on the payment for the land. Giving to a differ- 
ence of opinion as to with whom the future title to the land should lie, the 
Bishop interdicted the use of the cemetery for Catholic burials in 1S77 and 
it has not since been used for that purpose. The tract of land has greatly 
increased in value. 

St. Agnes Cemetery. — This beautiful burial ground is on the road lead- 
ing to Onondaga Hill, where it lies on the hilLside facing the east and pre- 
senting a variety of landscape which renders it a most attractive and ap- 
propriate spot for a "citj' of the dead." It comprises a tract of about forty 
acres, which was purchased in 1872, largely through the efforts of the late 
Rev. Dr. O'Hara. It is incorporated under the State law, the following 
persons being the incorporators: Robert McCarthy, Matthew Murphy, 
Dennis B. Keeler, Patrick Phclan. Thomas Nesdall, Thomas I5ra7.elle, Rich- 
ard Clancy, Patrick Hall, J.ihn Mcdriliy, John McGuire, John O. S. Lynch, 
Patrick Corbett. Robert McCarth}' was elected the first president and 
still holds the office, and J- hn McCarthy, secretary. The present ofificers, 
aside from president, arc Matthew Murpiiy, Secretary and Treasurer. 
Directors, Robert McCarthy, ,\Iatthew Murphy, John McCarthy. Patrick 
Lynch, John McGuire, Rev. J.imes S. M. L)nch, Rev. John F. Mullany, 
Wm. Kearney, Edward Lewis, Edward Joy, Patrick Slattery, James 
Lighten, Rev. J. J. Kennedy, John Moore. 

The grounds of this cemetery have been greatly iiii[)rovt.d and embel- 
lished by graded roadways, ornamental trees and shrubbery, and niany 
beautiful and costly memorials grace its knolls and dells. Down to the 
present time there have been a little more than 3,000 burials made here. 

Woodlaivn Cemetery. — This cemetery association was incorporated April 
7, iiSSi, with the following trustees: Irving G. Vann, Frederick Miller, 
Thomas Ryan, Amos L. Mason, George P. Hier, John F. Voshall, Lyman 



Secret Societies. 577 



Stevens, James Barnes, Charles Simon, Charles Schlosser, and Nathan F. 
Graves. These were elected as officers: Irving G. Vann, President ; Charles 
Simon. Vice-President; James l^arnes, Secretary and Treasurer. These 
officers have all been continueti to the present time. 

At the date mentioned the cemetery grounds were in tlie town of Salina, 
but the extension of the city boundaries brings them within the city limits. 
They cover 105 acres and front on Manlius street. The first interment was 
made in May, 1881, and the number now exceeds 2,600, with 1,025 'ot 
owners. A large receiving vault has been erected, and many beautiful 
monuments ornament tlie enclosure. 

The present trustees are as ft)ilows : Irving G. Vann, President ; Thomas 
Ryan, Amos L. Mason, Charles Listman, George Schieder, George P. Hier; 
James Barnes, Secretary and Treasurer ; Lyman Stevens, Charles Simon, 
Vice-Presidents ; Charles Schlosser, Newell E. Loomis, William Rhode. 
\\'illiam Rhode is Superintendent and resides at the cemetery. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 
secret societies. 



Free and .\ccepted Masons — The Kirst Masonic Lodge in .Syracuse — Its Location in Salina — 
.Syracuse Lodge, No. 501 — Other .Masonic Lodges— The First Odd Fellows Lodge — Present 
Lodges aiid their Ofticers. 

THE first duly authenticated body of Free and Accepted Masons organ- 
ized within what are now the limits of the city of Syracuse was Salina 
Lodge, No. 327, located in the village of Salina, now embraced in the First 
and Second wards of the city, which was warranted, or chartered, on the 2d 
daj' of September, iS 19. and for a time held its communications in what 
was tlien known as Beach's, afterwards Sanger's, tavern, located on the 
corner of Salina and Wolf streets. Its existence must have been brief, as 
no papers can be found, either at the former seat of the lodge or on file in 
the Grand Secretary's office, in the city of New York, touching its member- 
ship or duration. 

On the 2d day of January, A. L. 5826, A. D. 1826, a dispensation 
was granted for the organization of Syracuse Lodge, No. 484, ami on the 
lOth of June, following, a warrant was issued, by the Grand Lodge, cm- 
powering Henry Newton to act as its first Master; Joseph Slocum as its first 
Senior Warden; and William Malcolm as its first Junior Warden. Its meet- 
ings were held in the then new Syracuse House, in rooms fitted up for it 
73 



578 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

(according to a custom which then generally prevailed among the lodges 
of holding their meetings in public houses), until about the year 1831, when 
it ceased work, owing to the influence of the great tidal wave of anti-Masonry 
which was sweeping over the country at that time. The original warrant, 
together with the tin case containing the same, made over fifty years since 
by one of its earliest members, Mr. Isaac D. Lavvson, are in possession of 
Mr. George J. Gardner, of this city, to whom they were given by the late 
Russell Hibbard, who was one of the last officers of the lodge. 

On the 23d day of July, 1844, a warrant was granted constituting and 
re-establishing Syracuse Lodge, under No. 102, naming Luther M, Tracy for 
Master; Henry Newton for Senior Warden ; and Hiram Judson for Junior 
Warden. This lodge held its meetings in Masonic Hall, Empire Block, 
being the north wing of the present Empire House, until August, 1849, 
when it removed to Frazer Hall, in what is now known as the Courier 
Building, corner of East Genesee and Montgomery streets, where it remained 
until January, 1850; it then removed to New Masonic Hall, in the Alvord 
Block, on South Warren street, now a part of the Remington Block. Here 
it remained until November, 1852, when it removed to the Stanley Block, 
No. 38 South Warren street, on the site of the Snow Building. Thence it 
was again removed, in 1S56, to No. 63 South Salina street, New Masonic 
Hall, leasing the rooms there in connection with Central City Lodge, No. 
305, which had expended several thousand dollars in fitting up, preparing, 
and beautifying the same. This lodge continued to work until February, 
i860, when, " on the request and complaint of the members of that lodge," 
its warrant was demanded and surrendercti, together with all its properties, 
and on the 8th day of June, following, it was declared forfeited b)' the 
Grand Lodge. 

On the day last menliuned, June 8, i860, a warrant was granted by the 
Grand Lodge, then in session, and issued under date of July 5, i860, to 
Syracuse Lodge, No. 501, authorizing the following named brethren to act 
as its first officers: Lewis E. Joy, Master; John F"rary, Senior Warden; and 
Edward S. Dawson, Junior Warden. 

This lodge held its communications at Masonic Hall, on South Salina 
street, for a number of years, and then fitted up and removed to rooms in 
the Bastable Arcade. It subsequently removed, in 1876, to Nos. n and 
39 South Clinton street, where it remained until May, 1886, and then re- 
moved to its present quarters in the V. M. C. A. Building. Its present 
officers are as follows: H. W. Greenland, W. M.; A. Richard Phillips, S. W.; 
A. 1). Soule, J. W.; Jose[)h Waller. Treasurer; B. F. Stevens, Secretary; 
W. F. Relyea, S D.; F. D. Helmer, J. D.; S. L. White, jr., S. M. of C; E. M. 
Raynor, Chaplain; J. P. Gardner, Tyler; Geoorge E. Pabst, Organist; 
Charles H. St. John, Marshal. 



Secret Societies. 579 



Central City Lodge, No. 305, never worked under dispensation, like 
most lodges, but commenced Masonic labor iiiuler its warrant direct, re- 
ceived from the Grand Lodge on the 7th day of June, 1853. Its first war- 
ranted officers were George N. Williams, Master; Joshua G. Bigelow, Senior 
Warden ; and Robert M. Richardson, Junior Warden. Its communica- 
tions were held in Masonic Hall, Stanley Block, South W'arren street, occu- 
pying it jointly with Sj'racuse Lodge, No. 102, and Syracuse Royal Arch 
Chapter, No. 70, until 1856, when, having fitted up new and more appropriate 
rooms at an expense of several thousand dollars, at No. 63 South Salina 
street, it removed thereto and occupied the same for about ten years. A 
favorable opportunity offering, by the erection of a new building, now known 
as 85 and 87 South Saliiia street, to secure more eligible and commodious 
rooms, it again spent a large sum in appropriately decorating and furnish- 
ing them, and christening its new quarters " Central City Masonic Hall "; it 
removed thereto in 1871, where it is still located. Its present elective 
oflficers are as follows, viz : E. B. Covert, W. M.; O. L. Brownell, S. W.; 
H. E. Plaisted. J. W.; D. W. Peck, S. D.; C. E. Billington, J. D.; L. F. 
Weaver, S. M. of C; A. Weidman, J. M. of C; George J. Gardner, Chap- 
lain ; Chas. A. Weismore, Tyler ; Geo. E. Pabst, Organist ; J. D. Beswick-, 
Marshal; R. H. Parker, Treasurer ; L. D. Burton, Secretary. 

Salt Springs Lodge, No. 520, received its dispensation and held its first 
regular communication, by virtue thereof, on the I7tli day of September 
1 86 1, at the office of Harry Gifford, in the First ward of the city. On tiie 
lOth day of June, following (1862), it received a warrant from the Grand 
Lodge authorizing it to hold its communications "in the First ward of the 
said City of Syracuse," and appointed John F. Sherwood the first Master, 
Henry ]•". Greene the first Senior Warden, and Peter Smith the first Junior 
Warden thereof At the annual communication of the Gratid Lodge, in 
1867, the restriction in regard to location in the P'irst ward of the city was 
withdrawn, and on the iith day of November, succeeding, the lodge re- 
moved to No. 27 North Salina street, where it remained until its removal 
to the White Memorial Building, on the 22d day of May, 1877. 

The present officers of this lodge are : George M. Babbitt, W. M.- 
J. W.Carrick, S. W.; R. A. Landon, J. W.; H. O. Pratt, Treasurer; Henry 
Youell, Secretary ; George Derby, S. D.; S. Blanthin, J. D.; James A. 
Wheelock, S. M. of C; M. Knauber. J. M. ofC; A. Abrahams, Chaplain ; L. 
Witneben, Tyler; George E. Pabst, Organist. 

Cryptic Masonry. — Central City Council, No. 13, Royal and Select 
Masters, was granted a warrant by the Grand Council, R. and S. M., of the 
State of New York, on the 5th day of June, i860, constituting the follow- 
ing named companions the first officers thereof, viz.: T. I., Sejniour Jl 



580 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Stone, Master; R. I., Stiles M. Rust, Deputy Master; and I., Charles W. 
Snow, Princ. Cond. of the Works. This body has met as occasion has re- 
quired in the rooms leased by the other Central City bodies, and dispatched 
all necessary work. Its last elected officers are as follows, viz.: T. M. Bar- 
ber. T. I. M.; Wm. Gilbert, D. M.; J. H. Duncan, P. C. W.; H. VV. Plumb, 
Treasurer; E. C. Tallcott, Recorder; H. G. Stone, Capt. G.; E. C. Hall, Cond. 
ofC; G. L. McAllister, Marshal; H. T. Morgan, Steward; C. A. Wies- 
more, Sentinel. 

Capitular Masonry. — In the early part of the year 1820 a dispensation 
was granted to organize Salina Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, No. 70, and 
on the 9th of February, 1821, a warrant was granted naming; Wilhain Bald- 
win as first High Priest; Henry Case, King; and Matthew Van Vleck, 
Scribe, thereof. 

This chapter met in the village of Salina, now incorporated within the 
limits of the city of Syracuse, and worked under its dispensation and war- 
rant regularly, with the exception of an interregnum during the " troublous 
times" occurring between 1828 and 1831, until the year of 1837, "hen. in 
the general suspension of Masonic bodies, which took place at that period, 
it became dormant, and remained so until the year 1849. 

On the loth day of February, 1826, a warrant was issued to said Chap- 
ter No. 70, in place of the original warrant issued in 1821, which was said 
to have been lost, appointing Noah Tubbs, High Priest ; Joel Wright, King ; 
and Amos F"oot, Scribe, thereof, their convocations to be held in the vil- 
lage of Salina, This is the warrant held by Central City Chapter, No. 70, 
under which it now works. On the 25th day of January, 1849, the fol- 
lowing companions assembled for the purpose of re- organizing the Chapter, 
viz.: Lyman R. Averill, Samuel R. Matthews, Morris Kain, George VV. 
Robinson, and Joseph Jaqueth, who were members of the said Chapter, and 
the following Royal Arch Masons, not members of the Chapter, but desirous 
of becoming such, viz.: John M. Clark, A. G. Brovver, Jerry Penficld, 
Archibald Perkins, Philip Sharp, Amos Story, Benjamin French, Dearborn 
B. Richford, and Sanford C. Parker.. An election for officers was then held, 
resulting as follows: Lyman R. Averill was elected High Priest; Morris 
Kain, King; Joseph Jaqueth, Scribe ; Benjamin F. Green, C. of H.; Sam- 
uel R. Matthews, P. S.; Levi Adams, R. A. C; Josiah Watkins, M. of 3d 
v.; Zcbulon Kinne, M. of 2d V.; Jonathan P Hicks, M. of 1st V.; Matthew 
Van Vleck, Treasurer; George W. Robinson, .Secretary ; Elisha Clark, Tyler; 
and Morris Kain and Samuel R. Matthews, Stewards. 

The above proceedings were had preliminary to action by the Grand 
Chapter, on the 7th day of February, 1849, whereby Salina Royal Arch 
Chapter, No. 70, was revived, and its title Changed to Syracuse Chapter, 



Secret Societies. 581 



retaining the same number (70), and by said action it was " authorized to 
hold its meetings in the city of Syracuse." The following named petitioners 
were the only members embraced in the revival of the said Ciiapter, viz.: 
Lyman R. Averill, Joseph Jaqucth, 15enjamin F. Green, Levi Adams, Joshua 
VVatkins (?), Zebulon Kinnc, Jonathan P. Hicks, Matthew Van Vleck, 
GeorgeVV. Robinson, Elisha Clark, Sanford C. Parker, Benjamin F"rench, 
Abraham (?) G. Brower, John Newell, Jerry Penfield, Archibald Jenkins, 
Dearborn B. Richford, Henry Lake, Anson (Amos) Story, and John M. 
Clark. 

Under this action of revivification the above members held their first 
meeting " February i6th, 1S49, at 2 1-2 o'clock p. m., at Masonic Hail, 
Empire Block, Syracuse," and at once proceeded to an election for officers- 
such step having become necessary by several of the officers elected under 
date of January 25th, 1849, being ruled out for reasons unknown and not 
embraced in the list of petitioners. The result of this election was as fol- 
lows, viz.: Lyman R Averill was elected High Priest; Benjamin F. Green, 
King; John M. Clark, Scribe; Sanford C. Parker, C. of H.; Benjamin 
French, P. S.; Abram G. Brower, R. A. C; Levi Adatns, Dearborn B. Bick- 
ford, and Jerry Penfield, M. of the Vails; George W. Robinson, Secretary ; 
Matthew Van Vleck, Treasurer; Archibald Perkins, Tyler ; and Amos Story 
and John Newell, Stewards. 

Its meetings were held in the Emi)ire Block until August 29, 1849, 
when it removed to the " Frazee Block," holding its first meeting there at 
that date ; thence it moved to " New Masonic Hall," Alvord Block, South 
Warren street, holding its first meeting there January 9, 1850; thence on 
the 17th day of November, 1752, it moved and held its first meeting in the 
Stanley Block, No. 38 South Warren street (site of the Snow ]?uiiiling), and 
in 1856 to the Washington Block, No. 63 South Sahna street. 

On the 3d day of February, 1864, the following resolution was adopted 
by the tirand Chapter of the State of New York : 

■• Resoh'td, That Syracuse Chapter. No. 70. be authorized to change the name of said 
Chapter from ' Syracuse ' to ' Central City," and that the said Chapter shall hereafter be 
known and distinguished by the name of ' Central City Chapter, No. 70.' " 

In the year 1871 the Chapter moved, with the other Masonic bodies, 
from No. 6], to Nos. 85 and 87 South Salina street, where it is now located. 
Its present officers are as follows, viz.: George J. Gardner, H. P.; H. W. 
Greenland, King; O. L. Brownell, Scribe; Chas. P. Clark, Treasurer; L. D. 
Burton, Secretary ; T. M. Barber, C. of 1 1.; M. B. P"airchild, P. S.; George C. 
Hanford, R. A. C; A. E. Aldridge, M. of 3d Vail ; James E. Baker, M. of 
2d Vail; A. Weidman, M. of ist Vail ; Charles A. Weismqre, Tyler. 

Ckivalric Orders of Mason ly. — On the 17th day of March, 1856, a 



582 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

dispensation was issued creating Central City Encampment, and appointing 
the following named Sir Knigiits as its first three officers, viz.: Clinton F. 
Paige, Grand Commander ; Harlow W. Chittenden, Generalissimo ; and 
William L. Palmer, Captain-General. On the 6th day of February, 1857, 
a warrant was issued to said officers by the Grand Commandery of the State 
of New York, under the name, number, and style of " Central City Com- 
mandery, No. 25, of Knights Templar and Knights of Malta,"in accordance 
with action previously had by the General Grand Encampment of the U. S. 
A., changing the title of " Encampment " to " Commandery," and the title 
of the first named officer from " Grand Commander " to " l-lminent Com- 
mander." Under this warrant it has worked to the present time, first, at 
No. 63 South Salina street, and then at Nos. 85 and 87 South Salina street, 
in connection with the other Central City bodies. Its present officers are 
as follows, viz.: A. S. Edwards, Commander ; John H. Duncan, General- 
issimo ; Herbert W. Greenlapd, Captain General ; Rev. Jeremiah Zimmer- 
man, Prelate ; Hiram W. Plumb, Treasurer ; Edward C. Tallcott, Recorder; 
Wm. Crabtree, S. W.; Emerson J. Eddy, J. W.; Hugh T. Morgan, St. Br.; 
Alvin J. Garrett, Sw. Br; C. V.. Billington, Warder ; Horace G. Stone, E. C. 
Hall, Charles A. Byington, Guards ; C. H. Norton, Armorer ; Charles A. 
Weismore, Sentinel. 

Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. — The first step taken for the introduc- 
tion of this Rite in that portion of the State lying west of Albany was on the 
1 6th day of February, 1862, when 111. Bro. Nicholas Mickles, of New York 
city, convened the following named brethren in a room in the Syracuse 
House, viz.: Orrin Welch, George J. Gardner, Seymour 11. Stone, Stiles M. 
Rust, and Chas. W. Snow, and by special dispensation from the Supreme 
Head of the Rite, authorizing him to do so, communicated to them the 
ritual of the various degrees embraced in the Lodge of Prefection and Coun- 
cil of the Princes of Jerusalem, being from the fourth to the sixteenth, in- 
clusive, of this Rite. 

On the 27th day of November, 1862, warrants were granted to the five 
above mentioned members, also to Simon De Graff, George W. Harwood, 
and Martin V. B. Hart, they all having in the meantime duly qualified 
themselves by receiving the remaining degrees of the Chapter of Rose Croix 
and Consistory of S. P. R. S., thirty-.second degree, to organize and work 
the several bodies of Central City Lodge of Perfection, Central City Council 
of Princes of Jerusalem, Central City Chapter of Rose Croix, H. R. I). M., 
and Central City Consistory of S. P. R. S., thirty- second degree, to which 
warrant of the last mentioned body were also added the names of Clinton 
F. Paige, of Binghamton ; John L. Lewis, of Penn Yan ; and Zenas C. Priest, 
of Utica. 



Secret Societies. 583 



With the exception of bodies of this Rite, at that time dormant or work- 
ing, in Albany and New York, these were the first and only duly consti- 
tuted bodies of this Rite in the State. For a number of years their meet- 
ings were held at No. 63 South Salina street, and on the removal of Central 
City Lodge, No. 305, and other bodies to Nos. 85 and 87 South Salina 
street, room.s were fitted up and prepared especially for these bodies at a 
great expense, to which they removed and where they are now all working. 
The present elective officers are as follows, viz.: William Gilbert, T. P. G. 
M.; O. L. Brownell, H. T. D. G. M.; C. L. Woodward, V. S. G. W.; H G. 
Stone, V. J, G. W.; R. H. Parker, thirty-third degree, G. O.; H. W". Plumb, 
thirty-third degree, G. Treasurer ; li. C. Tallcott, G. Secretary ; K. C. Hall, 
G. M. ofC; H. T. Morgan, G. Captain; F. Krhard, G. H. B.; C. A. Weis- 
more, G. Tyler. 

Central City Council, Princes of Jerusalem. — The officers of this Council 
are as follows: Amos A. Edwards, M. E S. P. G. M.; Oscar L. Brownell, 
G. H. P. D. G. M.; C. E 15i]lington, M. E. S. G. W.; E. C. Hall, M. E. J. 
G. W.; Hiram W. Plumb, thirty third degree, V. G Treasurer; E C. Tall- 
cott, V. G. Secretary; Henry B. Pomeroy, V. G. M. of C; Clarence L. 
Woodward, V. G. M. of E.; F. Erhard, V. G. Almoner; C. A. Weismore, 
V. G. Tyler. 

Central City Chapter of Rose Croix. — Officers as follows : Charles E. 
Ide, thirty-third degree, M. W. and P. M.; E. C Hall, M. E. and P. K. S. 
W.; H. G. Stone, M. E. and P. K. J. W.; Henry B. Pomeroy, M. E. and 
P. K. G. O.; H. W. Plumb, thirty-third degree, R and P. K. Treasurer ; 
E. C. Tallcott, R. and P. K. Secretary; F. Erhard, R. and P. K. H.; John 
H. Duncan, R. and P. K. M. of C; C. E. Billington, R. and P. K. Captain 
G.; C. A. Weismore, R. and P. K. Tyler. 

Central City Consistory, S. P. R. S., Thirty-second Degree. — Officers as 
follows, viz.: J. H. Duncan, Commander in-Chief; C. E. Ide, First Lieuten- 
ant-Commander; William Allen Butler, Second Lieutenant-Commander ; 
R. H. Parker, thirty-second degree, M. of S. and G. C; C. H. Norton. G. 
C; F^. W. Plumb, thirty third degree, G. Treasurer; E. C. Tallcott, G. 
Secretary ; H. C. Bronson, G. E. and A.; F. Erhard, G. H.; C. E. Billing- 
ton, G. M. of C; E. C. Hall, G. Captain G ; M. C. Pierce, G. S. B.; C. A. 
Weismore, G. S. Meets fourth Mondays at Masonic Hall. 

The government of this Rite is vested in the '• Supreme Council of Sov- 
ereign Grand Inspectors- General of the Thirty-third and last degree, An- 
cient Accepted Scottish Rite, for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the 
U. S. A.," whose Grand East, or seat of power, is at Boston, Mass. Its 
active membership is limited. Its honorary membership is based upon a 
pro rata proportion of members of the fourteenth degree, made in several 



584 Memorial Histokv of Syracuse. 



States or jurisdictions. The resident members of this supreme body are as 
follows, viz.: George J. Gardner (thirty third degree), Seymour II. Stone 
(thirty-third degree), Abel G. Cook (thirty-third degree), Charles P. Clark 
(thirty third degree), Austin C. Wood (thirty-third degree), Albert Becker, 
jr. (thirt)'- third degree), Richard II. Tarker (thirty- tliird degree), Hiram W. 
Plumb (thirty-third degree). 

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS. 

In the year of 1842 the subject of Odd Fellowship was for the first time 
discussed in the social circles of this community. What first awakened an 
interest in the subject was the frequent publication in the eastern papers of 
this State of notices of meetings, funerals, etc., headed with those cabalistic 
characters, I. O. O. F., of which people in this locality were then in 
blissful ignorance. The spirit of womanly curiosity was aroused. A meet- 
ing of those interested was held, and it was resolved that measures be taken 
to organize a lodge, to be called " Onondaga Lodge." The laws of the 
Grand Lodge requiring five or more brethren to unite in petitioning for a 
charter, it was requisite that a number should be initiated in order to equal 
the constitutional requirement ; and not deeming it expedient to commence 
operations till a sufficient number could be obtained to fill all the principal 
chairs, the following persons volunteered and agreed to qualify themselves, 
viz.: William W. Willard, George H. Sloat, Daniel D. Denton, George J. 
Gardner, William S. Wood, J. Gates Willard, and Jonathan Haldwin. The 
nearest lodge then in existence was Oneida Lodge, No. 70, at Utica, of 
which Joseph Seymour, much respected and who died in this city, was then 
Noble Grand, and in which lodge these candidates were all proposed and in 
due time initiated. The election and installation of officers then took place, 
and the following officers took their seats for the first term ending March 
31st, or until their successors were installed, which took place April 7, 1843, 
viz.: WilHam W. Willard, Noble Grand; George B. Sloat, Vice-Grand; 
Daniel D. Denton, Secretary ; George J. Gardner, Treasurer; William S. 
Wood, S. S.; Myer Extien, O. G.; Moses Hellman, I. G.; Jonathan Bald- 
win, C; J. Gates Willard, Warden. 

A room was fitted up at an expense of several hundred dollars in the 
attic of the block used by the Onondaga County Bank and Bank of Syra- 
cuse, corner of Washington and South Salina streets, of which a lease was 
taken for the term of ten years, and which room continued to be occu- 
pied by Onondaga Lodge, and later at times by the various lodges of 
the city, until near the expiration of the lease, when a more commodious and 
richly decorated hall was procured on the corner of Salina and Fayette 



Secret Societies. 585 

streets, in which the order continued to hold its meetings until the destruc- 
tion of the hall by fire on the morning of Sunday, February 3, 1856. 

At that ])(.Tiod there were but seven lodges in operation throughout the 
whole portion of this State west of Schenectady, viz.: Three at Kuftalo, two 
at Rochester, one at Ithaca, and one at Utica, a territory now represented 
by more than four hundred lodges of this order. During the existence of 
the lodge there had been up to January i, 1856, initiations, 455 ; additions 
by card, 53 ; making a total of 508 members. 

In the year 1S45, in connection with Syracuse Lodge, a purchase was 
made of a large lot in the Rose Hill Cemetery, which was surroundtd with 
a substantial iron railing, decorated with the various emblems of the order. 
The first interment therein, and the first funeral the lodge was called on to 
attend, was that of Philo C. Weaver, of Oneida Lodge, No. 70. 

From Onondaga Lodge went out several colonies and established Odd 
Fellows' Lodges in Syracuse and in several towns of the county — Syracuse 
Lodge, No. 109; Salina, No. 97; and Alphadclphia, No. 44, in this city. 
Since then there have been added to the number Lessing, No. 163, and 
Lincoln, No. 180. These work in the German language. 

In addition to six lodges in the city is Cynosure Encampment, No. 14, 
a flourishing institution which was formed by a union of Mt. Nebo and the 
other encampments and cantons mentioned below, of Syracuse, and Uncas 
Encampment, of Baldwinsville. This encampment and four lodges occupy 
Odd Fellows' Hall, near the City Hall; the other three lodges have each 
beautiful halls. The officers of the various lodges are as follows : 

Alphadclphia Lodge, No. 44.— H. B. Stone, N. G.; B. F. Matthews, 
V. G.; J. VV. Bronson, Secretary; Edward Davis, Financial Secretary; 
William White, Treasurer. 

Onondaga Lodge, No. 79. — O. H. Harris, N. G.; E. J. Finley, V. G.; 
W. S. Karker, Secretary ; C. R. Williams, Financial Secretary ; James 
Noakes, Treasurer. 

Salina Lodge, No. 97. — Scott Ransom, N. G.; J. W. Patten, V. G.; 
Addison Gifford, Secretary ; John Eastwood, Financial Secretary ; Daniel 
Bruce, Treasurer. 

Syracuse Lodge, No. 109. — William H. Hotaling, N. G.; E. VV. Plunder, 
V. G; J. D. McChesney, Secretary; William L, Mowry, F'inancial Secre- 
tary; T. V. Gage, Treasurer. 

Lessing Lodge, No. 163.— Jacob Miller, N. G. ; Simon Rosenbloom, 
V. G.; Jacob Levi, Secretary; Nathan Wien, Financial Secretary; Solomon 
Lederer, Treasurer. 

Lincoln Lodge, No. 180. — Robert Grub, N. G.; Peter Drumm, V. G.; 
Frederick Neu, Secretary ; Daniel Wurth, F"inancial Secretary ; Frank 
Geiger, Treasurer. 74 



586 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Cynosure Encampment, No. 14 — W. H. Hotaling, Chief Patriarch; John 
Jaeckcl, S. W.; George H. Tim m ins, J. W. ; Henry Clutterbuck, H. P.; 
John D. Cornue, Inside Guard ; Jacob Stoby, Outside Guard ; James 
Noakes, Scribe ; John Morgan, Guide. 

Salina E7icampmcnt. No. 114. — Scott Ransom, Chief Patriarch; A. 
Uttman, S. W.; S. P. Walkup, J. W.; Charles Heagle, H. P.; Fred Alvord. 
F. Scribe ; John Murray, Scribe. 

Lincoln Encampment. — Karl Bieliler. C. P.; Karl Emig, H. P.; Frederick 
Neu, S. W.; L. Stuber, J. W.; Robert Grub, Scribe; Jacob Fickeis, Treas- 
urer ; Daniel Wurth, P. Secretary. 

Canton Danforth, No. 31. — A. Cornwall, Captain ; William L. Mowry, 
Lieutenant; W. A. Hotaling, Ensign; F. R. Main, Clerk; F. H. Cook, 
Treasurer ; I. L. A. Cobet, Standard Bearer ; E. W. P^lunder, Sentinel. 

Canton Union, No. 6. — Scott Ransom, Commander; D. H. Bruce, Cap- 
tain ; John Gilcher, Lieutenant ; W. H. Wilderer, Ensign ; A. Uttman, 
Financial Secretary ; VV. F. Jones, Clerk ; J. W. Patten, Standard Bearer. 

Lincoln Canton, No. 38. (Instituted Jan. 27, 1891.) — Fred Sembach, 
Captain ; Philip Oswald, Lieutenant; Charles Grub, Ensign ; Peter Drumm, 
Clerk; Louis Stuber, Treasurer; Jacob Bock, Standard Bearer. 



CHAPTER XXXVH. 

PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS ol- .SYRACUSE. 

The Police Departmenl— The Syracuse Water Works Company— The Syracuse Gas Light Com- 
pany—The Telegr.iph and Telephone in Syracuse— Onondaga County Orphan .\sylum— The State 
Idiot Asylum— St. Joseph's Ilospiial— House of ihe (Jood Shepherd— The Old Ladies' Home- 
Business Men's Association — Bureau of l.al.or end Ch.irities. 

Tup: police force of Syracuse as at present organized is young, dating 
back only to 1869; but the difficulties of preserving peace and quietude 
in the village and city prior lu chat date appear to have been at times greater 
than at present, although the population and the territory now to be gov- 
erned has increased many fold. The fact is that the police control of the 
village and the young city was, like all other municipal affairs, in an incip- 
ient state, and lacking in all of the qualities to be acquired only by experience. 
The present splendid condition of the force is the result of gradual growth, 
commendable management, and careful study of the needs of the city. 

The first mention found of an incipient police force in Syracuse is the re- 



PuiiMc Institutions. 587 



corded payment of $25 to H. W. Durnford, in March, 1827, for "services as 
Police Constable." In 1828 tiie same sum was paid to Charles Cook for 
similar services. 

It is to be inferred, in the absence of records to the contrar)-, that police 
service in the village, at least outside of what was performed by the regu- 
larly elected constables, was for some years of a transient and very inter- 
mittent character, shown to have been the case at several different periods, 
when some mild epidemic of crime, or the lawlessness of gangs of the rough 
element in the population, stirred the authorities to activity. Several of 
these occasions have been sufficiently described in earlier pages of this work. 

The celebrations of the P'ourth of July, after the village had reached a 
population of a few thousand, seem to have commonly demanded extra 
efforts to preserve the peace. Thus in 1S38 si.x men were employed on 
Jul)' 2d for one week as a night watch at $1 per night. It was afterwards 
decided that three men would be sufficient, but just how man)' were actually 
employed on that occasion, or for just how long a period, can be judged only 
by the fact that on July 1 6th the bill for night watch was ordered paid at 
$81. 

The period between 1S40 and 1850, or a considerable portion of it, was 
one of unusual lawlessness and crime. In the summer of the year 1841 a 
meeting was held at which a Committee on Night Watch, consisting of seven 
citizens, was appointed. After a thorough investigation tliis committee re- 
ported seventy-five places open for the sale of liquor in the village, and that 
the situation demanded " extraordinary measures to protect citizens and 
their property." The approaching horse races, the prevalence of gaming 
houses, and the numerous fires were alluded to in the report. The result 
was that the sum of $600 was raised to be expended for a night watch, and 
Nathan W. Rose, Joseph Flick, Joseph Mesmcr, James IJurrell, Charles A. 
Huntoon, and Thomas Griffith were appointed, with the first named man as 
Captain. Their pay was $1.00 per night. This force continued in service 
until about the first of December of that year. In addition to these Zopher 
H. Adams, I'hilo N. Rust, and Joseph Flick were appointed to act as Special 
Police Constables for a short period, including the Fourth of July. Upon 
such transient organizations, and such protection as was afforded by the con- 
stables, the village depended during its existence. 

With the establishment of the city government came the introduction of 
new police arrangements, though nothing like a "system" can be said to 
have been adopted until a few years later. On the 2ist of December, 1848 
(the first year of the city government), a public meeting was called, " in 
view of many midnight burglaries and other crimes," to consider the best 
means of abating crime in the future. This call was signed by about fifty 



588 Memokiai. Histokv of Syracuse. 

respectable citizens, and the meeting was held on the 22d. Sylvester House 
was recommended as a suitable person for Police Justice. 

In 1 85 I Mayor Wheaton suggested an inquiry into the police system to 
render it more efficient, and proposed to furnish the force a room and pro- 
vide a court-room. At about the same time the Council adopted a resolu- 
tion that "Police Constables for the ensuing year be required to lodge at the 
Watch House, two each night, without e.xtra compensation." 

The names of the police for the year 1852 were Varnum C. James, 
Emery Ormsby, Harry Henderson, Thomas Davis, Joseph Kinyon, L. M. 
Holister, and Henry Shattuck. Ten " Special Police Constables " were ap- 
pointed for March and April,, because of the numerous fires. 

In March, 1853, a Committee of the Common Council was called on to 
report on the expediency of better organizing the force. There were then 
eight officers, and the committee recommended the appointment of one of 
the number as Chief and the payment of $500 annually to the members. 

In 1854—55 the office of Chief of Police was abolished by a charter amend- 
ment, and the duties of such position substantially placed in the hands of the 
Police Justice, while the Mayor was made largely responsible for the gen- 
eral efficiency of the force. The nominations to be made by him were to be 
confirmed by the Common Council. 

On an earlier page of this work allusion has been made to the nimierous 
fires which alarmed tlie populace, and to the prevailing lawlessness, rowd)'- 
ism, and crime of the latter part of 1855 ^""^ '^^^ early part of 1856, which 
at length created so much indignation that a public meeting was called to 
consider changes in the charter, "having for their object the better and more 
economical management of the affairs of the city." Meanwhile a commit- 
tee had been appointed by the Conmion Council to prepare a bill for tlie 
improvement of the police system. This action was taken in deference to 
the popular feeling at that time. A meeting was held Februar)' 7th to con- 
sider the changes in the police system, as proposed by the committee, at 
which Jason C. Woodruff presided. The result was a decision to retain the 
police force substantially as it then existed, and to re-create the office of Chief 
of Police with broad and well-defined powers. The question of establish- 
ing a Recorder's Court was also raised, but no action was taken. 

In this s.ime month of February another public meeting was held to de- 
vise a plan for protecting the city against incendiaries, burglars, and robbers, 
and the result was the appointment of a temporarj' paid night watch. 

At the charter election Andrew Y. Thompson was made Police Justice 
(to fill vacancy), J. C. Cuddeback having been asked to resign. 

Two other meetings were held in March in relation to the better gov- 
ernment of the city, and approving of the charter amendments in this regard. 



Puiu.ic Institutions. 589 



The salary of the Chief was fixed at $800; that of the Justice at $1,200; 
and of policemen at $600. With tliese changes, and the appointment of 
good men, the city entered upon a period of greater peace and (luictudc. 
Thomas Davis was then Chief. 

Karly in the year 1857 the Chief reported that ihtre were about 500 
places in the city where liquor was sold on Sundays, and proclaimed that he 
should enforce the laws against this traffic. One of the local papers soon 
afterward congratulated the community on the excellent condition of the 
city under the existing police force and Justice Thompson's administration. 

During the war period there was not much change in the police force 
calling for particular mention. There were occasional appointments of spe- 
cials for the better control of the rougher elements at some particular times, 
but as a rule the force as it then existed, and under its very creditable man- 
agement, was sufficient to preserve the peace of the city, even though it was 
an important recruiting station and rendezvous of the Union army. 

In Mayor William D. Stewart's inaugural address of 1867 he recom- 
mended doubling the numerical strength of the police force. Fred Schug 
then occupied the position of Chief, and he was succeeded by Thomas 
Davis. 

The organization of the police force upon its present basis was effected 
in pursuance of an Act of Legislature passed February 15, 1869. The act 
provided for the election in that year of four Police Commissioners, two of 
whom should be elected by ballot, and the two receiving severally the next 
highest number of votes to those declared elected should be appointed by 
the Common Council. Two of these officials were to hold their offices until 
March, 1871, and two until March, 1873. After that the term of the office 
was made four years, two to be elected in each year. 

This Board was empowered to appoint not to exceed thirty policemen 
to enter on their duties April 1, 1867; also to appoint such further number 
as they might deem best, on request of the Common Council, not exceed- 
ing thirty-four, and also such special policemen as necessary, not exceeding 
in number the regular force, nor to serve for more than ten days. Compen- 
sation for the regular force was fixed at $65 per month, and the api)oint- 
. ment of a Chief, a Captain of the Night Watch, and four detectives by the 
Hoard, provided for with all necessary general regulations for the govern- 
ment of the force. 

On the 7th of May, 1869. tiie City Charter was amended so that the 
Mayor should have power to appoint special policemen to act as night 
watchmen. 

On April 15, 1870, the police law was amended, the pay of the force 
being increased to $75 per month, and that of the Captain of the Night 
Watch lo $100 per month. 



590 



Memorial History ok Syracuse. 



On tlie 2d of June, 1876, the Police Commissioners were given power, 
by an amendment to the charter, to issue subptenas for witnesses in exam- 
ining members of the police force on charges against them. 

May 17, 1879. the police law was again amended, increasing the numer- 
ical limit of the force to forty-two men, and the pay to the members to $75 
per month, and the number of detectives to seven. 

On the 2 1 St of June, 1881, other amendments to the law of 1869 were 
made, tiie principal changes being the transfer to the Mayor of appointment 
of Police Commissioners, and giving him the power of removal for any 
cause deemed sufficient to himself In case of the removal of any member 
of the force by the Commissioners, they were required to make and trans- 
mit to the Common Council a statement in writing of their reasons for such 
removal. 

Ill the Act of 1885, for the revision and consolidation of the several acts 
it) relation to the city of Syracuse and amending the charter, several minor 
changes were made in the regulations governing the police force. The 
maximuiH limit of the pay of the Chief was fixed at $150 per month, and 
the Chief was made Clerk of the Board of Commissioners. The members 
of the force were given all of the common law and statutory powers of con- 
stables, except for the service of civil processes. Under the law first men- 
tioned (1869) the Police Department of Syracuse was organized. 

Thomas Davis, then a patrolman, was made Chief in June and held the 
office until his death, January 8, 1880. He was succeeded by James Har- 
vey, promoted from detective, January 23, 18S0, and removed September 
27, 1881. Onthe2istof October, 1881, Alexander McCall. then a detect- 
ive, was appointed Chief, and held the office until May 3, 1882. when he was 
removed, and Charles R. Wright, the present Chief, was appointed to the 
office. The patrolmen on the force March 29, 1869, were as follows: John 
ICnnis, Patrick Kiernan, Orson B. Sunderlin, William Hewitt, John J. Her- 
ron, Jacob Eckle, Thomas Johnson, Alonzo B. Wylum, George Schattle, 
Jacob Oswald, Victor Matty, Henry Reill)-. Lcristan Adkins, John W.Coles, 
William B. Patterson. Dennis Cawle\-, Henry Sheerer, Edward Deady, John 
F. Case, R. H. Sevenoaks, Jacob Houck, Luke D. Seele>-, Abraham Prettie, 
Thomas J. Behan, George S. Wilsey, James Byrnes. John R\an, Richard J. 
Wright, James Harvey, Alexander McCall. Of these the following are still 
on the force: Orson Sunderlin, John Ennis, Patrick Kiernan, William Hew- 
itt, and James Harvey. 

In May, 1 890, a Police Electric Alarm system was introduced, at a cost 
of $12,450, which, with the patrol wagon, introduced in the summer of 
1S85, places the department upon a plane of efficiency that is not excelled 
in any similar city in the country. 



Public Institutions. 591 



It is only simple justice to credit a large share of the great improve- 
ments made in this department of the city government during the past ten 
)'ears, to Chief Charles R. Wright. He was a member of the Board of Police 
Commissioners from February, 1879, to August, 1881, before iiis appoint- 
ment as Chief, during which period, and ever since, he has made the proper 
control of his department a constant study. 

The term of office of the Police Commissioners is four years. Two are 
appointed every two years. The strength of the police force at the present 
time is seventy-four policemen, two patrol drivers, one barnman, and the 
operator of the signal plant. The salary list for the present fiscal year is 
$71,460. 

The succession of Police Justices of Syracuse is as follows: Richard 
Woolworth was the first Justice, and served for one term, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Hickok. In ICS53 Sylvester House was placed in the 

office, and continued to 1 860, when L. L. Alexander was elected. He served 
one term of four years, and was succeeded by George Stevens. His single 
term closed in 1868, when he was succeeded by Henry Gift'ord. Patrick 
Corbett was then elected, and served until 1872, when a turn of the political 
wheel again placed L. L. Ale-xander in the office, which he held until Jan- 
uary, 1877, when Thomas Mulholland, the present Justice, was elected, and 
lias held the office ever since — a period of about twenty years. 

The first Chief of Police was Sylvester House, and the second Robert 
Richardson Davis. Thomas Mulholland was then made Chief during the 
two years of Charles Andrews's administration as Mayor, and was succeeded 
under Mayor Bookstaver, in 1863, by Thomas Davis. Norman C. Otis was 
given the place under Mayor A. C. Powell, in 1864, and was succeeded by 
Fred Schug, under William D. Stewart, in 1865, but he was displaced after 
a short term by Thomas Davis, who served the remainder of Mayor Stew- 
art's three terms, down to 1868. Thomas Mulholland was then again made 
Chief, and held the position until the re-organization of the force in 1869, 
when he was succeeded by Thomas Davis, who continued until his death, 
January 8, 1880. On the 23d of that month James Harvey was appointed, 
but was removed September 27, 1881, and was succeeded by Alexander 
McCall. He was removed May 3, 1882, and was immediately succeeded 
by Charles R. Wright, who has since administered the office. 

BOARDS OF POLICE COMMLSSIONKUS. 

First Board. — Elected February, 1869: Peter Hums, George P. Hier, (larrcU Doyle, Ceorge 
A. Ostrander. 

Second Boaril. — February, 1S71 : Charles P. Clark, George P. 1 1 ier, Garrett Doyle, George 
A. Ostrander. 

Third Board. — YehTM&iy, 1S73: Charle.s P. Clark, F. W. Deesz, Garrett Hoyle, William 
Baumgras. 



592 , Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Fourth /?c,7r,/. — February, 1875: William Haumgras, F. W. Oeesz, Daniel Gere, Robert 
McCarthy. 

Fifth Hoard.— l^o\f:m\-,<tx, 1876: William liaiimgras, F. W. Deesz (resigned), Orrin Welch 
(appointed), Daniel Gere, Robert McCarthy. 

Sixth /)oari/. — Vehrmry, 1877: Robert McCarthy, Orrin Welch, Daniel Gere, Jacob Knapp. 

Serenth j9<;r;n/.— March, 1S78: Robert McCarthy, John Moore -■;>,- Orrin Welch (deceased), 
Daniel Gere, Jacob Knapp. 

Eighth /^ofln/. — February, 1879: Daniel Gere, Charles R. Wright, Jacob Knapp, John Moore. 

Ninth /jortn/.— February, 1881 : Daniel Gere, Charles R. Wright, Jacob Knapp, Thomas Murphy. 

Ttiith /.Wn/. — Appointed August, 18S1: John R. Whitlock, John D. Gray, Charles Schlos- 
ser, Edward D. Lewis. 

Eleventh /ioar,/. — U3.y, 1882: J. D. Ackerman, William B. Kirk, jr., Rhody Mara, Thurston 
W. Brewster. 

Twelfth /y'oart/.— March, 1883: William H. Kirk, jr., Thurston W. lirewster, J. I). Ackerman, 

Rhody Mara. 

Thirteenth />'o,m/.— October, 1884: J. D. Ackerman, 13ruce S. AUlrich, T. D. Brewster, Rhody 

Mara. 

Fourteenth /.Wn/. — March, 18S5: T. W. Brewster, Bruce S. AUlrich, Daniel O'Brien, Nicho- 
las Latterner. 

Fifteenth Honnl. — \x,n\, 1S85: Nicholas Lallerner, David K. McCarthy. Bruce S. Aldrich, 

Daniel O'Brien. 

Sixteenth /><;an/. — January, 1886 : Nicholas Latterner, James II. Doolitlle, Bruce S. Aldrich, 

Daniel O'Brien. 

Seventeenth Board.— February, 1887: Darwin L. Pickard, William B. Kirk, Charles Schlosser, 
Patrick Slattery. Mr. I'ickaid resigned in February, and the other members were removed. The 
new Board appointed was as follows: Dwight H. Bruce, John W. Vale, Edward D. Lewis, Anton 
V. .\ltinann. 

Eighteenth Board. —November, 1SS7: Dwight H. Bruce, John W. Vale, Edward D. Lewis, 

Anton V. Allmann. 

Nineteenth Board. — iSii: -Same as above. April 3d D. 11. Bruce resigned, and May 9th 
George F. Dana was appointed to fill vacancy. 

Twentieth Board.— ]v,ne 11, 18S8: John W. V.ile resigned, and Philip S. Ryder was appointed 
to fill vacancy, leaving the Board as follows: Edward D. Lewis, Anton V. Altmann, Philip S. 
Kyder, and George E. Dana. 

Twenty-first Board.— 'M&rch, 1889: Same as above. 

Twenty-seeond /.'ft;;-,/. — March, 1891: Henry Lyon, George E. Dana, Edward D. Lewis, 
Charles Lislinan. 

SEMI-PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 

Syracuse City Water Works. — Atiiong the first to advocate a system 
of water works for supplying the village of Syracuse was Capt. Oliver 
Teall, who was the first Superintendent of the middle division of the Erie 
Canal upon its opening in 1820. Captain Teall had taken a contract on the 
canal during its construction, and had removed from Manlius to the Lodi 
locks as early as 18 19. He became largely interested in land in that 
vicinity, and erected mills at Lodi, having the right of the surplus water of 
the canal at that point, which right he retained till it was finally resumed by 
the State. In connection with Messrs. Aaron Burt and Harvey Baldwin, 
Mr. Teall became an enterprising and wealthy land owner in that part of 
the city now included in the Eighth ward, formerly Lodi, but incorporated 
in the village of Syracuse in 1835. (Laws 1835, Chap. 160.) 




'tf:l^^7V^r^^^B/^ 



Public Institutions. 593 



As early as 1821 the subject of water works in the villa<;c had been 
brought before tlie Legislature. The first act, entitled " An Act to supply 
the village of Syracuse with wholesome water," was j)assed March 27, I 82 I. 
It granted the people of Syracuse the rip;ht to use sufficient water for sup- 
plying the village from any of the springs on adjacent lands belonging to 
the State, and provided for the election of three trustees, at an election to 
be held at the house of Sterling Cossitt, innkeeper in said village, on the first 
Monday in May, 1821, who should have power to transact all business relat- 
ing to the water works, and to cany into eftect the provisions of said act. 
It does not appear that the provisions of said act were ever carried into 
effect, or that anjthing was done under it towards supplying the few inhab- 
itants then in the village with water. Probably the enterprise would not 
have paid at that stage of population. The villagers, however, wished to 
obtain the right and to keep it against a time of need, for the middle divis- 
ion of the canal was then open, and all were anticipating a marvelous growth 
into the proportions of a city. 

The act incorporating the village, passed April 13, 1825, vested all the 
rights, proi^erty, and powers of the trustees of the water works in the village 
corporation, and the hj'pothetical water works were placed untier the con- 
trol of the trustees of said village till 1829. During this i)ei iod it does not 
appear that the trustees did anything practical towards supplying the village 
with water. On the 23d of April, 1829, an act was passed authorizing the 
trustees of the village to convey to Oliver Teall, his heirs and assigns, all 
the rights, property, and powers of the trustees of the village, as vested 
in said village by the act of incorporation, for a term of twenty years, 
and said Oliver Teall was invested with all the riqhts and powers granted 
by the original act of the year 1821. I'his act also prescribed the amount 
that Mr. Teall should charge the citizens for water, viz.: a private family 
a sum not exceeding five dollars a year, a boarding-house ten dollars, 
and a tavern ten dollars. In case Mr. Teall failed to exercise the rights 
and powers granted him by this act within one _\ ear from the date there- 
of, they were to revert again to the trustees of the village; which the)- did, 
and were again conveyed to the said Oliver Teall, his heirs and assigns, 
for a period of thirty-five years, by an act passed April 22, 1834. Noth- 
ing was further done till March 29, 1842, at which time an amendment to 
the former acts was passed, allowing Mr. Teall to charge ten dollars a year 
for supplying water to a private family, twenty dollars to a boarding-house, 
and forty dollars to a tavern or hotel. Under this amendment Mr. Teall 
began the construction of his water works. The first wooden pipes or 
pump logs were laid in 1842, or early in 1843, anti brought water to the 
village from the springs situated at the foot of the hill above Lodi street, 



594 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

on Blocks No. 404 and No. 504. Subsequently Messrs. Ira Seymour and 
Aaron Burt were associated with Mr. Tcall in the water works, the firm 
being Teall, Sexniour & Burt till 1849. 

On the 15th of April, 1849, the present waterworks company was 
incorporated by special act of the Legislature, under the name and style of 
the Syracuse City Water Works Company. The original incorporators 
were Oliver Teall, Ira Seymour, John Wilkinson, Hamilton White, and 
Robert Furman. The act of incorporation was amended April 8, 1851, 
requiring the company to supply water on certain terms to the Common 
Council of the city for extinguishing fires and other purposes. Again, it 
was amended March 22, 1853, so as to allow the company to increase their 
capital stock from $60,000 to such an amount as the Directors might deem 
advisable, not exceeding $150,000, such increased stock to be divided into 
shares of $50 each. The third amendment, passed February 6, 1855, con- 
ferred upon the Board of Directors the power to establish rules and regula- 
tions for the use of water from their works, so as to preserve the same from 
waste, and to impose such penalties as they should see proper for the viola- 
tion of said rules and reijulations, not exceeding in any case the sum of 
fifty dollars. Other amendments were passed in 1864, 1865, and 1877. 

In 1849 the company constructed a system of water works described 
as follows: The springs in the valley of Furnace Brook, in the town of 
Onondaga, were selected for the supply of water. The water was conducted 
from tliese springs by aqueducts to a large stone well, about eighty rods 
distant from each, which was seventeen feet deep and constructed of sub- 
stantial masonry. The well was on Lot 89, in the town of Onondaga. From 
this well there was a main culvert <ir aqueduct laid towards the head of the 
Cinder road (West Onondaga street), ant! terminating on the high ground. 
The length of this aqueduct was about a mile, and it was constructed of 
masonry two feet square-inside. At the termination was a large open res- 
ervoir, capable of iiolding 3,000,000 gallons of water, from which the water 
was contiucted down the liill through biick culverts and stoned wells toa point 
where a log aqueduct of nine inches bore conve)ed it through Onondaga 
street to l-ayette I'ark, and thence to the railroad in Lock street, where it 
connected with the aqueducts before laid. 

In 1853 the first iron pipe was laid — 852 rods, e.xtending to Salina, 
around Fayette Park, and in James street. A reservoir of 107 feet headabove 
the I'-rie Canal at Salina street, and of 1,500,000 gallons capacity, was also 
constructed during 1853. The large reservoir on Onondaga Hill was com- 
menced in 1862, and finislud in 1865. During tiiis latter year an additional 
distributing reservoir was constructed on Lot No. 89, town of Onondaga. 

Without attempting to follow the history of these works more in detail, 



Public Institutions. 595 



we ma)' say tliat tlie Syracuse City Water Works are located Bouthwest of 
the city, in the town of Onondaga, the water being obtained fioni springs, 
from Furnace Brook, and from Onondaga Creek. The main reservoir is at 
Onondaga Hill, covering nineteen acres, forty feet deep. There are two dis- 
tributing reservoirs — one of 165 feet head and the other of 117 feet head, 
above the l':vel of the canal at Salina street. The lower (117 feet head) is 
supplied b_\' sjirings, and in dry weather b)- water punipiid from Onondaga 
Creek at the pump works. Two pumps are employed, viz. : two Dean 
pumps of 3,000,000 gallons capacity each, and a W'orthington duplex en- 
gine of 10.000,000 gallons capacity daily. These pumps are connected, 
with the reservoir by a 30-inch cast-iron pipe. The water reaches the city 
by gravity pressure, the mains connecting with the reservoirs being respect- 
ively ten inches, twelve inches, and twenty-four inches in diameter. For 
fire purposes, steam engines being employed, the water is supplied by hy- 
drants at the street corners, and in some instances at the middle of the 
blocks. 

It ma\' be assumed that by the time this book appears before the public 
the water works will have passed to the ownership and control of the city, 
pursuant to an act of the Legislature passed in 1890, which provided for 
such ownership, and authorized the appointment of a Board of Water Com- 
missioners. This Board consists of Hemy J. Mowry, Peter B. McLennan, 
J. B. Brooks, W. H. Warner, W. K. Niver, Charles Hubbard. E. N. West- 
cott is Secretary. A commission consisting of William Kernan, of Utica ; 
George Dunn, of Binghamton ; and C. J. R\an, of New York, appointed 
to appraise the value of the company's plant preparatory to its going into 
possession of the city, will hear evidence for an appraisal, and on the rendi- 
tion of its findings the city will take possession. Skaneateles Lake is the 
source of supply, and the \\ ater Board is authorized to expend $3,000,000 in 
establishing a plant tor the cit\'. Such will be the end of a controversy 
which has lasted five years and been the cause of much public agitation. 

Syracuse Gas Light Company. — This company was incorporated Febru- 
ary 5, 1849, ^^'i'^''' the following officers : Moses D. I^urnet, President; Joseph 
F. Sabine, Secretary; P.W. Fobes, Treasurer. Immediate steps were taken 
for the erection of gas works and for laying pipes, and within the year gas 
was manufactured and ready for consumers. The price at the first was made 
$2.50 per thousand feet to the city, and $3.00 to individuals. These figures 
have been gradually reduced, until now it is furnished at $130 and $1.40 
respectively. The second incumbent of the office of President of the com- 
pany was James Lynch, who lield it until 187 1, when E. W. Leavenworth 
was elected. He continued in the position until his death, in 1887, and was 
succeeded by Alfred A. Howlett. At various times in its history the com- 



S96 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

pany has been confronted witli threatened opposition by pro[)Osed rival or- 
ganizations, and has occasionally come into conflict with the city authorities 
on the question of prices; but no other company lias ever secured a foot- 
hold sufficient to warrant the beginning of actual operations, while as a rule 
the prices of gas have been as low and the quality of the article as good in 
Syracuse as in other similar cities. About si.^ty miles of pipe are now laid 
in the city. The present officers of the company are as follows : Alfred A. 
Howlett, President; , Vice-President; H. N. Babcock, Secre- 
tary and Treasurer; A C. Wood, Superintendent since January, 1863 
J. H. Tufifs, Assistant Superintendent; Austin-Rust, Book-keeper. 

Tlie Electric Light ami Pozver Co. — This compan\- was organized June 
4, 1884. Previous to that date, in 1883, the Thomson Houston Electric 
Light Company had exhibited twenty five arc lights in the city, and early 
in 1884 they established a plant here. But capitalists were then sceptical, 
and groat difficult)' was e.xperienced in convincing them that it was a good 
investment. When the present company was organized only $17,000 of 
the $100,000 capital stock was taken in the city, tjie Thomson- Houston 
people holding the remainder. The first officers of the present company 
were \V. T. Hamilton. President; \V. Allew Butler, Vice-President; J. M. 
Ward, Secretary and Treasurer; F. H. Leonard, jr.. General Manager. The 
original capital was increased to $150,000 in April, 1886, and to $300,000 
March 28, 1888. 

The company now has in use 700 arc lights, 500 of \\ hich arc for street 
and otlur puplic purposes, and the remainder for private use. There are 
now in use about 4,300 incandescent lights, with 3,000 poles and 150 miles 
of wire, and thirty-five men are in the employ of the coinpan)'. There were 
at first two 30-light dynamos in use in the shoe factory on Pearl street ; 
but in May, 1885, the plant was removed to the building on Fulton street, 
which was erected for the purpose; the building is 60x130 feet- I'.ight 
steel boilers of 200 horse- power each are now in use, made by the Phoeni.K 
foundr\'. Fourteen dynamos are running, ten of which are of fifty arc lights 
each, and four for incandescent lights, three of them with a capacity of 1, 100 
lights each, and one of 1,300 lights. The engines in use comprise one of 
800 horse- power and one of 400 (both Corliss engines), a 50-h6rse Straight 
Line and two 50-horse Porter engines Only one accident has ever occurred 
in connection with the plant, and that was thought to be suicidal, by a per- 
son entering the power-house and coming in contact with the dynamos, 
causing his death. 

The present officers of the company are as follows : John Dunn, jr., Presi- 
dent; W. Allen Butler, Vice-President; M. C. Palmer, Treasurer ; John C. 
Keefife, Secretary ; A. P. Seymour, Superintendent. 



Public Institutions. 597 



The Western Union Telegraf^li. — The first line of telegraph was operated 
in this country between Haltimore and Washington in 1844. and on the i6th 
of July, 1S45, an a^^sociation w,is formed in Utica for the construction ofa 
line to be called the " Springfield, Albany, and HulVdio Telegraph Line." 
The trustees of the comjiany were Theodore S Faxton, John Hutterfield, 
Hiram Greenman, Henry Wells, and Crawford Livingston. The capital of 
the company was $200,000, with the right to increase it to $250,000. Of 
this, $100,000 was to be issued to the patentees as the consideration for 
the patent. The eastern terminus of 1 he line was afterward changed from 
Springfield to New York, and in Septe nber, 1845, a line was built from 
Utica to the fair grounds near that city, merely to interest the public in the 
enterprise, as great crowds were anticipated at the fair. In tiie next month 
O. S. Wood built a line from Buffalo to Lock-port, which was the first line 
in tlie country opened for commercial business. Meanwhile the State was 
canvassed for another line by Mr. Faxton, and a fair subscription secured. 
On the list were John Wilkinson, L. H. Redfield, S. S. Weaver, and Ham- 
ilton White, of Syracuse. The line from Albany to Utica was finished 
in lanuary, 1846, and on the 3d of July was completed through to Buffalo, 
by the NewYork, Albany, and Buffalo Telegraph Company. The Syracuse 
office was opened May ist, in a room upstairs in the old railroad depot, or 
" car house," as it was then called, in what is now Vanderbilt Square, and 
which was torn down by the railroad company one Sunday morning in 
1869 to give cccupancy to the present station. The line was popularly 
called the " Morse line." from the fact that the Morse instruments were 
used. The first operator was M W. Partridge, and the first messenger Ed- 
ward C. Fellows, son of Deacon A. L. P'ellows. He subsequently became 
prominent in railroad management, and died in California. The office at 
one time occupied a room on the third floor of the building known as the 
" Arcade," situated about on the site of Dey Brothers & Com]jany's stores. 
From this place it was removed to a rear room on the second floor of the 
Malcolm Block, where it was located when John D. Stone assumed the 
management of it in March, 1848. In 1855 the office was transferred to 
the store more recently occupied b\' the Messrs. Wynkoops, booksellers, 
and two years later to the building in which it is now and has since been 
located. Sidney B. Gifford entered the office as a messenger May 15, 1850, 
and rose step by step until he became chief operator, and December 1, 
1864, he was appointed Superintendent of the Fifth Eastern District, wliich 
comprises a large area of country in this and several other States, and many 
thousand miles of wire and a vast number of offices. He has won his 
present position by merit, and it is not too much to say of him that the 
company has no more capable and conscientious man in its service. Mr. 



598 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Stone was succeeded as manager in i86S by David L. Pike, and in Febru- 
ary, 1880, William M. Mallett was appointed to succeed him. In February, 
1884, he was succeeded by the present efficient and popular manager, John 
E. Bierhardt. Marvin Hughitt, of Chicago, President of the Chicago and 
Northwestern Railway Company, and connected with other great enter- 
prises, was a boy in the Morse office in 1852, and in 1852-53 Rufus B. 
Bullock, in later years Governor of the State of Georgia, was an operator in 
the House office. A. S. Brown, now chief electrical engineer of the Western 
Union Company, was at one time employed in the O'Reilley office. The 
force of the office has grown from an operator and messenger to one man- 
ager, three chief operators, twenty-nine operators, twelve clerks and book- 
keepers, two batterymen, and forty messengers. During the year ending 
January i, 1891, 160,575 messages were sent from this office, and 145,694 
were received. 

In May, 1849, Mr. Faxton bought the right to use the Morse patent on 
a line from Syracuse to Oswego, which line was afterwards owneii by Joseph 
Owen. 

In 1850 two other and competing lines were built through the State 
between New York and Buti'alo — the O'Reilley line, on which the Bain in- 
strument was used, and the House line, on which instruments which printed 
the message on strips of paper were used, such as are still in use in some 
parts of Europe. The O'Reilley line passed to the control of the New 
York, Albany, and Buffalo Company in 1S53, and the House line followed 
in 1856. A number of lines have been built through Syracuse since that 
time, but, generally speaking, they were short lived, and made no history. 
On January 1, 1864, the New York, Albany, and Buft'alo Company's 
properly passed under control of the Western Union Compan\', whose lines 
prior to that date were wholly west of Buffalo and Pittsburgh. This was 
part of the general plan of consolidation to facilitate telegraphic communi- 
cation and reduce rates. 

The Western Union Telegraph Company brought under its control most 
of the telegraph lines of the countr\' when it was organized, and from the first 
was too powerful in its management and financially to allow permanent com- 
petition to stand against it; and though it has been something of a monop- 
oly all of these years it has treated the public fairly, and maintained a fair 
scale of rates. The company now maintains about 700,000 miles of wire, 
of which 257 miles are in Syracuse, and 33,000 employees. The following 
statistics from the company's last annual report are interesting: 

Capital slock $86,199,852 06 

Bonded debt '5.183 986 00 

Less balance sinking fund not applied 404,457 50 

Surplus, July i. 1889 8.61 1.401 78 

Revenues 22.387.028 91 

Expenses 1 5.074,303 8 1 



Public Institutoins. 599 



After paying dividends, $4,956,008.14, interest on bonds, $875,135.44. 
and appropriating to sinking fund, $40,000, there was a surplus June 30, 
1890, of $10,052,983.30, which surplus was increased March 31, 1 891, by 
about $1,300,000. Dr. Norvin Green, the President of the company, is a 
most talented executive officer, known almost as widely as the President of 
the United States is known, and to whom belongs a very large percentage 
of the credit for making the Western Union Telegraph Company what it is. 

The Telephone. — The wonderful invention of the telegraph was followed, 
in a comparatively recent year, by the no less important and useful inven- 
tion of Prof Graham Bell, the telephone. This invention was perfected 
between 1875 and 1878, and the first exchange was established in Syracuse 
in January, 1879, by Matthew J. Myers. He was already in control of 
the district telegraph and messenger service in the city, and the two were 
operated in connection, the rights to the telephone being held under lease 
from the Bell Telephone Company. Poles were put up and wires strung, 
and in a very short time communication by speech between distant busi- 
ness houses and residences was established Like the telegraph it was at 
the first a great curiosity, but the novelty was soon exhausted and the 
marvelous device became one of the common necessities of the day. Mr. 
Myers managed his exchange with energy and efficiency, and gave the 
people good service as a rule. His lease covered the county of Onondaga, 
and several of the near-by villages were connected with Syracuse ; further 
extensions would have been made but for the expiration of his lease, which 
occurred in July, 1887. On the first of that month the control of the tele- 
phone business of this section of territory passed into the hands of the Cen- 
tral New York Telephone and Telegraph Company, whose headquarters 
are at Utica. while Mr Myers continued and extended his district telegraph 
business, and also transferred to the city authorities the right to use his poles 
for police and fire alarm wires. When the telephone business was taken in 
hand by the company named extensive improvements were inaugurated. 
Immense and lofty poles were set throughout the city, and wires of larger 
size and better conductivity strung upon them, to the great advantage of 
subscribers. There are now in the city itself about 1,200 subscribers, and 
Syracuse is connected with almost every point within the Stale and many 
points outside of it. 

The Business Men's Association. — The plan for the formation of this asso- 
sociation took definite shape on the 7th day of March, 1889, at a meeting of 
representative business men of this city, held in the parlors of t e Vanderbilt 
House. C C. Bradley presided as Chairman ; K. B. Salmon as Secretary. 
Arthur Jenkins proceeded to explain the object of the meeting, submitting 
a report of a committee appointed at a conference of a few business men 



6oo Memorial History of Syracuse. 

held a short time previous to consider the necessity of the business men of 
Syracuse banding themselves together in an association. This report, as 
presented by him, provided, in substance, that the organization should be 
named " The Business Men's Association and Exchange, of Syracuse, N.Y.," 
having for its object the furtherance of the city's commercial interests, 
etc. At a subsequent meeting, held March 29th at the Leiand Hotel, the 
following gentlemen were elected officers of the association for the first 
year: President, Kdward A. Powell ; Vice-President, A. W. Palmer; Treas- 
urer, Charles Hubbard ; Managers, Henry J. Mowry, Martin A. Knapp, 
Arthur Jenkins, C. C. Bradley, A. C. Belden, Daniel Rosenbloom, O. F. 
Soule, H. S. Holden, Dennis McCarthy, R. .S. Sperry, Frank B. Haberle, 
Charles Hughes. The managers elected C. L. Hasbrouck, Secretary. 
Regular weekly meetings of the managers are held on Tuesday of each week 
for the transaction of business interests to which their attention may be 
called, and the consideration of whatever of interest for the city's growth 
and welfare that may be brought to their notice. A meeting of the mem- 
bers of the association is held on the third Thursday in every month to 
discuss some popular subject of interest to the public, to which the citizens 
are always invited and take part in the proceedings. The services of the 
officers of the organization are rendered gratuitously, and the membership 
includes the leading bankers, manufacturers, merchants, business aiui pro- 
fessional men of the city, none of whom e.xpect direct profit fiom their 
investment, but all lending tiieir counsel and influence for the furtherance of 
the groivth and prosperity of the city in which they dwell. 

The association enters its third year of existence on a solid foundation, 
acknowledged usefulness, and a recognized power of influence that was 
predicted by the founders at its organization. The present officers elected 
for the current year, i89i,are: President, E. A. Powell; Vice-President, 
A. VV. Palmer; Treasurer, Charles Hubbard; Secretary, C. L. Hasbrouck; 
Managers : Jacob Amos, J. M. Andrews, Henry J. Mowry, W. S. Peck, Alex- 
ander Grant, A. C. Chase, John Greenway, Daniel O'Brien, Charles VV. Snow, 
William A. Sweet, E. C. Stearns, Salem Hj-de, E. B. Judson, jr., Edward 
Joy, Louis Marshall, James W. Eager. 

At a recent meeting of the members the name of the association was 
changed to "The Business Men's Association." 

77/1? Young Men's Christian Association. — This Christian and benevolent 
institution, founcUfl in England in 1844 and in America in 185 i, now num- 
bers 1,347 associations and a membership of 250,000, with 231 buildings 
valued at $10,000,000. Its object is to not only furnish to young men all 
of the advantages that richer men enjoy in clubs, but at the same time to 
surround them with tiie genial influences of Christian purpose, in a way 



PUIUJC iNbTlTUrioNS. 6oi 



best calculated to keep them from the perilous paths of city distractions. 
One of its chief duties is to welcome young men to the city, and offer to 
them the advantages which will keep them under the influences of higher 
culture and a gentler life. It seeks to reach yoiniL; men everywhere, and to 
benefit them physically, mentally, socially, and morally. The association 
in Syracuse was organized on September 30, 1858 ; at that time there were 
only five associations in the State and sixty in the United States and British 
Provinces. Among those whose names are identified with this memorable 
movement are Dr. H. D. Didama, James Marshall, M. W. Smith, C. E. 
Stevens, Edward Thurbcr, VV. E. Abbott, Henry Babcock, W. J. Hunt, 
VV. H. Doane, and Edward Newell. The following men have served as 
Presidents of the association, in the order given : C. E. Stevens, James 
Marshall. Ur. H. D. Didama, H. L. Duguid, A. W. Blye, Timothy Hough, 
M. C. Palmer, Edward Smith, T. G. Bassett, Isaac Bridgman, M. W. 
Hanchett, A. D. Roberts, J. A. Skinner, George C. Sawyer, W. S. Peck, 
John Marscllus, W. A. Duncan, and J. B. Ikooks. The following have 
been employed as General Secretaries : E. D. Ingersol, H. B. Chamberlain, 
S. M. Sayfonl, H. B. Hudson, G. A. Warburton, and A. S. Durston ; the 
latter has now held the position for seven years. 

During the first few months of the association's life meetings were held 
in the various churches; but in March, 1859, rooms were secured in the 
Pike Block, and later at No. 16 South Salina street, in upper rooms. The 
association was incorporated in 1862, the act being drawn by Hon. Charles 
Andrews. I'or several years the association directed its efforts to the 
establishment of mission schools in various parts of the city ; but later it 
adopted its legitimate work — " a work for young men, by young men." In 
1866 it returned to more desirable quarters in the Pike Block ; but in 1873, 
when its lease there had expired, it again removed to its former site, occupy- 
ing all of the rooms above No. 16 South Salina street. In 1875 its first Gen- 
eral Secretary, E. D. Ingersol, was secured, the work prior to that date 
having been carried on by a City Missionary. 

Needing still more commodious quarters, a special meeting was held in 
March, 1871, and steps were there taken to secure rooms in the Convention 
Block in East Genesee street. Great enthusiasm was manifested at the 
opening of the new hall, and the good work went on more energetically 
than ever before. The association has always received the hearty co opera- 
tion of the women of the city, and in 1882 the Woman's Auxiliary was 
organized and Mrs. H. L. Duguid chosen President. Since that time the 
following ladies have acted in that capacity: Mrs. Erancis Hendricks, Mrs. 
J. B. Brooks, Mrs. Horace Candee, Mrs. Dr. I. H. Searl, and Mrs. S. B. 
Bacon, who is the present incumbent. 

76 



6o2 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Among the offshoots of the parent association is the Railroad Branch, 
which was estabhshed in 1879, with G. M. Stoweil, General Secretary. In 
1880 a similar branch was organized at East Syracuse. In the same year 
a College Association was organized at the University, which has done a 
grand work, and ground has been broken on the campus for a building 
which will be equipped with all necessary accessories for the association. 
Frank Wood is the General Secretary. 

The parent association long felt the need of a building especially adapted 
to its various lines of work — physical, mental, and moral. It was on May 
30, 1883, at a conference held at the residence of E. W. Leavenworth, that 
the project of securing such a building assumed tangible shape. Those 
present who discussed the advisability of a new building were State Sec- 
retary George A. Hall, H. B. Chamberlain, W. W. Brown, R. N. Gere, A. C. 
Chase, H. L. Duguid, Peter Burns, and others. No definite steps were 
taken until November of that year, when a committee was appointed from 
the Board of Managers, consisting of W. S. Peck, James A. Skinner. 
George C. Sawyer, J. B. Brooks, and A. S. Durston, and the site of St. Paul's 
Church rectory was secured. After a careful canvass sufficient funds were 
pledged by citizens of the city with which to erect a suitable building. 
Ground was broken October 7, 1884, and on the 15th of November, of that 
year, the corner-stone of the new structure was laid by President VV. A. 
Duncan. Appropriate addresses were made by Judge A. J. Nortlirup, Rev. 
George A. Hall, and D wight L. Moody. January 16, 1886, the splendid 
structure was formally dedicated ; its cost was $62,000. 

CHARITIES. 

In caring for her poor and unfortunate Syracuse has a record which will 
bear com[>arison with that of any similar city. Her citizens may not be 
more generous, liberal, or synipathetic than those of other places; but they 
have at least realized that, outside of the dictates of humanity, the proper 
protection anil support of the pour is one of the elements of prosperity in 
any conimuiiity. At the same time the numerous and ever increasing calls 
upon the charity of tiie well-to-do have been always promptly and gener- 
ously met, and the most cordial support given to the establishment of the 
various institutions having for their chief object the amelioration of the 
condition of the poor. Previous to the incorporation of Syracuse as a city 
the care of the poor had been provided for through the common channels 
of the Board of Supervisors and the Overseer of the Poor, and no institu- 
tion had then been founded, outside of the Orphan Asylum, for this object. 
But in 1852, after some agitation, a City Poor and Work House was estab- 



I'uiiLic Institutions. 603 



lished, and $i6,000 were appropriated by the Council for the erection of a 
proper buildin'^. This action resulted in building the structure now occu- 
pied by the House of Providence, on the Split Rock road. It was used for 
its avowed purpose only a little more than ten years, when it was ordered 
sold to the Catholic denomination, in 1867. The principal reason for its 
abandonment appears to have been the comparative expense of conducting 
it as a separate institution. The building has since that time been used by 
the Catholics as a home for orphan boys and old and infirm people, as 
described in the chapter on the churches of the city. The direct care of 
the poor of the city is now under the charge of the city Overseer of the 
Poor. Hut in addition to his work the various institutions described are 
indefatigable in seeking out and protecting those who need and deserve 
private aid. 

Onondaga County Orphan Asylum. — The Onondaga County Orphan 
Asylum had its origin in an effort made by an association of ladies in this 
city — then a village — to furnish a common school education to the poor 
children of the town. 

This association supported a school, which was kept by Miss Ann Mead 
from July, 1S35, to the fall of 1839, when the association was practically 
dissolved, with funds on hand from sale of school property, etc., amounting 
to $427.38. In the discussion as to what disposition should be made of 
this money the condition and wants of orphan and destitute children were 
considered, and the attention of the ladies, who had been members of the 
association, and others was arrested. An association was formed for the re- 
lief of such children, on the 21st of October, 1841. and the above men- 
tioned fund was placed in its hands. Mr. Harvey Loomis was made Presi- 
dent, and Miss Bliss, Secretary. 

On Wednesday, the 2d day of February, 1842, a union fair was held 
for the purpose of aiding this new object, and the sum of $550.75, over and 
above all expenses, was realized. Other fairs were held by the ladies from 
time to time, which were liberally patronized by the citizens, at one of which, 
held on the 23d of December, 1846, the further sum of $664, above all 
expenses, was realized. 

On the loth day of May, 1845, the asylum was incorporated by act of 
Legislature, and on the following day was organized with John Dunford as 
President of the Board of Trustees ; William Mitchell, Secretary; and Oliver 
Teall, Treasurer. Miss Eliza Clark, of Albany, was the first Matron. In 
1845 the association rented a dwelling on South Salina street, a little west 
of Onondaga street, and the asylum was there opened in May of that year. 
In 1846 the Syracuse Academy Building was purchased of the Syracuse 
Company for $3,000. 



6o4 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

The grounds were spacious and beautiful, and by the addition, in 1848, 
of three lots, each four by eight rods, in the northeast corner of the block, 
they were made sufficiently ample for all the purposes of the asylum. 
These lots cost $1,000. 

In the year 1852 the comfort of the orphans was greatly increased by 
the erection of piazzas on the west side of the building. In the year i860 
ample cisterns were built and gas introduced into the building. Blinds 
also were put upon the asylum in the year 1861, greatly improving its 
appearance and adding to the comfort of its inmates. In the year 1861 
also, through the liberality of the late Horace White, esq., a tasty, ample, 
and convenient building for a school-house was erected on the grounds, at 
an expense of $3,000. 

September II, 18S3, the corner-stone of the large new building front- 
ing on East Genesee street was laid, and completed in 1885, at a cost of 
$65,000, which greatly enlarges the accommodations and renders the in- 
stitution in every way admirably adapted to its purpose. 

The county compensates the asylum for such childrenas are cared forfrom 
that source, and the institution has always received the cordial support of 
the people of Syracuse and Onondaga county through the various channels 
that have been adopted for its solicitation. The present officers of the asy- 
lum are as follows : Peter Burns, President ; William E. Abbott, Secretary. 
The office of Vice President has recently been made vacant by the death 
of D. P. Wood. 

Tlie Bureau of Labor and Charities. — This institution has been of almost 
incalculable usefulness in the city, particularly in the work of discriminating 
between worthy and unworthy subjects for charity, and in the pro])er dis- 
tribution of alms. The bureau was organized December 20, 1878, and in- 
corporated March 7, 1881, with the following charter members: I*ldward A. 
Powell, Timothy Sullivan, Elias T. Talbot, Austin C. Chase, James L. Bagg, 
Lawrence T. Jones, and John M. Strong. The objects of the bureau are: 
(i) To investigate the condition of indigent persons in Syracuse, and so far 
as practicable to cause them to be [jroperly provided for, so as to prevent them 
from becoming or remaining paupers or criminals ; (2) to look after the 
welfare of children in Syracuse found to be wayward, neglected, or improp- 
erly treated, and so far as practicable to procure suitable employment in 
homes for them in the country or elsewhere. It will be seen that this field 
is a broad one, and one capable of yielding a vast amount of good. The 
number of directors in the bureau is thirty- two, and the first officers were : 
E. A. Powell, President ; Charles R. Sherlock, Secretary. 

In 1 88 1 the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which is a 
branch of and united with the bureau just described, was organized and in- 



Public Institutions. 605 



corporatedby the following persons: Timothy Sullivan, James O. S. llunt- 
ins^ton. Miss Mabel T. White, Mrs. Harriet T. Dunlap, Lawrence T. Jones, 
and Richmond Kisk. The object of the society is sufficiently expressed in 
its title. These two organizations work together and under one head, but 
have separate articles of incorporation. The funds and other means of 
charity are sujiplied by solicited subscriptions and voluntary contributions. 
The sum expended for out door relief during the year ending December 31. 
1890, was about $2,000 less than for the preceding year, and more than 
$12,500 less than for the year 1878. which was the year of the organization 
of the society, showing a reduction of 69 per cent, in the amount of tax- 
ation under this head. This reduction is directly due to the work of this 
bureau. The number of children cared for or treated during the year was 
286. The present officers are as follows : Charles P. Clark, President ; Rev. 
Dr. George B. Spaulding, Rev. John Grimes, Wilber S. Peck, p-rederick R. 
Hazard, Daniel Gere, John Lyman, Miss A. S. Huntington, Mrs. Charlotte 
M. Wilkinson. Vice- Presidents ; Osgood V. Tracy. Treasurer ; Charles De B. 
Mills, Secretary ; Lena P. Bennett, Assistant Secretary; Ceylon H. Lewis, 
Attorney. 

Tlie NfU> York Stale Asylum for Idiots. — This institution was founded 
in 1S51, and opened for the admission of inmates in October of that year, 
in buildings leased for the purpose in Albany. Through the efforts of sev- 
eral citizens of Syracuse, prominent among whom was the late PI W. 
Leavenworth, who was then in the State Legislature, the site of the insti- 
tution was changed to Syracuse in 1855. A building was erected on the 
hillside to the westward of the city, at a cost of about $70,000. the land 
having been donated by citizens of Syracuse. The original structure was 
intended to accommodate I 50 pupils ; but additions have since been made at 
different times until at the present time its capacity is 530. The asylum 
premises include about fifty-five acres of land, which is highly improved. 
The object of the institution is to furnish education and care to idiots of the 
State who are of a teachable age and condition. The by-laws exclude ap- 
plicants who are epileptic, insane, or greatly deformed. The education 
and training of pupils have reference chiefly to developing their capacity for 
some usefid occupation and the formation of good habits. A large part of 
the work in the asylum and about the grounds is performed by the inmates. 
The asylum is under the general control of a Board of Trustees, eight of 
whom are appointed by the Governor, and the remaining five are ex officio 
members, consisting of the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of 
State. Comptroller, and Superintendent of Public Instruction. The late 
Dr. H. B. Wilbur was appointed the first Superintendent of the asylum, and 
to its welfare and success he gave the energies of his life until his decease. May 



6o6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

I, 1883. He was a man peculiarly adapted to his unselfish work, and the 
people of the State of New York owe his memory the higiiest respect and 
gratitude for his labors in connection with the improvement of the condition 
of the unfortunates who came under his care. 

For the succeeding ten months Dr. G. A. Doren filled the office of Super- 
intendent, and in October, i 8S4, the present Superintendent, Dr. James C. 
Carson, took charge of the institution, and has managed it with excellent 
success. The present Board of Trustees is as follows : Rt. Rev. F. D. 
Huntington, Permanent Chairman ; George F. Comstock, Nathan F. 
Graves, J. W. Yale, A. \V. Palmer, Robert Aberdcin, and George R. Sloan, 
of Oswego. 

T/ic Syracuse llovic Association. — The need of an institution in a city 
like Syracuse which would supply a home for women, especially the 
aged, and women without employment, without homes, and destitute of 
means, led to the establishment of the Syracuse Home. The work was in- 
augurated by about thirty of the prominent women of the city, many of 
whom had been conspicuous in other charitable works, and whose efforts 
were aided by those of several men who foresaw the good that might be 
accom])lished by such an institution. The act of incorporation was passed 
in 1853, and the institution was opened in a dwelling on South Salina 
street ; but more commodious quarters were soon needed, and it was re- 
moved to a residence on East Fayette street, where it remained for thirteen 
years, its field (A usefulness constantly extending. In November, 1867, 
fire broke out in the building at midnight, and it was destroyed, and the 
inmates turned out upon the charity of citizens. They were temporarily 
sheltered in a building on the corner of Salina and Onondaga streets, and 
when it soon became apparent that their straightened quarters would 
have to be abandoned, the late Major Moses D. Burnet presented the lot 
on the corner of Townsend and Hawley streets to the association, on con- 
dition that citizens would subscribe a sufficient amount to build a suitable 
house. By thepersistent workof the managers, among whom were Hamilton 
White, Horace White, Charles Pope, Ira Cobb, K. B. Wicks, David French, 
Captain Putnam, Lyman Clary, and Ira Williams, and the ready response 
of generous citizens, the necessary amount was ])ledged, and tiie corner- 
stone of the new structure was laid in June, 1869 On the 22d of February, 
1870, the building was dedicated, and on the loth of March following the 
inmates were transferred to their new and beautiful home. 

At the present time there are thirty-six inmates of the Home, and the 
average since it foundation has been about forty. The following women 
have acted as Matrons of the institution : Mrs. Mary A. Reynolds, Rlioda 
Ann Kincaid, Elizabeth Morris, Agnes Williams, Mrs. Holdridge, Julia M. 



ruiii.ic Institutions. 607 

Willitts. Mary Sherman, Mary W. Curtis (who held the position nine years), 
Ada Felton, CaroUnc Stevens, Charlotte A. Clark, and Mary E. Cook. 
The present Board of Managers is as follows : Mrs. C. L. Chandler, Presi- 
dent; Mrs. W. A. Judson, Vice-President ; Mrs. I. H. Cobb, Vice-Presi- 
dent; Mrs. W. B. Fairchild, Secretary; Mrs. J. W. Eager, Financial Sec- 
retary ; A. F. Lewis, Treasurer. 

St. Joseph's Hospital. — This institution was founded in 1869 by the 
Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order, St. Anthony's Convent, of this city. 
Property was bought on Prospect Hill of Phillipine Samsel, wife of Jacob 
Sanisel, on the i 2th day of April, 1 869, consisting of an old saloon and danc- 
ing hall, for which was paid $12,000. A structure three stories high, of 
brick, was built to connect the two older buildings, rooms were partitioned 
off, and the hospital formally opened on the 6th day of May, 1869. Sister 
Dominic was placed in charge of the hospital, with Sister Mechtildes, Sister 
Veronica. Sister Johanna, and Sister Hyacinthe as assistants. In order to 
raise the necessary funds to pay for the property the Sisters, besides caring 
for the sick, solicited alms from the people of Syracuse, and received sub- 
stantial aid in the undertaking. Citizens of the city also took a deep in- 
terest in the founding of the institution, and aided in rai.sing the funds. 
C. T. Longstreet himself collected $6,000 among his friends. During the 
first year 123 patients were treated. In 1870 Mother Marianne was placed 
in charge of the hospital and held the position for seven years. On the 23d 
of February of that year the hospital was incorporated. 

In 1878 Mother Bernardine was placed in charge, and rcinaineii three 
and one-half years. Sister Dominic was then appointed Superior, and 
held the position one year, when Mother Bernardine was re-appointed and 
remained until 1889. In 1882 the hospital was enlarged by a new addition 
on the south and west sides, and in 1888 another addition was built on the 
north and east sides, thus making a building 122 feet in length am! 85 ■/> 
feet deep. The institution was then (jf sufficient capacity to accommodate 
about 120 patients, and up to the present time has received and cared for 
over 6,100. Rooms for the Sisters were fitted up with a kitchen, dining- 
room, two parlors on the first and second floors, several private rooms and 
three wards on the third floor. In the rear of the hospital is a large laun- 
dry, and to the left of this is the dead house, which is entirely separated 
from the main building. A large elevator runs from the first floor of the 
main building to the operating room on the southwest side, on which the 
sick and accident cases are conveyed to the different floors. In September, 
1889, Sister Genevieve was placed in charge and holds the position at the 
present time. The Board of Trustees of the hospital comprises five citi- 
zens of the city, the Rev. Mother Provincial acting as President. 



6o8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

From the date of the organization of this hospital Drs. R. W. Pease 
and H. D. Didama became actively interested in its work : the former as 
attending surgeon, and the latter as visiting physician. Dr. Henry Crouse 
was selected as house physician, and acted in that capacity for seven years. 
Dr. J. O. Burt and Dr. J. W. Lawton were also associated with the hospital 
in its early days. Upon the retirement of Dr. Crouse Dr. D. M. Totman 
became the house physician, and served as such five years. In 1882 the 
staff was re-organized with Dr. R. VV. Pease as surgeon-in-chief; Dr. H. D. 
Didama, physician-in-chief; and the following visiting staff : Medical, Drs. 
Henry L. Eisner, John L. Heffron, Gaylord P. Clark, and Margaret Stanton ; 
surgical, Drs. Nathan Jacobson, D. M. Totman, and Scott Owen ; oculist. Dr. 
U. H. Hrown. Dr. R. W. Pease remained at the head of the svirgical staff, 
doing active duty and rendering the hospital inestimable service, until the 
date of his death in May, 1886. To his untiring zeal, his self-sacrifice, and 
his unequalled skill, much of the good that it has been in the power of the 
institution to accomplish is due. Upon his death Dr. H. D. Didama was 
selected chief of the staff, and has so continued to the present time. The 
following physicians were appointed as house physicians for one year : Drs. 
W. H. Mills, Frank O. Bright, Calvin G. Stevens, George J. Post, William 
B. Coats, William A. Curtin, Robert Scott. N. Adelbert Monroe, W. A. 
Siromenger, S. Boyce Cracton. The present start" of physicians is as fol- 
lows: Dr. H. D. Didama, chief; medical, Drs. H. L. l^lsner, W. A. Curtin, 
H. II. Pease; surgical, Drs. I). M. Totman, Nathan Jacobson, Scott Owen ; 
oculist and aurist. Dr. U. H. Brown; dermatologist, Dr. W. H. Dunlap; 
gynecologist, Dr. A. B. Miller ; pathologist. Dr. F.W. Sears ; house physician, 
S. Boyce Cracton. 

House of the Good S hep kcni — About seventeen years ago two Cana- 
dian women, members of the Fpiscopal Church, came to Syracuse sick 
with fever, and were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital. The following Sun- 
day, at St. Paul's Church, Bishop Huntington alluded to the incident, 
dwelling upon and regretting the fact that the church people had no hospital 
in the city. At the close of the service a gentleman offered a house in East 
Fayette street for this purpose, rent free, if others would furnish it. The 
offer was promptly accepted, and the hospital was opened almost immedi- 
ately. Later it was removed to Hawley street. Outgrowing that location, 
Hon. George F. Comstock, in July, 1874, offered to the Board the present 
site in Marshall street. The offer was accepted, and steps were taken im- 
mediately for the erection of a suitable building. This building, as it stands 
at present, is a wooden structure three stories high, and was completed in 
December, 1875, and opened for the reception of patients. The name 
" House of the Good Shepherd " was given to the hospital previous to its 





,i3^/u-^^<— ^ 





Public Institutions. 609 

removal from Hawley street. The first officers were: President, Rt. Rev. 
F. D. lIuiUin<^ton, S. T. D. ; Secretary, Rev. Thomas E. Pattison ; Treas- 
urer, D. O. Sahnon ; Executive Committee, A. C. Powell, D O. Salmon, 
D W. Marvin. The first medical staff consisted of Drs. Dunlap, Benedict, 
Didama, Plant, and Rhodes, and the first surj,'ical staff of Drs. Van Duyn, 
Mercer, and Pease. The Board of Trustees at present are Hon. George 
F. Comstock, W. H. H. Smith. W. T. Hamilton. T. W. Durston, Rev. H. R. 
Lock-wood, D. D., D. W. Marvin, Jacob Grouse, William D. Dunning, 
with Rt. Rev. F.D.Huntington, President; G. J. Gardner, Secretary; 
D. O. Salmon, Treasurer. The first Matron was Sister Sophia, who was 
succeeded by Mrs. Burnham ; then Mrs. Foster; Miss L. B. Mills then took 
charge, and Miss Dora Traylen, who is the present Matron, succeeded her 
in the work. The hospital stands upon a sound financial basis, and is well 
known, not only in Syracuse, but throughout the State. Its doors are open 
to all who need its care, regardless of belief, race, or color. The number of 
beds is fifty five, which are filled all of the time. There are in the hospital 
two memorial rooms, one furnished by Mrs. D. P. Wood, in memory of 
her daughter, Mrs. Hewlett, and the other furnished by Mrs. W. G. Hibbard, 
of Chicago, in memory of her mother, Mrs. Peter Van Schaack. There are 
also three free beds, one supported by the British American Association ; 
one by Mrs. Thayer- Webb, of Skaneateles ; and the Van Schaack memorial 
bed by Mrs. Hibbard. The amount necessary to support a bed for one 
year is $250, and any one may liave this privilege. 

In 1S85 it was found advisable to estabhsh a department for the train- 
ing of nurses in connection with the hospital. Miss L. B. Mills, a graduate 
from Bellevue Hospital, at New York, came to the work, and became Su- 
perintendent of the Training School and hospital. The school gives scien- 
tific as well as practical training, there being text books and lectures from 
the medical staff, and especially by Dr. William G Hinsdale. In 1887 a 
building was erected on the site adjoining the hospital, for the accommoda- 
tion of the Training School. It is a two-story wooden structure, containing 
reception-rooms, dining-rooms, nurses' quarters, and gymnasium. The 
training covers a course of two years, and discipline is strict. The nurses 
at present number twelve. 



6io Memorial History of Syracuse. 

CHAPTER XXXVni. 

INDUSTRIAL GROWTH AND MANUFACTURING INTERESTS. 

An Estimate of the City's Material Wealth — Its Growth, and the Reasons for it — .A Reflection 
of its Industries — Capital Kmployed and the Results Wrought Out — Its Schools and Churches — A 
Sketch of Its More Prominent Manufacturing Lstalilishments. 

TO REVIEW and estimate the business advantages and opportunities of 
any city involves much patient thought and persistent labor ; but to 
justly set forth the enterprise and capacity of the citj' of Syracuse, in a 
compact yet comprehensive form, requires the aid of masses of statistics 
and an intimate acquaintance with its affairs, now so diversified, and em- 
bracing nearly if not quite all the avocations which are found in most large 
cities. For many years it has been a city renowned for its ambition to 
thrive and its determination to make for itself the reputation of a control- 
ing business center. The energy and sagacity of its business men are best 
shown in what they have accomplished, and it is the design of this chapter 
to give a pen-sketch of what has been wrought, that which to-day gives 
the city its commanding influence. There has not been a year of its ex- 
istence in which there have not been additions to the population and busi- 
ness growth and prosperity. This can be said of but comparatively few 
cities, and of itself tells of the steady perseverance and industry of the peo- 
ple. Originalh", Syracuse had impulse imparted to it by the construc- 
tion of the Erie Canal, by which the hopes of many places along its line 
were shattered, while hamlets here and there, more fortunately situated, 
were given new hopes and encouragement. In this locality Onondaga Val- 
ley and Onondaga Hill, which had attained considerable grow tli, tinwillingly 
yielded to the natural causes of their downfall, and joined much of their in- 
tellectual and business force to the little hamlet in the swamp, which never 
faltered from that day to the present in its enterprise and determination to 
secure a place of prominence. Each succeeding year brought new advant- 
ages of some kind, and the latest invention and aid to development always 
found an early place in Syracuse. Railroads and telegraphs found their way 
here very soon after experiment determined their availability, and the latest 
busine.'^s devices were earliest in practice here. Advantages have increased 
as the years have passed, until Syracuse is particularlj' well favored, so that 
her industries have patrons throughout the length and breadth of the land 
and in other countries. 

The population of the city for a series of years as reported by the pub- 
lishers of directories — and is accepted as being the most accurate count 



Industrial Growth. 



6ii 



made— is as follows: 1845, 15.804; 1850, 22.271; 1855. 25,107; i860, 
28.119; 1865,31,784; 1870,44,796; 1875, 54.099; 1880,55,563; 1885, 
66,935 ; '891, 91,436. The large increase since 1855 is partially to be ac- 
counted for by the annexation of Geddes and Danforth, now constituting 
the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh wards, to the city. A directory count for 
1891 places the number of families at 20,561, with an average of four and 
one half persons to each family. The population is distributed by wards, 
sexes, and ages according to this count (by Lyman, Horton&Co.) as follows : 





NUMBER OF 


MALES. 


FEMALES. 




WARDS. 


FAMILIES. 


Over 21. 1 Under 21. 


Over 18. 


Under 18. 


TOTAL. 


I 


1093 


1468 927 


I57I 


879 


4845 


II 


2533 


3058 2692 


3270 


2475 


III95 


III 


1667 


2487 1524 


2376 


1476 


7863 


IV 


1535 


1990 1 1 13 


2392 


1054 


6549 


V 


2434 


3323 '857 


3565 


1675 


10420 


VI 


■463 


2162 534 


2474 


577 


5747 


VII 


2408 


3214 1795 


3468 


1664 


10141 


VIII 


"33 


1521 890 


1941 


803 


5'55 


IX 


1063 


1381 1410 


1534 


1237 


5562 


X 


805 


1273 866 


107 1 


761 


3971 


XI 


802 


995 608 


1 168 


620 


3391 


XII 


1724 


2390 1909 


2I2I 


1866 


S286 


XIII 


1 167 


1335 939 


1722 


892 


4888 


XIV 


734 


958 553 


1067 


545 


3'23 




20561 


2755s 1 '7617 


29740 


16524 


91436 



It must be assumed tliat the count is imperfect, for it would be impos- 
sible to make it complete. It compares unfavorably with the count made 
by other directory publishers last year by about 1,500, but which maj' pos- 
sibly have been erroneous ; it exceeded the census enumeration of the 
same year by about 5,000. It may be assumed with safety that the popu- 
lation at this time (May, 1891) is not less than 93,000. 

The superior shipping facilities with which the city is favored have had 
much to do with its rapid development, and each year improves and in- 
creases these advantages. Nine railroads and two canals reach every part 
of the country, and contribute many products to the seaboard for ship- 
ment to foreign markets. One hundred aad twenty-eight passenger trains 
arrive in and depart from the city every twenty-four hours. By means of 
these all parts of the surrounding country are opened up to the retail as well 
as wholesale trade, and realizing these advantages tradesmen have created a 
market for their goods and wares such as attracts patrons from many miles 
away, because of the excellence and fair prices of their commodities. This 
is really a railroad center which must grow in importance as the years go 
by. It is a geographical center as well, and possesses such natural advant- 



6i2 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

ages as must insure its steady growth for many years to come. It has no 
rival between Albany and Rochester, and intermediate places must continue 
to contribute to its growth and prosperity. In more recent j'ears, since its 
population reached three-quarters of a hundred thousand, more of public 
spirit has been shown in the way of expanding municipal advantages, and 
latterly enterprises which characterize a thrifty city are talked about with 
good promise for the future. In addition to well paved streets, good 
sewerage, and a proper water supi)ly, something needs to be done to show 
the iusthetic culture of its inhabitants in the way of adornment and in 
beautifying its numerous parks. Burnet Paik, the gift of John B. Burnet, 
promises to soon become creditable to the city, when a few more thousand 
dollars shall have been expended upon it, and by the offer recently made by 
the Hon. James J. Belden there is now every probability that a fine library, 
art, and historical building will soon become the reality of something long 
hoped for by thousands of people. He offers to expend "not less" than 
$150,000 for the erection of a fire-proof building if the city will furnish the 
site, and it cannot be long before the structure will be in course of erection, 
and will doubtless cost all the money which ma)- be required to make it 
complete in every particular. It was Judge George F. Comstock's gift to the 
University which insured its establishment here ; it was Mr. Burnet's gen- 
erosity that gave the city Burnet Park ; it was a grand thing for John Grouse 
to do to build the Grouse Memorial Gollege for Women ; and the last gift 
which comes from Mr. Belden towers above, for it is large in money and for 
all the people. 

The banks of a city may be e.xceedingly influential in the affairs of a 
city. They may aid or retard its ad\anccment, according to the business 
capacity of their own management. While there never has been an excess 
of banking capital in Syracuse, such as has been employed has ever been 
liberally applied in aiding business men, though there may occasionally have 
been times when customers have felt something of the closeness which Wall 
street sometimes brings to banking capital throughout the countr)-, espe- 
cially when banks have gone too far in providing for their patrons. Syracuse 
now has a banking capital of $1,605,000, with eight of the nine banks hold- 
ing a surplus of nearly $900,000, the ninth bank having but just opened its 
doors. Besides these there is the Trust and Deposit Gompany of Onon- 
daga with a capital of $100,000, and the Onondaga County and Syracuse 
Savings Banks whose deposits run well up into the millions. Considerable 
amounts of money are brought here from abroad for investment, from sav- 
ings banks and insurance and investment companies, especially whenever 
our own savings banks reach their respective limits for loans upon real es- 
tate. 



Industrial Growth. 613 



Four daily newspapers, of a combined circulation of probably thirty 
thousand copies for one hundred and fifty thousand readers, and three Sun- 
day papers, also of large circulation, contribute their best and most power- 
ful efforts for the advancement of the city's general welfare. P'ew cities 
are so highly favored in the excellence and enterprise of its press, according 
to population, as Syracuse. These newspapers have a combined cajntal of 
$300,000 or more, than which no money in the city is so beneficial to its 
advancement. The Standard and Courier herald the morning news, while 
\.\\e Journal and Herald spread the evening news. The Times, Herald, and 
Standard appear on Sunday. The German papers, religious weeklies, and 
several other publications are well prepared and influential in their respect- 
ive spheres. They represent capital to the amount of at least $:oo,ooo. 
It is quite safe to estimate the capital employed in the publishing and 
printing business in Syracuse at fully $500,000. 

The growth of the city is made manifest in many ways, particularly by 
building operations and the activity in real estate. During the last year 
nearly or quite 600 buildings were erected, at a cost of not less than 
$2,000,000. These figures are based on data obtained from architects and 
builders. Large areas of building sites have of recent years been brought 
into market, through " syndicates " and otiierwise, thus giving real estate 
a " boom " like that of many Western cities The tendency of the growth 
is toward the south, southwest, and southeast, though there is more or 
less of activity in all directions. The activity which has of late influenced 
the various street railway companies to extend their roads, so that they 
now have trackage of more than fifty miles, has done much towaid the de- 
velopment of the suburbs. 

The canals were helpful to the commerce of the city last year. The 
value of the shipments made by them was $5,851,729, while the receipts 
were of the value of $9,409,5 1 8, as shown by the records of the canal office, 
where statistics of shipments and receipts are kept by weight and measure. 

The losses by fire during the year which ended January i, 1891, were 
much below what the record for the present year will show, in which a dis- 
astrous fire occurred in March, and by which the total losses are consider- 
ably in excess of all of those of last year, which amounted to $404,415.71 ; 
insurance, $2,447,631 ; insurance paid, $323,612.36. 

The gross weight of the shipments now made annually by the American, 
United States, and National Express Companies exceeds 15,000,000 
pounds. The weight of their receipts does not vary materially from these 
figures. The American Express Company, particularly, has shown a desire 
to in every way meet the public needs, and does by far the most of the bus- 
iness. It is well equipped, and its agent, Alfred lliggins, is ever alert. It 



6i4 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



is believed that he has been in the employ of the company longer than any 
other one of its thousands of agents. His commission dates from the or- 
ganization of the company, and he was previous to that time an express 
agent of other companies. 

Many companies, of large and small capital, have been incorporated 
during the year, aside from land syndicates, with capital high in the 
millions. The capital thus named in articles of incorporation amounts to 
$2,390,000. There is a constant increase of the manufacturing interests, 
and it is generally prosperous. The time was when the dependence of the 
city was largely upon the salt industry ; but that has almost ceased to be 
even a factor in its progress. Considerable salt is still produced, but the 
profits of the output are small, not sufficient to encourage the investment 
of more capital. 

Railroad statistics cannot be obtained for a period later than for the year 
which ended January i, 1891. These make the following showing : 



ROADS. 


POUNDS OF FREIGHT 
FORWARDED. 


OUIBOUND 
PASSENGERS. 


New York Central 


793-474.000 
220,828.000 
139.5>4.596 
322.666,472 


438.575 

82.266 

167,530 

112.777 


West Shore 


D., L. & W 

Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg 


Totals 


1,476,483.068 


801.148 



Perhaps no recent invention has become so great a labor-saver as the 
telephone. It is to the business office what the sewing machine is to the 
household. Its introduction here is sketched elsewhere, but some statistics 
are interesting and worth preserving for those who in the future shall wit- 
ness greater development of its usefulness. The Syracuse Exchange of the 
Central New York Telephone and Telegraph Company was put in opera- 
tion in the middle of the summer of 18S7. During the first year 743 in- 
struments were put in use. This number has been steadily increased until 
now, when 1,200 are used. There are about 900 miles of wire in the city, 
in cables and separate, strung on 1,000 poles. Nearly 1,000 miles of wire 
running through different parts of the surrounding country connect 650 toll 
stations in various places with the central office. The central ofl^ce is also 
connected with the Long Distance Telephone system, and communication 
with places three hundred miles distant is as distinct as with places near by. 
The last report of the company, covering its last fiscal year, gave this state- 
ment of operations: Local calls, 3,640,000; daily average of local calls, 
10,000; toll messages sent, 52,000 ; toll messages received, 90,000. The 
business is constantly increasing, and at this writing changes are being 



Industrial Growth. 615 



made in tlie central office which will greatly enlarge its efficiency. The 
company pays six per cent, annual dividends, and lays away a surplus. 
VV. H. Girvin is the local manager. 

Facts connected with the introduction of the telegraph, and statistics 
connected with it, have a place elsewhere, and need not be recapitulated here. 

There are 123 incorporated companies doing business in this city. 
There are 446 names of streets in the City Directory, but as some streets 
bear two names, — East, West, North, or South, — in addition to name, the 
actual number of streets may be stated at about 370. There arc thirty- 
one parks and squares. 

The intelligence and morality of a city can be estimated in fair degree 
by the standing of its schools and churches. It is a fact of record that the 
public schools of Syracuse are of the best, and that their excellent reputation 
is wide spread. There are twenty- eight school buildings, iuchuiiiig the 
High School, in which there are 271 teachers — sixteen males and 255 
females. There are 13,401 pupils registered, while the number of children 
in the city of "school age" (five to twenty- one) is 24,600. The average daily 
attendance of pupils during the last school year was 10,415. The average 
salary paid to teachers was $541.08 per annum, and the total expense of 
the schools during the last school year was $235,867.88. Number of 
volumes in the library, 21,541. 

Of church edifices and organizations there are about seventy, with de- 
nominational classification as follows: Presb\terian, eight; Congregational, 
four; Baptist, eight; Protestant Episcopal, seven; Methodist, fourteen; 
Church of Christ, one ; Evangelical, two; Independent, one ; Jewish, six ; 
Lutheran, six; Reformed, one; Roman Catholic, eight; Unitarian, one; Uni- 
versalist, one; Seventh Day Adventists, one; Christian Scientist, one. Con- 
nected with them are about lOO Sunday-schools and Missions. The " Min- 
isterial Association "is composed of the pastors of various Protestant churches. 
It meets regularly to consider and discuss religious questions, in their gen- 
eral relation to the church and public. Each denomination also has a 
" Union," for the advisory government of the churches under its organiza- 
tion. The seating capacity of all the churches is not quite 40,000 — less 
than one-half of the population of the city. 

The records of the postoffice in any place reveal much of the business 
standing of the place. They tell of the business done by the volume of cor- 
respondence, the number of stamps sold, the transactions of the various de- 
partments. The records of the Syracuse postoffice for the year ended Jan- 
uary I, 1891 (the latest that can be obtained), make this showing: 

Receipts from the sales of stamps, stamped envelops, postal cards, and newspaper 
wrappers, $174,010.77 ; number of carriers employed, 43; number of delivery trips daily. 



6i6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

102; number of collections daily, 118; registered letters delivered, 16,474; ordinary letters 
delivered, 5,301,122 ; postal cards delivered, 999. 490 ; second, third, and fourth-class mat- 
ter delivered, pieces, 2,359,041 ; local letters collected, 470,410; outgoing letters collected 
2,182,083 ; local postal cards collected, 223,1 13 ; outgoing postal cards collected, 424.161 ; 
second, third, and fourth class matter collected, pieces, 231,488; outgoing letters distrib- 
uted and dispatched, 15.294.680; outgoing papers distributed and dispatched, 5,205,059; 
number of postal notes and money orders issued, payable in fourteen diflerent countries, 28,- 
349; their value. $208616.01 ; number of postal notes and money orders paid, 52,781 ; their 
value, 1407,579.65 ; number of registered letters and parrels sent, 13,451 ; number of reg- 
istered letters and parcels received, 28.093 ; number of registered letters and parcels in 
transit, handled. 61 ,265 ; special delivery letters received, 9.574 ; special delivery letters sent, 
6.167. 

It is estimated that most of the figures of these statistics will be in- 
creased by at least five per cent, during the current year. They are in 
strange contrast with those of the days when Postmaster Wilkinson made 
quarterly payments to the Postoflfice Department of about ten dollars. 
They show the activity of business men, and challenge those of an)' other 
city in the United State of the same population. The business of the office 
has already outgrown the space allotted to it in the Government Building 
quite recently constructed. The building is of Onondaga limestone, and in 
some respects of imposing appearance. Postmaster Carroll E. Smith is 
its present custodian. 

The coal trade of the city amounts to at- least 450,000 tons annually. 
Syraciise was formerly a point for transhipping vast quantities t)f coal, but 
by the construction of railroads through all parts of the country it is no 
longer necessary to make this city a depot. 

The street railway system very fairly meets the public necessity, and yet 
its development is constantly going forward. It is well operated and pop- 
ular. Electricity will soon be substituted for horse- power on most of the 
lines. The Consolidated Street Railway Company owns thirty- four of the 
fifty-two miles of track in the city, and already uses electricitj' on its Third 
Ward line. The capital stock of this company is $1,250,000. It has a 
bonded indebtedness of the same amount. During the year ended July i, 
1891, it carried 2,200,000 passengers. Its rolling stock embraces about one 
himdred and forty cars, including many of the newest design. The People's 
Company, which operates about eighteen miles of track, has not furnished 
statistics. 

■The assessed valuation of the city as made by the assessors for the year 
1890 was $43,187,269, which was an increase over the preceding year, 
1889, of $2,306,5 14. At that time the city embraced eleven wards, the in- 
crease to fourteen wards having been made during the last winter. The 
assessment of real and personal property in Syracuse by wards is shown by 
the following statement : 





€^ 



Manufacturing Industries. 



617 



WARD. 


REAL. 


PERSONAL. 


AGGREGATE. 


I 


*'. 439.374 

2.017.775 
4.536,140 
5.582,875 
6,025,335 
9.700,130 
3.674.560 

3.69 '.705 
1. 148.825 

695.S75 
1.575.325 


$ 85.000 
8,500 

867.133 

226,000 

I I 1 .000 

1,548.817 

100,500 

83.700 

14.000 

7,500 

47.500 


$1,524,374 


11 


2.026,275 


Ill 


5.403.273 


IV 


5,808.875 


V 

VI 

\ll .• 

\I1I 


6,136,335 

11,248,947 

3.775.060 

3.775405 


I.\ 

X 

XI 


1,162.825 

703.375 
1,622,825 




140,087.619 


$3,099,650 


$43. 187.269 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 

The following references to many of the more important business estab- 
hshments of the city conclude this chapter. The pubhshers derive no ben- 
efit from their insertion other than the satisfaction of adding much valuable 
matter to the business record of this city. The sketches are valuable for refer- 
ence to the business man, and with the other matter contained in this chapter 
will give the future historian an easy starting point. An effort has been made 
to gather such statistics as would represent the value of ihe whole volume of 
business ; but it was not possible to reach a conclusion which was satisfactory 
to the editor. The figures obtained, imperfect and incomplete as they were, 
indicated figures exceeding $100,000,000, but what the excess really is, 
is largely a matter of speculation. To secure accurate figures would involve 
the making of inquiries which few business men would be willing to answer. 

Bradley &" Company. — This manufacturing company is a direct de- 
scendant of one of the oldest establishments of Syracuse, it having been 
founded by Christopher C. Bradley, sr, in 1832. He had a comparatively 
small machine shop and foundry at 329 West Water street, where the 
Alexander Iron Works are now located. Mr. Bradley died in 1872, and in 
that year the Bradley Manufacturing Company was incorporated, which was 
changed to Bradley & Company in 1878. In 1872 about 100 men were 
employed. The buildings now occupied cover most of the block bounded 
b}- Wyoming, Marcellus, Niagara, and West Fayette streets, with the office at 
106 Wyoming street. Part of the buildings are five and part four stories 
high. About three hundred men are now employed, and harvesters, 
mowers, reapers, the Bradley cushioned-helve hammer, and road carts and 
carriages are manufactured, all of which find an extended market. The 
officers of the company are C. C. Bradley, President ; O. F. Soule, Vice- 
President; W. C. Bradley, Secretary and Treasurer. They turn out an 

annual product valued at half a million dollars. 

78 



6i8 Memuriai, History of Syracuse. 

Sivcct's MatinfacturiugCouipaiiy. — The beginning of this industry should 
date from October i, I05S, wlicn Anson A. Sweet, William A. Sweet, John 
E. Sweet, and Charles C. Hates (a brother-in-law of the Sweet brothers) 
established a business adjoining the Greenuay brewery for manufacturing 
agricultural implements. In the fall of 1859 Anson A. and William A. 
Sweet purchased the interests of the other two and began manufacturing 
cutter knives for mowers and reapers. In i860 they sold the prcperty to 
the Greenways and established the partnersliip of Sweet Brothers & Co., 
by taking as partner William B. Cogswell, now of the Solvay Company. 
They purchased four lots on the corner of Marcellus and Wyoming streets, 
and continued their industry in a small way. In 1861 Mr. Cogswell sold 
his interest to George Barnes, but the firm name was continued as before, 
and the works were named the " Ceresian Cutter Works." In 1863 they 
began the manufacture of cast steel, under the name of " Onondaga Steel 
Works," purchased more land in the same block, and erected a small steel 
works upon the corner of Wyoming and Otisco streets. A stock company 
was formed of Sweet, Barnes & Company in 1864, and the business was 
continued and enlarged, not only in cutting apparatus, but in the manufact- 
ure of fine steel direct from the best American and Swedish iron, by the 
converting process and melting in pots. The various processes and ma- 
chinery were invented and carried to success by William A. Sweet. The 
capital stock of this company was $300,000. In April, 1868, William A. 
Sweet bought the steel works part of the business of the firm, and began 
business in his own name. In October, 1868, he took as partner George 
W^ Haruood, forming the firm of W. A. Sweet & Co., which continued 
until 1 87 1, when Sweet's Manufacturing Company was organized with a 
capital stock of $200,000. The works were almost completely destroyed 
by fire in 1870, but were rebuilt and started within sixty days, and em- 
ployed at that time about 150 men. The companj' has passed through 
various vicissitudes, but when death, disaster, dissatisfaction, delays, or dis- 
appointments have placed any of the stock on the market Mr. Sweet has 
purchased it, frequently at a heavy premium, until at the present time he 
owns a great majority of it, and Anson A. the remainder. In 1872 the 
company purchased the old distillery at Geddcs, which was at that time a 
ruin, and began the erection of extensive steel works. The business con 
tinned until 1876, when the property was sold to a stock company (Sander- 
son Brothers Steel Company) with a paid up capital of $450,000. The lat- 
ter company was organized in 1876, and was a branch of a company of the 
same name in Sheffield, England, but in name only, as their works were 
managed b\' William A. Sweet for seven years. In July, 1883, the stock 
passed into the hands of the ICnglish stockliolders, and Mr. Sweet withdrew 



Manufacturing Industries. Cig 



from the concern, and its subsequent hi.stoiy will be found on this page. 
In 1874 the Sweet's Manufacturing Company bought largely of property 
on the east side of West slreet and south of Jefferson street, and erected a new 
mill. In consequence of the reiiuction of the tariff on wire rods tlie com- 
pany was obliged to hold that property without any remuneration, but at 
present they employ on the west side of the street 350 men and 150 on 
the east side, and the value of the yearly product is now $850,000. The 
present officers of the company are William A. Sweet, President ; V. H. 
Nye, jr., Secretary; Anson A. Sweet, Treasurer. 

Syaciise Iron JVoris. — In the year 1858 these works were started by 
Howard Delano, on Magnolia street and the canal in Gcddes, and covered 
about three acres of ground. In 1861 a company was incorporated with a 
capital of $30,000, which was gradually increased to $200,000. The prod- 
uct was merchant bar iron, horseshoe and rivet iron, rods, bands, and hoop 
iron, which was made from pig and scrap iron. Twelve men were employed 
at first, and the number increased to fifty, with a pay roll of $8,000 per 
month. R. Nelson Gere was President; Alfred and J. Forman Wilkinson, 
Vice-Presidents; C. D. Avery, Secretary and Treasurer. The works con- 
tinued in operation until in 1884, when they had a capacity of forty tons of 
merchant iron per day. In that year the company failed, and the works 
remained idle until 1890, when they were purchased by Giles liverson and 
I'Vederick W. Barker. Since then the rolling-mill machinery has been dis- 
posed of, and the land and buildings sold to the Paragon Plaster Company, 
who will locate their works at that place. About the year 1880 the com- 
pany built a horseshoe factory on the opposite side of the canal from the 
iron works, at a cost of about $50,000. 

SaiiJosoii Brothers Steel Co. — This company was organized in I 876 as 
a branch of Sanderson Brothers & Co.(Limited) of Sheffield, England, with 
a capital stock of $450,000. The officers were at that time Robert B. 
Campbell, President; Samuel W. Johnson, Secretary ; William A. Sweet, 
General Manager. In the year 1883 there was an entire change in the 
Directors and management of the company, and C. H. Halcomb, of Sheffield, 
England, was elected General Manager. The works cover four acres of 
ground in West Fayette street, near Magnolia, adjoining the Erie Canal, 
and have branch tracks from the N. Y. C. & H. R. K. R. and the I)., I.. & 
W. R. R. The company employs about 250 men, and manufactures crucible 
steel, a specialty being made of fine tool steel. The annual product has a 
value of from $600,000 to $800,000. They have established branch houses 
at Boston, Cliicago, and St. Louis. The quality of steel manufactured lias a 
high reputation, and the business extends to every State in the Union. The 
present officers of the company are: C. H. Halcomb, President and Treas- 
urer; W. F. Belknap, Secretary. 



620 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Tlic Whittnan & Barnes Manufacturing Company. — This company was 
formed by the consoHdation of two companies, namely, the Whitman & 
Miles Manufacturing Company, of Fitchburg, Mass , and George Barnes & 
Company, of Syracuse. The original company of Syracuse was the firm 
of Sweet Brothers & Company, which, in 1864, was made into a stock com- 
pany under the name of Sweet, Barnes & Company. In 1870 the name 
was changed to George Barnes & Company, and in 1877 it was made a part 
of the present company, under the name at the head of this sketch. This 
company was organized under the State laws of Ohio, having, as it was 
termed, two parent houses, one at Akron, Ohio, the other at Syracuse, 
N. Y., with the main office at Akron. Their specialties consist of knives 
and sections for all reapers, binders, and mowers, made with such extras as 
are closely allied thereto; also the manufacture of spring keys, spring cot- 
ters, flat spring keys, etc. The plant of the company in this city covers an 
area of 256 x 150 feet, fronting on Marcellus and Wyoming streets, and the 
company at Syracuse employs about 275 men. The employees of the 
company number about 1,000 men, with works at Canton, 0.,and St. Catha- 
rines, Ont., Can., besides the so-called parent houses at Akron and Syra- 
cuse, and with branch houses at Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, 
Kansas City, and San Francisco. The present officers are A. L. Conger, 
of Akron, Ohio, President ; George Barnes, Chairman ; George F. Dana, 
Vice-President ; Charles E. Sheldon, of Akron, Treasurer; William W. Co.v, 
Assistant Treasurer ; James Barnes, Secretary. 

The Phecnix Foundry and Machine Company was organized in the 
month of April, i 881, and the following officers were chosen: President, 
A. C. lielden ; Vice-President, Calvin Gould; Secretary and Treasurer, 
Alvin J. Belden. The present officers of the company are: President, 
A. C. Belden; Vice-President, M. A. Knapp; Secretary and Treasurer, 
Alvin J. Belden. 

The old Phceni.\ I'oundry, situated on the east side of Grape street, be- 
tween Water street and the luic Canal, was built by Thomas T. Davis and 
David G. Stafford in 1843. It comprised a foundry, machine shop, and 
wood shop, and was used originally for manufacturing threshing machines. 
After running some time for this purpose it was closed up and the property, 
which appears to have been owned then by Davis, was leased in 1841; to 
Sanuiel Stapely, Alfred Dunk, William Jackson, and George W. Herrick, 
who carried on the business under the firm name of Stapely, Dunk & Com- 
pany. Early in 1846 Mr. Jackson retired from the firm and was succeeded 
by Alfred Cobb, the firm name, however, remaining unchanged. In 1847 
or 1848 Stapely retired, leaving Dunk, Herrick, and Cobb, who, under the 
name of Dunk, Herrick & Company, carried on the business, which con- 




-^^^ 



(O. BtXcX 



<x^y 



Manukacturing Industries. 621 

sisted mainly of engine and boiler making, mill work, and general jobbing. 
About 1850 or '51 Mr. Dunk retired, and the business was continued by 
Cobb & Herrick, under that name. About this time Mr. Cobb purchased 
the property Irom Davis and leased it to tiie firm. Mr. Henry 11. Cobb 
also had some interest in the business, the precise nature of which does not 
appear, except that he acted as book-keeper, while Mr. Herrick took charge 
of the mechanical part of the business. Portable engines were ni.uuifactured 
during this period to a considerable extent. In January, 1859, Mr. Herrick 
died, and Mr. Cobb became sole proprietor of the business. About a year 
afterwards Henry H. Cobb died, and Alfred Cobb's health failing, tiie busi- 
ness languished until his death in August, i860. Nathan Cobb, as execu- 
tor of Alfred Cobb's estate, then assumed management of the business, as- 
sisted by Henry C. Hooker, and they conducted it until 1864, when they 
formed a partneisln'p with C'harks 1'. Herrick, Calvin Gould, anil Ralph 
Helm, under the firm name of Cobb, Herrick & Compan)'. In 1869 tiiis 
firm purchased the property at the southeast corner of Grape ami Water 
streets, which formerly belonged to the Empire Wind- Mill Manufacturing 
Company. This property was used for their machine, pattern, and black- 
smith shops; the old building on the north side of Water street was used 
for their foundry and boiler shop. 

The firm of Cobb, Herrick & Cunipany continued here in business until 
May I, 1881, at about whicli time Messrs. Cobb, Herrick, and Hooker sold 
their interests to Alvin J. Beldeii, who, at the time of his purchase, contem- 
plated forming a partnership with Mr. Gould and Mr. Helm. Instead of 
this, however, it was deemed best to organize as a manufacturing corpora- 
tion, and such an organization was thereby perfected, A. C. Belden and W. K. 
Niver also coming in as stockholders. The present force of emi)loyees 
numbers 150, and the annual value of the product is $175,000 to $200,000. 
The Syracuse Chilled PUm' Coinpany was organized in 1876, with a cap- 
ital of $100,000, and had the following officers: President, James M. Ellis; 
Vice-President, Theodore 1''. Andrews; Secretary and Treasurer, Levi W. 
Hail; Superintendent, Harry Wiard. It began operations by leasing the 
Williams Mower and Reaper Works. In 1878 the company bought the 
property bounded by Wyoming and Marcellus streets and the D., L. & W. 
R. R. tracks, and the ca[)ital was increased to $300,000. In 1879 Levi W. 
Hall was elected President of the company, and held that office until his 
death, which occurred in April, 1 88 1. George Barnes was then elected 
President />n' /(•;;/., and held that office until June, 1882, when the following 
officers were elected: President, Austin C. Chase; Vice-President, Erancis 
Hall; Secretary, Joseph C. Willetts ; Treasurer, James Manning; Super- 
intendent, Harry Wiard. This organisation has continued until the present 



622 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

time. It has been the policy of this company to produce a full hne of hiyh 
grade plows and cultivating implements, practically everj'thing that a farmer 
uses in preparing his land for the seed. This factory is now turning out a 
greater variety of plowing and cultivating implements than any other sim- 
ilar concern, implements adapted to any soil in the United States or any 
agricultural country on the globe. The growth of the factory, which now 
has about five acres of floors, has been in proportion to its increased busi- 
ness, and has, among other novelties, a foundry on the upper floor of one 
of its large buildings. The firm employs 225 hands, and its sales reach 
nearly $500,000 annually. The improvements in plows and kindred imple- 
ments have led to many important inventions, and the possession, by the 
company, of a large number of valuable patents. 

The Onondaga Iron Company was organized in 1869, with a capital stock 
of $150,000, which was afterward increased to $300,000, and later to $400,- 
000. The first officers were J. J. Belden, President ; R. N. Gere, Vice- Presi- 
dent ; and VV. H. II. Gere, Secretary and Treasurer. The plant is located in 
Geddes, in Orchard street, between the New York Central Railroad and the 
Erie Canal, and covers about ten acres. The ore used formerly came 
mostly from Ontario, Wayne, and Jefferson Counties, and the chief product 
was anthracite and coke pig iron, suitable for foundry and mill purposes. 
Owing to dullness in markets these works were closed for more than a year 
previous to April, 1890, when they were leased to the American-Scotch Iron 
Company, which began operations at the date just mentioned. The officers 
of the latter company are H. M. Warren, New York, President ; Lester E. 
Wood, New York, Vice-President; F. B. Hawkins, New York, Treasurer; 
F. S. Gordon, Columbus, Ohio, Secretary; F. B. Baird, Baird l-'urnace, 
Ohio, General Manager. The company rebuilt furnace No. i as a coke 
furnace, and the works went into blast in August, 1890. The ores now 
used are from Lake Superior, Lake Champlain, and Jefferson County. The 
capacity of No. i furnace has been increased to 2,500 tons per month, and 
from 75 to 100 men are employed. The annual value of the output is 
$350,000. 

The Alexander Iron Works, \\'illiam D. Dunning, proprietor, located at 
No. 329 West Water street, is an old established concern, dating back to 
1833, when a part of the present plant was a mill pond. Its business is 
general jobbing, machine, and foundry work with several specialties, one of 
which is the Boomer & Boschert press, elsewhere described. About lOO 
hands are employed. 

Special Machinery. — In 1880 Charles E. Lipe began the manufacture of 
the first broom-sewing machine ever made, his shop being in the -Straight 
Line Engine Works. This machine is one of Mr. Lipe's own inventions, and 



Manufacturinc. Industries. 623 



is a marvelous piece of work. He is the inventor also of several other val- 
uable devices, one of uhich is the Universal milling machine and gear cut- 
ter, which he sold to the Brown & Sharp Company, of Providence, R. 1. 
lie has had a large business in tiie manufacture of special machiner)', and 
is now building the Mngelberg rice and coffee huller, the first machine in 
this country suitable for plantation use. Mr. Lipe emploj's thirty men. and 
his sales annually are about $30,000. Me is a graduate of Cornell Uni- 
versity. 

Economy Foundry Company. — Ihis company was organized in Septem- 
ber, 1888, by F. A. Austin, John Aldinger, William H. Brown, and M. C. 
Reddin. The works are located in Bclden avenue. The plant of the Pease 
{■"urnace Company was leaseti, and general contract work is made a speci- 
alt\'. Their manufactures include builders' wrought and cast-iron work of 
all kinds, light and heavy machinery castings, ornamental iron work, ma- 
chine and pattern draughting and designing, and in fact every variety of 
work belonging to the general foundry business. Over 100 men are em- 
ployed, and nearl\- twenty tons of iron are melted daily. The members of 
the company are all practical workmen. 

Tin and Slicct Ironivarc. — The business of manufacturing tin and sheet 
ironware was begun by C. H. Fisk, in 1874, in the First ward. He began 
in a small way with five men and ten peddling carts. He now has thirty 
carts, which travel fifty miles in each direction, and employs thirty- five men. 
His original building was enlarged in 1883 to a structure 65 x 180 feet and 
four stories high. He handles more than a thousand tons of mi.xed rags 
annually, employing in that work twenty- five women and four men. 

Central City Bolt Comf>aiiy. — This company was orgmized July i, 1889, 
with a capital of $30,000. The first officers of the company were D. V. 
Hayden, President and General Manager; J. W. Walter, Secretary and 
Treasurer. The works are in the Penitentiary and employ si.xty hands, ten 
of whom are outsiders and the remainder convicts. Carriage bolts and 
parlor-door hangers are manufactured, and the annual product reaches a value 
of from $75,000 to $100,000. The present officers are : E. 1^. Judson, jr., 
President; J. W. Walter, Secretary and Treasurer; W. S. Purrington, Su- 
perintendent. 

Porter Manufacturing Company (Limited). — This company was incor- 
porated in 1877, and bought out the older firm of Porter & Co. The first 
officers were Barrett R. White, President ; Robert Townsend, Vice- Presi- 
dent ; D. H. Gowing, Secretary ; George A. Porter, Treasurer and General 
Manager. The capital stock was $60,000, and the works were in North 
Salina street between Turtle and Bear streets. About forty men were then 
employed. The business increased, and the capital was increased in 1878 to 



624 Memokiai. History of Syracuse. 



$80,000; in 1879 to $100,000; in 1880 to $150,000; and in 1888 to $195,- 
000. In 1878 the buildings were enlarged by tlie addition of a machine 
siiop and boiler shop, in the rear of the old building. In 1 886 a new foundry 
was erected J 2 x 120 feet, which occupies a portion of the block south of 
the machine shop, and between it and Turtle street. With the increase of 
business and the enlargement of the jjlant the number of men employed also 
increased, until now there are about 250, and the annual sales reach $300,- 
000. The latest addition to the buildings was made early in 1890, and 
consists of a building on Salina street. 72 feet front and 128 feet deep, 
three stories high. This is to be used for offices, carpenter shop, and pat- 
tern-room. The principal articles of manufacture are engines and boilers, 
ranging from 4 to 450 horse- power, which are shipped to all parts of the 
country and have a deservedly high reputation. The shops are all equip- 
ped with modern improvements, tools, etc. The present officers are: 
\V. K. Niver, President; Henry Lacy, Treasurer; Stewart Worden, Secre- 
tary ; Howard G. White, Lucius Gleason, August F'alker, Stewart Worden, 
\\ . K Niver, F. B. Klock, and Henry Lacy, Directors. 

Slraight Line Engine Company — This company was established and in- 
corporated February i, 1880, with a capital stock of $10,000, by the fol- 
lowing men : John E. Sweet, George Barnes, Anson A. Sweet, Henrj' F. 
Stevens, and David W. Hotchkiss. At that time the officers of the com- 
pany were : John E. Swt et, President ; Henry F. Stevens, Secretary ; Anson 
A. Sweet, Treasurer. The building formerlj' used b}' the Hubbard Har- 
vester Company, No. 208 South Geddes street, was rented for two or three 
months, and there si.N men were employed. About one engine per month 
was made and put on the market. In 1884 Smith & Warner's foundry was 
added to the engine business. At the Paris Exposition in 1889 the Straight 
Line engine was awarded the grand prize. The present building, which is 
130 feet square, was first occupied on June 1, 1890. At the present time 
ninety men are employed and an average of fifty engines a year are turned 
out. Originally the engines averaged about twenty- five horse- power, 
while now the average is eighty horse-power. The capital stock has been 
increased to $100,000, and the engines made are sold in all parts of the 
civilized world. The present officers of the company are: John !{. Sweet, 
President; H. M. Williams, Secretary ; Anson A. Sweet, Treasurer. These, 
with William T. Hamilton, W. B. Cogswell, Frank H. Hiscock, and Ira A. 
Place, are the Directors. 

The Diignid Saddlery Company — Among the first manufactures to at- 
tain much importance in Sjracuse was that of saddlery hardware, which 
was begun as early as 1847, by Charles Pope, John A. Robinson, and Ed- 
ward S. Dawson, under the firm name of Charles Pope & Co. The first 



Manukacturim; Industries. 625 



factory was located on the site now occupied by John Moore & Co., in 
James street, and the business was carried on until 1856, when the firm was 
dissolved. In 1858 the firm of E. S. Dawson & Co. was formed, consisting 
of lidward S. Dawson, Harmon W. Van Huren, and Jacob S. Smith. The 
interests of Van Buren and Smith were afterwards purchased by Henry L. 
Duguid, who then became a member of the firm. Their factory was in 
West Water street, later in East Water street, and a store in the Pike 
Hlock. and the business continued until 1868. In January of that year 
J. E. Wells was admitted as a partner, and the business passed into the 
hands of Duguid, Wells & Co., which firm carried on a successful business 
until 1883. From January, 1883, to January, 1890, the firm was Duguid 
& Wells, and January 15, 1890, the Duguid Saddlery Company was incor- 
porated with the following officers: M. E. Duguid, President ; W. M. White, 
Secretary and Treasurer ; and E. E. Withey, Superintendent. The capital 
stock is $25,000, and fifty men and boys are employed. 

Frazcr & Jones Company. — In the year 1856 the firm of Olmsted & 
Jones was formed by H. R. Olmsted and Richard W. Jones. They began 
manufacturing saddlery hardware on an upper floor at the corner of West 
Fayette and Clinton streets, with a salesroom on the second floor of the 
present McCarthy retail stores. The factory was next located in Mulberry 
street, and not long afterward was removed to the " Old Line House," near 
the corner of South Salina and Onondaga streets, on the site of the present 
Brunswick House. The business was carried on here for a number of 
years and continually increased, and the number of hands employed rose 
from two or three to one hundred and fifty. When those quarters were 
outgrown the firm erected the brick structure in South Clinton street re- 
cently occupied by the L. C. Smith Gun Works, where they continued until 
1867, when it was sold out to a woodworking concern. The store occu- 
pied after the McCarthy Building was left was in the Washington Block, 
where the business was carried on almost thirteen years. In 1877 ^'^■ 
Jones sold out to Mr. Olmsted. The latter removed his jobbing trade in 
this line of goods to his present location in South Clinton street, and Mr. 
Jones joined the present Frazer & Jones Company, and for seventeen years 
carried on a large manufacturing business in the Penitentiary, which was 
closed in 1889 on account of the smallpox. This firm now sells only to 
jobbers and has an immense trade, reaching $500,000 annually. The 
Frazer & Jones Company as at present organized is an outgrowth of a 
small business begun in 1852 by Kasson Frazer and Peter Burns, which 
continued until 1877. The firm then became Frazer, Jones & Burns, and 
later F"razer, Jones & Hurst (188 1 ). In October, 1882, the present com- 
pany was organized and incorporated with a capital of $ioo,ooo. The 

79 



626 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

first officers were: President, R. W. Jones; Vice-President, George P. Hier; 
Secretary, W. F. Pardee ; Treasurer, Frederick Frazcr; these with O. P. 
Schuyler were the Directors. The buildings now occupied cover 250 feet 
front in West Fayette street, and 350 feet in Walton street, the main build- 
ing being five stories high. The product is saddlery hardware, wood and 
iron hames, leather goods, and malleable iron castings, and 500 men are em- 
ployed. The present officers are: President, R. W'. Jones; Vice-President, 
PVederick P'razer; Secretary, Charles R. Jones; Treasurer, George S. Hier. 
Shcrtvood Harness Covipany. — This is a stock company with a capital of 
$20,000, for the manufacture of steel harness, the invention of Mr. Allen 
Sherwood, in 1881. He came to Syracuse in 1884 and organized this com- 
pany. About 20,000 sets of the harness have been made and sold. Dis- 
tributing houses are established in Chicago and Kansas City. Mr. Sher- 
wood is an inventor of considerable note, especially in connection with earlj' 
mowing machines and self-binders. He made the latter in 1858, and gave 
the first exhibition of a grain binder in this countr)' in 1859, exhibiting his 
machines throughout the States of New York and Illinois. 

Syracuse Steel Foundry Company. — This company was incorporated in 
1887, with a capital of $50,000, and the following officers: Frederick P'ra- 
zer, President; George P. Hier, Vice-President; R. W. Jones, Secretary; 
George S. Hier, Treasurer. The first three named were the Directors, the 
number having since been increased by adding George S. Hier and O. P. 
Schuyler. The company began business in 1889, in Geddes, just west of 
the Solvay Process Works, previous to which time the manufacture had been 
carried on in Frazer & Jones Company's buildings in West Fayette street. 
The capacity of the works in 1887 was thirty tons per month of steel cast- 
ings for machinery, etc., which has since been increased to 300 tons per 
month, and seventy- five hands are employed. The office is at 351 West 
Fayette street. 

Tobacco and Cigars. — The manufacture of tobacco and cigars in Syra- 
cuse is an old industry, and one that has reached large proportions. About 
the year 1837 Noah Fvans began manufacturing tobacco by hand in a 
building which stood about on the site of the Butler Block in South .Salina 
street. He made cut tobacco with a hand machine, and his output was, of 
course, very small. In 1839 ICvans sold out to Henry Church and Oran 
Candee, father of James Candee, who continued manufacturing by hand, and 
also made cigars. They employed three cigarmakers, two cutters, and two 
peddlers, besides seven or eight boys as strippers. At a later date they 
employed horse-power and water-power on the old dike north of the canal, 
near the i)resent gas works, and in 1844 moved to the Raynor Block in West 
Water street. P'roni there they moved into the old " saleratus factory," 



Manukactuuinc; Industries. 627 



corner of Clinton antl West Genesee streets. Previous to this time the firm 
was changed, Mr. Church going out. and with Perry Burdick f..rnud the 
firm of Ciuircl) & Hurdick, the works going to the site of the late Leland 
Hotel. C. 1) Ji)hnson was also a partner at one time with Candee. The 
original business was then soon closed up or sold out, chiefly on account of 
Mr. Candee's ill health Church & Burdick kept what was called "Tammany 
I [all," at No. II South S.ilina street, which was a retail cigar store, and con- 
tinued the business of manufacturing. Mr. Burdick finally withdiew from 
the manufactory and carried on the retail business. Church closed up his 
business about 1861. 

Dwight and Daniel O. Salmon began the tobacco business about 1850 in 
James street, and removed to the Blair Block three years later. They 
employed about ten operatives and made some cigars, but the greater part 
of their business was in cut tobacco. In 1866 they removed to the building 
on the site where the Pease Furnace Company is now located. They 
were burned out in 1869, and never resumed business. Dwight Salmon had 
died before the removal to the latter place. 

The making of cigars has always been the more important part of 
the tobacco business in Syracuse. It was begun here by Ezra Long in 
South Salina street, on a part of the site of the Syracuse House, about the 
year 1837. He employed si.K or eight cigarmakers and several strippers, 
and coniiucted what was then considered a large factory. lie continued in 
the business about fifteen years, and until his death, when the factory was 
closed. 

Levi Comstock began manufacturing cigars about the time that Long 
closed his place, in the rear of the old Court House. He removed to next 
door to the present Amos Hotel in North Salina street in 1852, where 
he employed fifteen to twenty hands, and contined the business about twelve 
years. 

The firm of I.ockey & McDermott purchased Oran Candee's small busi- 
ness in 1844, when George P. Hier and John McComes bought it and con- 
tinued it in the old Clinton Block a year and one-half, when the partnership 
was dissolved. Mr. Hier then became associated with Andrew Greer, a 
practical tobacco cutter, and James Van Etta, under the firm name of 
Greer, Van 1-ltta & Co., at No. 24 James street, the firm continuing about 
two vears, when they sold out to James Van Etta. He failed in a short 
time. Lewis Sperry and George P. Hier then (1850) formed a partnership 
and were located one year in the Clinton Block, and thence removing to 
the Furman Block in East Water street. They later removed to the Frank- 
lin Block, adjoining the present G. A. Morris grocery, in Hanover Square, 
and six years later removed permanently to No. 25 North Salina street. 



628 Memorial Histouy of Syracuse. 

Mr. Sperry sold out to Mr. Hier in 1854, while they were located in the 
Furman Block, and Mr. Hier continued alone until 1862, when Nathan 
H. Plumb became a partner. About two years later I\Ir. Hier again as- 
sumed the sole ownership of the business, and in 1876 George S. Hier, son 
of George P., entered the firm and has continued in it since. Mr. Hier began 
the business of making cigars as soon as he sold out in James street, having 
then twelve cigarmakers and four strippers. Under energetic management 
the business grew rapidly, and at one time while in the Furman Block more 
than 120 operatives were employed. The manufacturing was continued 
until 1866, since which time the firm has operated as wholesale and retail 
dealers in leaf tobacco. 

John P. Hier began manufacturing cigars in i860 at No. 35 North 
Salina street, employing one man and a bo)-. The business flourished, and 
in 1864 larger quarters were taken at No 1 1 North Salina street. Two years 
later Bruce S. Aldrich was taken into the firm, and the business prospered. 
In 1872-73 they built the brick block at Nos. 140 and 142 North Salina 
street, in which the business is now carried on. Mr. Aldrich sold out to 
the senior partner in 1884, at which time 400 hands were employed. This 
firm has originated several brands of cigars which have almost a national 
reputation. 

The cigar manufacturing enterprise of Justin Seubert is among the old- 
est established representatives of the leading houses engaged in this line of 
trade in Syracuse. The concern was established by him about twenty-five 
years ago. It was subsequently known as Seubert & Warner, but in 1888 
it again reverted to the sole control of Mr. Seubert, and now employment 
is given to about 250 hands. Mr. Seubert is an old-time resident of this 
city, and a gentleman well known to the public and the tobacco trade as an 
energetic, enterprising, and honorable business man. 

Michael and Baltisar Auer, of the firm of Auer & Co., came to Syra- 
cuse in 1850. Michael Auer learned the trade of cigarmaking with George 
P. Hier. After an honorable war record he began manufacturing cigars in 
Jamesville in 1865, and two years later transferred his business to Syracuse, 
locating in the Jervis Block. In 1873 the firm was formed by his associa- 
tion with his brother, Baltisar Auer, and the factory was removed to Mul- 
berry street. From 1873 to 1876 M. Auer filled a State position in the 
Auburn State Prison, and when he returned in the latter year the cigar fac- 
tory was removed to East Water street. Two years later it was again re- 
moved to a store in Clinton street, where it remained until 1887, at which 
time the firm took their present location in West Water street. The busi- 
ness has grown to such an extent that the force of employees has increased 
from twelve or fourteen to fifty hands. The)- manufacture about twenty 



Manufacturing Industries. 629 



brands of cigars, and are jobbers in many more. They handle large quan- 
tities of manufactured and leaf tobacco, and employ three commercial trav- 
elers who visit the principal towns in Central New York. Michael Auer 
was Supervisor for two )ears from the Seventh ward. 

John Demong began the manufacture of cigars about the year 1864, in 
Burnet street, but soon afterward removed to old number 167 North Salina 
street, where he remained until 1875. He then purchased a building on 
the corner of Lodi and John streets, and there continued his business until 
his death, on the 23d of March, 1884. He was Mayor of Syracuse in 
1882-83, and the first Democratic Mayor that had been elected in more 
than ten years. Mr. L^emong had pre\'iously served as Alderman of the 
Second ward four terms. His son, William J. Demong, succeeded his fatiier 
at tile death of the latter, and continued the business till June 6, 1891, when 
Charles Hofher was taken as partner, under the firm name of Demong & 
Co. They employ from ten to fifteen hands. 

Previous to the late war Jacob Sa.x was a cigarmaker in the employ of 
George P. Hier. He returned from the war in 1865, and opened a cigar 
factory in North Salina street in 1878. In 1883 he purchased his present 
location. No. 528 North Salina street, which he is occupying as a cigar fac- 
tory and a wholesale and retail tobacco store. Mr. Sax has been a resident 
of Syracuse for forty years, and has an honorable war record He enlisted 
in 1 861 in Captain John G. Butler's company, Co. D, Third N. Y. Infantry 
Volunteers, Colonel Fred Townsend commanding. He was in front of 
Richmond, and participated in the bombardment of Charleston and in 
numerous other engagements. In the engagement at Drury's Bluff he was 
wounded, necessitating an amputation of the leg above the knee. He re- 
ceived his discharge in 1865 and returned to Syracuse. During the ad- 
ministration of Governor Fenton he had charge of the State Arsenal, and 
in 1870 he occupied the position of weigher of hay. He represented his 
ward on the Board of Supervisors in 1886 and 1887. 

Owing to the peculiar nature of the cigarmaking industry it is very 
difficult to procure reliable statistics relative to it. While we have men- 
tioned its early history, and a few of the leading manufacturers, there are 
about 125 others who are engagetl in the business in Syracuse, employing 
all the way from one to fifty hands. The product reaches far into the mil- 
lions of cigars, but its value and the gross number of men employed cannot 
be stated with any degree of accuracy. The forthcoming census will un- 
doubtedly throw light upon the manufactures of every city which will en- 
lighten the investigator in such statistical problems. 

Tlie Gviiiiway Brciving Coinf'aiiy. — The Greenway Brewery was 
founded by the late John Greenway and his brother in 1850, and was the 



630 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

first important establishment of the kind in Syracuse. The brother died 
soon after the brewery was started, and John Grcenwa)' continued in the 
business until his death, on the 28th of May, 1887. At tlic beginning the 
brewery was a small concern as compared with its present capacit)', and 
employed only about fifty men and four teams, while now 150 men and 
ten teams are emplojcd. The brewery is located in West Water street, 
and at present comprises one immense structure, in whicli are located tlie 
malt house and tlie brewery proper, the whole being 650 by 75 feet. The 
capacity of this brewery is about 100,000 barrels a year, and the product 
has for many years enjoyed a high reputation throughout the world. In 
October, 1878, the Greenway Brewing Company was fortued with a capi- 
tal stock of ^200,000, and John Greenwa\- was made President of the com- 
pany. On the death of the founder of the business ills son, John, was 
elected Piesident and Treasurer, and lias since continued in the office. 
A. G. Cook is Secretary. 

Haberlc Brezving Company. — In the year 1855 Benedict Ilaberle, one of 
the prominent German citizens of the city, began brewing in what is now 
the Thomas Ryan Brewery, corner of Butternut and Mcliride streets. He 
continued the business there with a fair degree of success until 1865, when 
the new brewer}' was built, directly opposite the old one, in Butternut street. 
The business increased until 1 88 1, when Mr. Ilaberle died and the Haberle 
Brewing Company was organized with a capital of $125,000. The officers 
were and still continue to be as follows: F. B. Haberle, President and 
Manager; Charles L. Hoffman, Vice-President; W. H. Haberle, Treasurer ; 
and Charles Ilaberle, Secretary. These with John H. Costello constitute 
the Board of Directors. When tlie company was organized extensive im- 
provements were inaugurated and the qualit)' of the lager greatly inipro\cd. 
The plant now comprises a five-story brick structure, with a frontage of 250 
feet in Butternut street, and a depth of 80 feet, besides the great under- 
ground cellars with a storage capacity of 30,000 barrels. About seventy- 
five men and thirty horses are employed, and the annual production reaches 
60,000 barrels. Two Arctic ice machines are used, one of 1 10 tons and one 
of 50 tons daily capacity. 

Zett's Brewery. — In 1858 Francis Xavier Zett, father of George Zett, 
began brewing lager beer in a small building on the corner of Court and 
Lodi streets. His capital was very small, only a few iiundred dollars, and 
he had two employees, but he gradually increased the product until, at his 
death in 1881, he was making 3,000 barrels annually. George Zett then 
became the owner, and in 1888 erected several additional buildings, which 
greatly increased the capacity of the brewery. In 1890 the output reached 
15,000 barrels. A part of the malt used is made on the premises. Thirty 
men are now employed and the plant is valued at $150,000. 



Manukactuking In'dustries. 631 



Moon; Quinn & Co. — ^Tliis establisliinent is located on the corner of 
Grouse avenue and East Water street, and was organized in 1881 by Frank 
Moore, William Quinn, Edward Callahan, and Martin McGarvey, who have 
constituted the firm ever since. The buildings are 126 x 75 feet in size, and 
six stories high. Eighteen men are employed, and the yearly capacity of the 
brewery is 31,000 barrels. This firm makes India pale, present-use, and 
stock ales and porter, using nothing but the finest Canadian malt and State 
hops. Frank O'Rourke, an expert brewer, has charge of the manufactur- 
ing department, and his product is conceded to be number one. The firm 
was in the brewing business two years in Utica previous to coming to Syra- 
cuse. 

Crystal Spring Brewing Company. — This company was incorporated in 
1887, with a capital stock of $175,000. The main building is 220 feet front, 
84 feet deep, and three stories high ; the boiler-house is 30 x 50 feet; the 
bottling-house 22 x 90 feet ; all are located in Burnet avenue. Seventy-six 
men are employed, and the capacity of the brewery is lOO.OOO barrels an- 
nually. The officers are as follows: President, Anton Zahm ; Vice Presi- 
dent, Thomas Ryan; Secretary and Treasurer, Edwin C. Hall ; Directors, 
John Uunfee, T. E. O'Keefe, Edward Joy, George Schieder, Edward Seiter, 
Edwin C. Hall, Anton Zahm, Charles Simon, and Thomas Ryan. 

Tlie National Brewing Company. — This company was Incorporated in 
1888 with a capital of $50,000. The Directors are John H. Costello, Cor- 
nelius J. Ryan, Charles Umbrecht, Frank B. Haberle, Edmond A. Dollard, 
Charles Habeile, Charles L. llotTman, Charles Schwarz, and William II. 
Haberle. Following were the other officers of the company : Cornelius J. 
Ryan, President; Edmond A. Dollard, Vice-President; Charles L. Hoff- 
man, Treasurer and Manager; Charles Schwarz, Secretary. The brewery 
is located on Lock street, with a front of 170 feet and 90 feet depth, five 
stories high. The office is at Nos. 923 and 925 Lock street. Twenty men 
are employed, and the capacity is 75,000 barrels annually. The product con- 
sists of ales, porter, India pale ale, etc. The officers now are C. L. Hoft- 
man. President ; P. F. Murray, Vice-President ; Charles S Schwarz, Secre- 
tary and Treasurer; and J. H. Costello, Attorney. 

The Germania Brewing Company. — This company was organized in 
1886, with a capital of $125,000, which has been increased to $150,000. 
The first officers were as follows: President, Charles Simon; Vice-Presi- 
dent, Francis Baumer; Secretary and Treasurer, John Greenway, jr.; Di- 
rectors, Charles Simon, I'rancis Baumer, John Greenway, jr., Peter Pfohl, 
Daniel Ackerman, Jacob Knapp, Leopold Joh, Thomas Abele, Frank Lang, 
J. J. Klein, William Kearnc)-. The brewery occupies the premises from 
100 to 206 North West street, and comprises several four-story brick struct- 



632 Memokiai, History of Syracuse. 



ures Forty- five men and nine teams are employed. Tlie present officers 
are Frank Lang, President ; Arthur Giintiicr. Vice-President ; John Green- 
way, Secretary; F. K. Knowlton, Treasurer. The product is the celebrated 
Gerniania lager beer, and the sales annually now reach about 40,000 bar- 
rels. 

Kearney's Brewery. — William Kearney began brewing in 1869, in a 
building 40 x 90 feet, on the corner of North Salina and Wolf streets, em- 
ploying at first nine men. The dimensions of his plant have been increased 
from time to time until the building now used as the brewery and office 
has a frontage of 140 x 127 feet, and is four stories high. In the rear is a two- 
story building, 30 x 90 feet in dimensions, and a malt-house 121 x 36 feet, 
four stories high, with a capacity of 50,000 bushels. He now employs in 
his brewing business thirty men, and the establishment has a capacity of 150 
barrels per day. The product is present- use and stock ale and porter and 
India pale ale. These beverages have a large sale throughout the State. 

The Rock Spring Breivcry. — This brewery, which is located outside of 
the city limits on the Split Rock road, had its inception about the year 1856, 
when I"" rank Martin began the manufacture of small beer. He went out of 
business in 1859, and the property passed to the possession of Henry Wents 
and others, and finally in 1874 to Jacob Mantel. He died in 1879, and Mrs. 
Mantel conducted the business until 1S82. Joseph Haas then secured an 
interest, and the firm became Mantel & Haas, which continued to 18S9, 
when the property passed into possession of Fred Fry and Frank Mantel, 
and the firm of Haas, Fry & Mantel conducted the brewery to October, 
1890. At this time Mr. Haas sold his interest to his partners. Five men 
are employed and about 20,000 barrels of beer are made annually. It is 
located in Grand avenue, corner of Avery. 

The Syracuse Brewing Company. — This company was incorporated in 
March, 1 890, with a capital of $20,000, which was subsequently increased to 
$35,000. The Directors are George G. Campbell, Conrad Pinches, Fdwin 
Loder, James A. Gregg, and John McLennan. Following are the officers 
of tlie company: John McLennan, President; Edwin Loder, Vice-President; 
Conrad Pinches, Secretary; George Murray, jr.. Treasurer and General 
Manager. The propert\-, winch is situated in Prosjiect avenue, near Laurel 
street, has a frontage of 79 feet and a depth of 165 feet. All grades of pres- 
ent-use ales, and India pale, cream, nectar, and Burton ales, stout, and porter 
are made. The capacity of the plant is 30,000 barrels annually. 

Thomas Ryan. — In April, 1884, Mr. Ryan purchased an interest in the 
Onondaga Brewery. The product of that brewery at that time did not ex- 
ceed 150 barrels per week. In 1885 a brick building was erected beside 
the old one, and at a later tlate another was added, which fronted on But- 



Manukacturinc In'dustkies. 633 



teriuit street, giving the establishment as thus enlarged a front of more than 
200 feet on Huttennit street, with a depth of 1 00 feet and three stories in 
height. In October, 1887, Mr. Ryan purchased the interest of his partner, 
and has since that time conducted the business alone. The product now 
reaches about 800 barrels i)er week, which represents a business of more 
tiian $225,000 per annum. The specialty of this brewery is export and 
India pale ale. Mr. Ryan was elected Mayor of Syracuse, and served dur- 
ing the years 1883, 1884, and 1885. 

Intimately associated with the brewing interest is the bottling industry, 
which has within the past few years assumed considerable importance. The 
Greenway Brewery began bottling in 1885, under the administration of the 
late lohn Greenway, and the works are now operated by John Greenway, jr. 
The establishment is located on the canal, just east of West street, and em- 
ploys si.xteen hands and has $50,000 invested. From 35,000 to 50,000 
dozen bottles are put up annually, with their India pale ale far in the lead. 
It is the only establishment in Syracuse that bottles ale, and the only one in 
the United States that ships to foreign countries, their product going to 
Java, China, France, the Sandwich Islands, and Australia 

The lager beer breweries carry on this branch of the business to a con- 
siderable extent, the Haberle Brewery bottling its own lager and Seiter 
Brothers in Burnet avenue putting up the Crystal Spring lager. Friedel 
& Gebhart find a good market here for the Genesee Brewing Company's 
lager, of Rochester, and Becker & Myer bottle George Zett's product. 

Besides the above Louis House and McLoud & Janes have for a num- 
ber of years done a large business in the manufacture and bottling of mild 
beverages of various kinds, an industry which gives employment to sixty 
persons. Besides the $50,000 invested by the Greenways, there is probably 
$75,000 additional employed by the various bottlers of the city. 

The Moycr Wagon Works. — This is one of the largest and most success- 
ful establishments in Syracuse in this line. It was established in a small 
way at Cicero in 1875, but needing better facilities it removed to Syracuse in 
January, 1880, and located on the corner of Wolf and Park streets, giving 
employment to fifty men. Harvey A. Moyer, the sole owner, has, by the 
prudent exercise of rare business ability, brought his industry up to a fore- 
most position, and now employs 250 men. He has also exhibited good in- 
ventive genius in the promotion of his business. In what is known as the 
'•Moyer"^agon," which has attained wide popularity, are combined several 
of Mr. Mover's inventions which are covered by patents. He also manu- 
factured the first "run-about" two-seat wagon which now has been so gen- 
erally adopted. His box- setting (or hub-boring) machine, which accom- 
plishes twice as much work in a given time as any other device, is used by 
80 



634 Memcjkiai, History of Svracuse. 

seventy-five or more of the largest carriage builders in the country. Dur- 
ing the year 1889 the factory turned out the first of what is called the "Ban- 
ner Spring Road Wagon," which has met with a flattering reception. The 
old shops were doubled in extent in 1S82, and were again increased in 1888 
by a new building in rear of the old, which extends through to Salina street. 
Mr. Moyer was born in 1854 in Clay, and began wagonmaking in Cicero 
just before reaching his majority. 

IVhitiicy U^agott Works. — This manufacturing establishment is located 
in Leavenworth avenue. The original plant was built and the business 
started in the year 1878 by J. D. Whitney. He conducted the business 
alone until 1884, when the company was organized with J. D. Whitney, 
President; George B Green way, Vice-President; and C. A. Adams, Sec- 
retary and Treasurer. The works now comprise the manufactory, finishing- 
room, machine shop, blacksmith shop, engine-room, repository, etc., and 
cover about 180 x 180 feet in Leavenworth avenue. From a compara- 
tively small beginning the establishment has had a constant growth and 
now employs ninety men. The carriages and wagons have an e.\ccllent 
reputation. The present officers are the same as those in the beginning, 
excepting the ViceT'resident, who is now W. J. Mills. 

Thomas D. Littes. — Many of the finest carriages that have been used in 
this city were made by Thomas D. Lines. Mr. Lines came to Syracuse in 
i860, having learned the carriage trimming business of one of the best con- 
cerns in New Haven, Conn. He began work for Jay, son of S. Iloyt, 
whose shops were on the site of the Medical College. Mr. Lines remained 
there nearly three years, and then engaged with Charles P. Phillips, then 
and for several years after the most successful builder of fine carriages in 
the city. His shops were in West Fayette street. Mr. Lines remained 
there nearl)' five years, and then became a member of the firm of Hurst, 
Leamy & Lines, who were located on the site of the new Mowry Flats. 
He remained with that establishment only for a short time, when he sold 
out to his partners. T. H. Lyons afterward bought Hurst's and Leamy's 
interests and formed a partnership with Mr. Lines, which continued for five 
years. In December, 1875, Mr. Lines sold his interest to his partner and 
went into a new building erected by Earl B. Alvord and Daniel Candee, in 
Warren street. He carried on his business at that location, turning out the 
finest carriages made west of New York city. Many of his vehicles were 
sold to large dealers in New York, Cleveland, and other large cities. Ow- 
ing to reverses Mr. Lines gave up business for a time, and in 1889 he 
opened his present establishment in South Clinton street. 

J. S. Lcggett. — In the year 1888 Mr. Leggett succeeded Thomas D. 
Lines, at 346 and 348 Warren street, in the manufacture of fine carriages 



Manukacturing Industries. 635 



of all kinds, but with specialties of victorias, broughams, and rockaways. 
I le is the only manufacturer of importance of these heavy carriages in Syra- 
cuse. Mr. Leggett learned his trade in New York city, and is thoroughly 
conversant with it. 

0. H. Short &■ Co. — This firm is located at the corner of West Fayette, 
Seneca, and Marcellus streets, and is successor to Short & Smith, estab- 
lished in 1879. The members are O. H. Short, F. C. Sherman, and G. S. 
Leonard. They manufacture a large variety of vehicles, making a specialty 
of natural and their own buck- boards, the patent of which is owned and 
controlled by them. Their factory is equipped with fine machinery and the 
character of their work is excellent. Their wagons are shipped through- 
out the Union. About 125 hands are employed, and the sales amount to 
from $150,000 to $200,000. 

Central City Wheel Works. — This company is intimately associated with 
the wagon industry, and was organized for the manufacture of wagon wheels 
in 1880, with a capital of $10,000. The first factory was in West street, but 
they removed to the corner of Plum and Wilkinson streets in 1883. The 
business has grown from the making of three sets of wheels per day to 
15,000 sets per year, and thirty men are employed. C. N. Hatch is Mana- 
ger and Cashier. 

Charles Sehlosser &" Sons. — Charles Schlosscr began wagonmaking in 
185 I on the opposite side of the street from his present location, which he 
purchased in 1865, and built his present shops in 1870. In 1888 he took his 
sons George and John P. as partners. Before the introduction of the mam- 
moth factories of the present time Mr. Sehlosser built large numbers of 
light wagons, but in late years they have made a specialtj' of business vehi- 
cles. Tiie firm employs ten men. 

The Syracuse Dash Works. — This business was established in 1885 by 
C. L. Haker and J. W. Williams, under the firm name of Baker Dash Works, 
and is the only one of its kind east of Buffalo. There are only five in the 
United States. They build dashes, fenders, and carriage trimmings, and 
turn out about 40,000 dashes yearly, besides their other product, which are 
sold from Maine to California, with a good export trade The firm consists 
of Charles T. lilanchard and F. E. Hale, and the factory is in a three story 
building in Wallace street. This firm bought the business in 1890, and 
now employs about thirtj' men. 

The manufacture of boots and shoes in Syracuse, which has in some 
cities been carried on in mammoth establishments, has never reached great 
proportions, although a few factories have won extended reputations for the 
fine quality of the work made by them. One of the first establishments of 
much note in this industry in Syracuse was that of Gray Brothers Mfg. Co., 



636 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

which is now one of the oldest and best known manufactories of ladies' fine 
shoes in the country. It began business here in 1865, when the firm con- 
sisted of John D. and H. H. Gray. It was conducted under the firm name 
of Gray Brothers until 1 880, at which time it was incorporated as a stock- 
company. This company has kept pace with the demands of the trade and 
maintained the high reputation of the goods. In 1873 the work of this 
factory was exhibited at the World's Fair in Vienna, and received the high- 
est award for machine-made goods, and a gold medal. They again exhib- 
ited at the Centennial Exposition, where they were awarded the first place 
over all competitors of Europe and the United States. The present officers 
of the company are: George S. Sanford, President; William H. Warner, 
Vice-President and Treasurer ; V. E. Maurer, Secretary. 

H. H. Grays Sou. — This manufactory of ladies' fine shoes was estab- 
lished in 1 88 1 by H. II. Gray, who was one of the founders of the firm of 
Gray Brothers, noticed above. He continued the industry until his death, 
when his son, John S. Gray, succeeded, and has successfully carried it on since. 
Fred L. Brigham now has an interest in the business, and 125 people arc 
employed. The product consists wholly of ladies' and children's hand- 
sewed goods of the finest grades. 

Baker & Bowman, manufacturers of latlies', misses', and children's fine 
shoes, arc now located in the Industrial l^uilding. The business was estab- 
Hshed in 1883 by Hale & Baker. In July, 1886, S. E. Bowman became a 
member of the firm under the style of Hale, Baker & Bowman. Mr. Hale 
withdrew from the firm in September, 1888. The firm manufactures the 
finest grades of ladies' shoes, and employs 125 hands. Four .'■alcsmen cover 
the territory from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts, and from Minneapolis 
south to St. Louis, and to Washington, I). C. The sales arc about $150,- 
000 annually. 

James R. Barrett was one of the early manufacturers of men's fine shoes 
in Syracuse, and was succeeded in 1879 by A. E. Nettleton. The latter 
was located in West Washington street, and in 1885 the factory at Nos. 302- 
310 Pearl street was erected. In 1888 it was burned and was almost a total 
loss, and the business was temporarily removed to 125 South Clinton street 
while the factory was being rebuilt. It was re-occupied in November, 18S9. 
One hundred and fifty hands arc employed, and 250 pairs of shoes are maile 
daily. W. A. Hill entered the firm as a partner in 1883. 

J. M. Mertens & Co. — This firm of clothing manufacturers is an out- 
growth of the oldest establishment in this industry in Syracuse. A. C. 
Yates began manufacturing clothing at the old numbers 13 and 15 North 
Salina street in 1855, and soon laid the foundations of a large business. 
The late Theodore Dissel was one of his trusted employees, antl in 1862 



Manukactuking Industries. 6^7 



Mr. Yates took him in as a partner, under the firm name of A. C. Yates & 
Co. Mr. Yates died October 1 1, 1880, and Mr. Dissel pincliased his inter- 
est in the business and took J. M. Mertens as a partner, the firm style be- 
ing then Theodore Dissel & Co. Mr. Dissel's death occurred February 17, 
1888, and Mr. Mertens purchased the interest of the deceased and formed 
the present firm of J. M. Mertens & Co. Si.\ty-five persons are employed 
in the building, six traveling men, and a force outside of about 475 persons. 
Tile weekly pay roll is about $5,000, and the sales are about $750,000 an- 
nually. The large retail stores of Mertens, Yann & Garnett were opened 
in \Siji in the Everson Building, and they have also a retail store in Troy, 
conducted by Mertens & Phalen. 

ir. S. J\-ck & Co. — This house was organized in 1867 under the firm 
name of Gates & Peck, and was succeeded by W. S. Peck in 1869, continu- 
ing thus until 1874. when the late Frank A. Peck was admitted to partner- 
ship under the name of \V. S. Peck & Brother. The business was removed 
from North Salina street to Nos. 8, lO, and 12 Clinton street, where C. A. 
Shafer was admitted to the partnership, and the firm name was changed to 
W. S. Peck, Brother & Co. The industry grew rapidly, and after five years 
more the building proved too small. W. S. Peck then erected the splendid 
business block in West Water street, 90 x no feet, and six stories high, 
with stone front, the whole of which is now occupied by the firm. In Jan- 
uary. 1890, V. A. Peck died. The present firm of W. S. Peck & Co., con- 
sisting of Wilber S. Peck and Charles A. Shafer, was then formed. They 
employ traveling salesmen, cover most of the territory from Maine to Cali- 
fornia, and have in their employ directly and working in shops about 2,000 
persons, manufacturing $8oo,ooo worth of clothing annually. This is one 
of the most successful and prominent industries in Syracuse. 

Kent &■ Miller. — The firm of Kent & Miller was formed in February, 
1872, and has never changed, being composed of George B. Kent and Ri- 
ley V. Miller. They began business in the Bastable Block, but three months 
later removed to 18 South Salina street. During the first year five clerks 
and four cutters were employed, and three floors of the building were occu- 
pied. In 1876 the capacity of the establishment was increa.sed by adding 
the adjoining store, the new numbers being 130 and 134 South Salina street. 
Twelve clerks, ten cutters, and a machine are employed, and the annual 
product is about $400,000. 

Weeks, Woodhiill &■ Co. — This firm was organized November i, 1887, 
and composed of Charles K. S. Weeks and William H. Woodhull, of Syra- 
cuse, and George W. Wiggins and PLdmund S. Goodale, of Watertown, 
N. Y. On December i, 1890, Mr. Wiggins withdrew, and Leopold Beyer, 
of New York, was admitted as a special partner. The annual business 



6^& Memorial History of Syracuse. 



amounts to $300,000, and comprises the manufacture and jobbing of cloth- 
ing. Six stories are occupied at No. 213 South CHnton street. Messrs. 
Weeks, Woodhull & Co. have a large trade on the road, and five traveling 
salesmen are emplo\'ed. About 400 persons find employment with the firm 
in the manufactory and outside. 

T/ie Spencer Clothing Company. — This industry originated with Alva 
C. Spencer in 1S78, when he began the manufacture of overalls and cheap 
trousers in a small way. The trade extended rapidly, and in 1881 H. C. 
Hooker became connected with the busfness as a silent partner. Mr. Spen- 
cer died in 1883, and Mr. Hooker organized the present company on a stock 
basis. The product is now exclusively trousers of every grade, and the sales 
extend from the Eastern to the far Western States. The manufactory has 
just been removed from West Washington street, where four stores were 
occupied, to a new store and factory at 320 to 324 West Fayette street, 
which has just been erected for the business. The character of the goods 
made, under direction of L. R. Spencer, has been constantl)' improved, and 
the establishment is now one of the healthful and growing industries of the 
city. Two hundred persons are employed, and the sales reach more than 
$100,000 annually. 

George Freeman came here from Rochester in 1871, and began manu- 
facturing clothing in the Townsend Block, corner of Water and Clinton 
streets. From there he removed to the Malcolm Block and later to the 
Kline Block. In 1888 he occupied his present large quarters over the rink 
in 1 )ickinson street. Mr. Freeman makes a specialty of the manufacture of 
coats, and employs from 125 to 200 persons. 

N. .Peters & Co. — Nicholas Peters came to Syracuse in 1848. In 1854 
he bought land on the corner of Pond and Lodi streets, and built autl opened 
a grocery. Two years later he enlarged his building, and added dry goods 
and wall paper to his stock, and in i860 he put in clothing, which he has 
now manufactured for thirty years. In 1865 he took his half-brother. Cap- 
tain Jacob Knapp, as a partner, under the style of N. Peters & Brother. 
In 1871 he altered and enlarged his building to its present size, and in 
1873 his son, Henry C. Peters, was admitted to the firm and the name 
changed to N. Peters, lirother & Son. In 1882-S3 both of these partners 
withdrew from the business, Nicholas Peters, jr., taking their place, and the 
name of N. Peters & Co. was adopted. In 1889 Mr. Peters's son, Jacob, 
and his nephew, Nicholas G. Peters, were admitted to the firm. The man- 
ufacture of clothing is a prominent feature of their business, and from 70 to 
120 people are employed and $30,000 in wages paid out annually. 

A. IV. Palmer. — The firm of M. C. Palmer & Co. began the retail sale 
of clothing and merchant tailoring at 15 and 17 North Salina street in 1856, 



MANUfACrURlNU InI lUS TKI KS. 639 



and continued the business until 1879, when tiic firm became A. W. Palmer 
& Co. Three years later A. VV. Palmer assumed the business and has re- 
mained alone since. During the ten years between 1869 and 1879 the fiini 
added to their then large clothing trade an extensive wholesale business, 
and in 1877 removed to the present location, Nos. 121 and 123 South Salina 
street. The house has always manufactured all the clothing sold by it, and 
has the reputation of producing first-class goods. The annual businessnow 
amounts to about $175,000 and 150 hands are employed on the average. 

Anton V. Altmaiin. — Mr. Altmann came to Syracuse in 1S71 and became 
a merchant tailor in 1876, at No. 224 North Salina street. In 18S7 he re- 
moved to his present location, 710 North Salina street, where he built the 
block which he occupies. ITc employs ten persons. Mr. Altmann was Po- 
lice Connnissioner from 1887 to iSyi. 

There arc few cities more fortunate th;in Syracuse in having at their 
doors, or in their midst, ample materials of the best quality for building pur- 
poses. The Onondaga limestone, which is so plentiful within a few miles of 
the city, is extensively used, while the necessary material for excellent brick 
is found in unlimited quantities within the boundaries of the city itself 
This fact has, undoubtedly, had an appreciable influence on the growth of 
the city. Tiie readers of earlier chapters of this work have learned how 
brick were made in Salina before Syracuse could boast hardly a settlement; 
and how, a few years later, they were made on the banks of Onondaga 
Creek and the Yellow Brook, in the now thickly .settled parts of the city, 
and at other adjacent points. It is impossible to form any estimate or learn 
any facts as to the magnitude of the industry for a number of years after its 
commencement, and down to about the time of the incorporation of the city 
little is definitely known of it. 

In the year 185 i Francis H. Kennedy, his brother, James V., and Cal- 
vin Pierson bought land on the Krie Canal at North Geddes street, dug 
ditches, pulled stumps, and cleared it for a brick- yard. Here they carried 
on the manufacture until the cl.iy at that point was about exhausted, when 
they bought of Merrick & Hunt a yard on the Split Rock road. The name 
of the first firm was Pierson & Kennedys. In 1866 Mr. Pierson sold his in- 
terest to his partners, who took their younger brother, George G., into the 
firm and changed the name to F. H. Kennedy & Brothers. It so remained 
until 1877, when F. H. Kennedy became and still is the sole proprietor. In 
1884 Mr. Kennedy left the Split Rock road and took his present location 
in Seventh North street, where he has eight acres of land. Pierson & Ken- 
nedy made as high as 4,500,000 brick per year. The present production of 
the yard is 2,500,000 annually, and twenty-five men are employed. During 
Mr. Kennedy's forty years in this industry he has made more than 100,- 



640 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

000,000 brick, which have been chiefly used in Syracuse. His father was 
a farmer and came from Steuben county in 1843. 

In 185 I Montgomery and Charles Merrick, brothers, and Edward Hunt 
started a brick-yard on tiie Split Rock road, which they operated until 1865, 
when they sold it to Pierson & Kennedy, as above noted. They then 
opened another yard in South. Onondaga street (now South avenue). Mr. 
Hunt subsequently sold out his interest, and the firm became and still re- 
mains M. & C. Merrick, but they have not manufactured brick since 1889. 
During all this period they made 1,000,000 brick per year, and were also 
large contractors and builders, giving employment in both industries to from 
twenty-five to one hundred men. 

In 1867 Charles H. and Luther S. Merrick, both of whom are practical 
masons, formed a partnership as contractors and builders and brick manu- 
facturers, and they still carry on both branches of their business. Their 
brick works are in Court street, in De Witt, where they employ from thirty 
to forty men, and use 400 cords of wood and from 300 to 400 tuns of coal, 
producing from 3,000.000 to 4,000,000 brick annually. They have adopted 
the " Rock and Pallet" system, a Western invention, which consists in taking 
the raw clay and pulverizing it before wetting; it is then mixed and forced 
into the molds, from which the brick arc taken in perfect form and condi- 
tion, and placed on pallets and afterward piled away in racks. This work 
is done by steam-power, and is the first application of the system in Syra- 
cuse. As builders and contractors this firm is constantly engaged in heavy 
contracts, employing horn twenty to one hundred men, and the)- have 
erected many prominent buildings in the city. 

The Syracuse Pressed Brick Company was organized in 1S72 by 11. N. 
White, John Greenway, Stephen Bastable, James Tolman, and Amos L. 
Mason. The works are in Midland avenue, where the company owns thirty 
acres of land, about half of which has a substratum of clay. The upper 
layer of clay, two to three feet in thickness, is red ; next is found a mottled 
layer of four or five feet in thickness, and under this the color is cream or 
buff as far down as it has been practicable to drain it. This buff clay makes 
brick- of the same color and in quality equal to the celebrated Milwaukee 
brick. The inside hall of Cornell Universit)- Library and other prominent 
structures are made of these brick. The growing popularitj- of pressed 
brick is indicated by the output of this company, which is now 5,000,000 
annually, and fifty men are employed in the manufacture. Amos L. Mason 
is President of the company and John Greenway is Secretary and Treasurer. 

Patrick and John Pre^ton began brick manufacture in 1883, at their pres- 
ent location on the Wadsworth road, under the firm naineof Preston Broth- 
ers. They own thirty- two acres of land, employ about thirty men, and 
produce 2,500,000 brick per year, using 700 cords of wood, 



Manufacturing Industries. 641 



Timothy Nolan also has a brick- yard on land adjoining the Preston 
Hrothcrs on the north, where he has made brick since 1885. He turns out 
from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 annually, and employs twenty men. 

Timothy Brophy has a yard in Wolf street, where he employs fifteen 
men, and makes about 1,000,000 brick per year. 

W. B. Kirk purchased twenty- five acres of land in i (S87 at the Rock 
Cut between Syracuse and Jamesville, where he began making brick, and 
produced nearly all that were used in the erection of his block. The yard 
is still in operation and produces over 1,000,000 brick per year. 

The New York Brick and Paving Company was organized in 1890 by 
James L. Hreed and George D. Grannis. They purchased five acres of land 
in Geddcs for the plant and forty acres of clay ground in the town of Clay, 
from which the material is brought to the works. Their output is 8,000,- 
000 vitrified paving brick and 1,000,000 common brick annually, and they 
give emplo\-ment to seventy-five men. The paving brick made by this 
company are rapidly assuming prominence in cities for their durability and 
comparative cheapness. Capital, $100,000. The officers are A. A. How- 
lett, President; Jacob Amos, Vice-President; D. H. Bruce, Secretary; 
J. L. Breed, Treasurer; J. L. King, Attorney. 

Silvcrivarc. — The beginning of this industry in Syracuse is traced back 
to the manufacture of a few articles by W. W. Willard in 1841, in a store 
which he occupied in Water street east of Salina. About the same time 
Fred W. Moffat, a jeweler doing business in Clinton street, devoted his spare 
time to the manufacture of a few small articles of silverware for his own trade. 

The first to take up this line of manufacture in a systematic manner 
was the firm of Willard, Mawley & Co., the company being Joseph Sey- 
mour. Their factory was in Mulberry street, facing I'ayette Park. They 
employed at first four hands, which number gradually increased to ten. 
Charles Shafer, now a leading manufacturer in Utica, learned his trade with 
this firm, as did also John Lighten of this city. Mr. Seymour withdrew 
from the firm in 1848 to establish a business for himself, as described below. 
The remaining partners conducted the business where it had been located 
until 1S49, when it was removed to Montgomery street. Seven years later 
the factory was given up, for the reason that the capital employed could be 
more profitably used in other directions. Of the firm of Willard, Hawley 
& Co , Gen. J. D. Hawley is the only survivor. 

Joseph Seymour began in 1846, in Mulberry street, the manufacture of 
silverware; he remained there two years and then removed to No. 3-6 Mont- 
gomery street, where this business was continued for about forty-two years. 
In the year 1848 Benjamin R. Norton became a partner, under the firm 

name of Norton & Seymour, and later David Hotchkiss entered the firm 
81 



642 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

and the style became Norton, Seymour & Co. Mr. Seymour afterward 
bought his partners' interests and did business in his own name till his sons, 
Joseph, jr., and I-ldwin G., and George F. Comstock, jr., were admitted to 
partnership under the present firm name. In 1882 the firm bought the jew- 
elry business of D. Valentine, in the White Memorial Building, and have ever 
since conducted that branch with tlieir manufacturing department, which 
has been exclusively devoted to making solid silverware, which has attained 
a national reputation. Very few industries in Syracuse have so long been 
continued with such a good record. In addition to eminent business abili- 
ties, Joseph Seymour was a great reader and had a very retentive memory. 
He was also a veteran traveler, first becoming familiar with his own country. 
In each of the years 1873, 1878, and 1884 he traveled extensively in 
Europe, England and Scotland being his favorites. He was an active Re- 
publican from the formation of that party, often refusing office, but consented 
at one time to serve as Supervisor. In religious matters he was one of the 
organizers, and remained a supporter, of the Park Presbyterian Church. 
He was of genial disposition, quiet manners, manh' in all things, widely 
known, and universally respected. 

The firm of Hotchkiss & Schreuder began manufacturing silverware in 
1857, at 95 East Genesee street. In 1S71 Mr. A. B. Schreuder became sole 
proprietor of the business. It was removed to No. 43 I'.ast Washington 
street in 1862. Mr. Schreuder manufactures sterling silverware, and his 
goods bear a high reputation. He is a native of Norway, and came to 
America in 1849 and to Syracuse in 1857. 

George H. HkChesiiey. — About the year 1840 a lumber \'ard was estab- 
lished on the site now occupied by George H. McChesney, corner of Pearl 
and James streets, by Cogswell & Barnes. It was one of the verv early 
yards of importance in the place. The firm was succeeded by George Sanford, 
and he by Brayton & Hill. In 1867 Mr. McChesney bought them out and 
built a planing-mill on the corner of Plum and Wilkinson streets, where 
moldings, etc., are also made. He has since that time given steady em- 
ployment to twenty-five men, and handles from 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 feet 
of lumber annually. 

Edzvard E. Chapman. — In the year 1870 Mr. Chapman established the 
lumber yard and planing-mill whicli he still carries on. It is located on 
the corner of Carbon and P'ree streets, where he handles about 4,000,000 
feet of pine and hemlock and considerable hardwood lumber annually, 
giving employment to fifteen hands. Mr. Chapman's father was Edwi^rd 
Chapman, who came from East Granby, Conn., to Syracuse in 1824. He 
was a boat builder and worked in Spencer's yard, where the Durston Flats 
now stand. In 1827 he went to Salina and purchased the dry dock and 
boat-yard, and built canal boats until 1855, when he engaged in saltmaking. 



Manufacturing Industries. 643 



Jokit H. McDowell — Mr. McDowell came to Syracuse from Oswcyo in 
1873 aiul worked five years for H. A. Cnme & Co., lumber dealers on the 
corner of Townsend and Canal streets. That firm sold out to Kenyon & 
Shaw and Mr. McDowell remained with them two years, and then bought 
the lumber j'ard of Hraiilej- Cary, on the corner of Lock and Canal streets. 
This he carried on alone for one year, when he formed a partnership with 
11. A. Crane and J. M. Belden, under the style of Crane, Belden & Co., 
with an office in Water street, and branch yards in Oswego and Tonawanda. 
Three years later Mr. Crane sold his interest to his partners, and the new 
firm of Belden & McDowell removed their yard to Wilkinson street, its 
present location. In the fall of r888 Mr. McDowell bought Mr. Belden's 
interest and became the sole proprietor. He put a large planing- mill on 
the premises and has given his energies chiefly to the wholesale trade. He 
keeps a stock of from 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 feet on hand, and does the 
largest lumber business between Albany and Buffalo, handling as high as 
30,000,000 feet in a year, and giving employment to from thirty to fifty 
men. 

George G. Keuyon. — The firm of Kenyon & Shaw succeeded II. A. 
Crane, who had conducted the lumber business several years on the north 
side of the canal between Lock and Townsend streets. In 1880 Mr. Shaw 
died and the firm became Kenyon & Stevens. Requiring more room they 
secured the present location on the corner of Orange and Water streets. 
Mr. Stevens died in 1887 and Mr. Kenyon has continued alone. He occu- 
pies by ownership and rental 1,100 feet on the south side and 400 feet on 
the north side of the canal, and employs thirt\- men. He came to Syracuse 
from Fulton in 187 1. 

The Bliss Box Company. — In the year 1869 Jonathan B. Bliss started 
a planing mill on the corner of Catherine and Canal streets. Two years 
later he began the manufacture of boxes, an industry that has attained large 
proportions in Syracuse, and in which this establishment has occupied a 
conspicuous position. Mr. Bliss was burned out and rebuilt three times, 
each fire causing him heavy loss. In 1889 the Bliss Box Company was 
organized and incorporated, with a capital of $100,000 and the following 
officers: John K. Post, of Oswego, President; Henry H. Post, of Oswego, 
Vice-President and Treasurer ; J. B. Bliss, Superintendent. The present 
officers are George N. Burt, President ; George C. Hollister, of Rochester, 
Vice President ; Clarence Dillenbeck, Secretary and Treasurer; John Ray- 
mond, Superintendent. The number of workmen employed has increased 
from five to seventy- five. The magnitude of this industry in the country 
is almost startling. It is estimated that it has absorbed more than one-half 
of the softwood lumber cut in the United States for a number of years past. 
The Bliss factory alone cut io,000,000 feet in 1890. 



644 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

E. M. Klock. — In the year 1865 Mr. Klock opened a lumber yard on 
the spot he now occupies, 191 2 West Fayette street. The next year he put 
up a planing-mill ami in the fall of 1890 he began the manufacture of the 
Merriman patent door. He handles annually 3,500,000 to 4,000,000 feet 
of lumber, besides shingle.-,, lath, pickets, etc. Mr. Klock is prominent in 
local politics, and has held the office of Alderman and other positions. 

Thomas Merriam. — This establishment, like most others in the city, 
commenced in a small way, and has grown to magnificent proportions. 
Joseph Leeret commenced the manufacture of boxes, of various kinds, on 
the corner of Washington and Orange streets, about 1854, and in a short 
time his business increased so much that he was obliged to seek for larger 
quarters. He then formed a partnership with Harvey Blaisdell, purchased 
the corner of East Water and Almond streets, and erected a large factory, 
which was increased in size occasionally as their business demanded. They 
suffered twice by fire, one of which completely destroyed the whole struct- 
ure, and in another they were severely crippled. They did an immense 
business, in making cigar boxes and almost every variety of packing boxes; 
at any rate every kind needed in the city. In 1876 Merriam & Gregory 
rented a portion of their buildings and power, and commenced the manu- 
facture of sash, doors, and blinds, which was continued till the spring of 
1S89, when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Gregory taking the hard- 
ware store in North Salina street, and Mr. Merriam the factory. They had 
done a large and successful business and Mr. Merriam felt warranted in 
taking the whole establishment of Leeret & Blaisdell, and is continuing the 
two factories under one head. He manufactures into sash, doors, blinds, 
and boxes of every description 5,000,000 feet of lumber annually. The 
soft lumber comes from Michigan and Canada, the hard wood from Ken- 
tucky, and the cedar from Cuba. His engine is 175 horse-power, driving 
100 different machines, and he produces about $175,000 of finished goods 
annually. He employes about 125 men and boys. 

Wilson & Robot ham. — In 1876 Messrs. Wilson & Wilbur bought of P. B. 
Brayton the business located at 75 South West street, which had been 
founded in 1864 by M. E. Carter, for the manufacture of extension tables 
and table slides. In 1878 Robert Robotham purchased Mr. Wilbur's inter- 
est and the present firm was formed. Their present factory at 715 to 723 
West Fayette street was erected in 1882. lughteen men are employed by • 
them and their goods are ordered from widely separated points — Australia, 
South America, Cuba, Mexico, and the Pacific coast. The full capacity of 
their works is tested to meet these demands. They keep no traveling sales- 
men, the quality of their product being sufficient recommendation. 

John Moore & Co. — The picture frame business of this firm was originated 



ManufacturiiNg Industries. 645 

by the firm of Sanford & l?on, in 1865. who were succeeded by John Moore 
& Co. in 1879. Immediately on tiic transfer of the business to John Moore & 
Co. the branch of contract woodwork and other hnes were added. Tlie mold- 
ing branch of the business employs constantly i 50 hands, and goods are ship- 
ped to all parts of the country in addition to a -general export trade. The con- 
tract department employs in and out of the factory, at times, as high as 300 
men and five traveling salesmen. This firm contracts principally for large 
government buildings located throughout the United States. The factory is 
located in James and Pearl streets. " The firm consists of John Moore and 
Frank M. Moore. 

Tlie Butler Maiuifactitriug Co. was incorporated in 1883 with a capital 
of $12,000, which was increased tiiree years ago to $24,000. The first 
officers were IJruce S. Aldrich, President; F. M. Bonta, Secretary and 
Treasurer ; E. K. Butler, General Manager. The object of the company 
was the manufacture of artistic furniture. Thirty men were employed at 
first, but the growth of the industry has been such that now 100 men arc 
on the pa}' roll. The premises, at No. 18 10 West Fayette street, have 66 
feet front and extend back to the canal, on which is a frontage of 150 feet. 
The main building is 150x40 feet, five stories hit;h, and another is 800x40 
feet, four stories high. The present officers are E. K. Butler, President and 
Treasurer; H. E. Wanamaker, Vice-President; William Nicholson, Secre- 
tary. This establishment employs lOO hands, and turns out a product val- 
ued at $450,000 annually. 

February 9, 1S71, the firm of Carpenter, De Puy & Co. was organized, 
they having bought the business formerly established by Carpenter & 
Mosely, and for nearly eigiiteen years they carried on a general v.oodwork- 
ing business. October i, 1889, they were succeeded by the present firm 
of De Puy, Robinson & Co , composed of Schuyler P. De Puy, C. F". Robin- 
son, and M. L. Abbott. The factory has employed on the average thirty 
men for the last fifteen years, and turns out all kinds of carving, turning, 
sawing, molding, etc., for the complete finish of interiors and exteriors of 
dwellings, hotels, churches, stores, etc. They are located at 118 and 120 
Mulberry street, where the business was first established. 

The furniture manufacturing and woodworking business now conducted 
by D. E. Hayden at 401-405 South Clinton street was established in March, 
1870, by li. J- Crandall, and came into Mr. Hayden's possession and con- 
trol August I, 1879. The works are in a large three-story brick building, 
the machinery being operated by a 50-horse-power engine. Mr. Hayden 
employs from fifteen to twenty-five men and has an investment of $15,000. 
with a business amounting to $25,000 annual!}'. His capacity covers al- 
most every kind of woodwork — sawing, turning, carving — and every variety 



646 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



of interior work. He makes a specialty of extension tables, couches, and 
parlor and office furniture, most of which is manufactured to order. He also 
enters largely into inside house finishing in soft and bard woods. 

J. D. Coleman. — In the year i860 Mr. Coleman began the manufacture 
of mclodeons in Salina street in the Washington Block. Soon afterward he 
introduced the manufacture of cabinet organs and moved to James street, 
the firm becoming Carpenter & Coleman, by the admission of Lyman and 
Colvin Carpenter. In 1872 Christian Cook took an interest in the business 
and the firm name was made Cook, Carpenter & Coleman, the factory be- 
ino- removed to Gifford street. The manufacture of furniture was added to 
the business, which was carried on to about ten years ago. Since that time 
Mr. Coleman has been located in East Water street. No. 316, and is largely 
engaged in the manufacture of desks and office and library furniture. He 
employs ten men. 

The Syracuse Molding Company. — This business was established in the 
spring of 1885 by William H. Van Buskirk, John Burns, and John Folley. 
They now employ twenty- five workmen, use 200,000 feet of lumber yearly, 
and are doing a flourishing business. The members of the firm are all na- 
tives of Syracuse. Mr. Van Buskirk spends a part of his time on the road 
and sells their goods throughout the State. 

Leslie Caldzvell. — Mr. Caldwell began business as a builder and con- 
tractor in 1863, and he was soon obliged by its increase to establish a shop 
with power, a planer, and other machinery for manufacturing woodwork 
used in his building operations. He employs ten to fifteen men, and is 
located at 143 Kennedy street. 

H'eniy Schmeer. — In the year 1867 Schmeer & Listman began the man- 
ufacture of paper boxes in the old Wieting Block, where they remained two 
years, when they removed to Clinton street. In 1883 Mr. Schmeer .sold 
his interest in the business to Mr. Listman and established a factory in 
West Water street, making the same line of goods till 1889, when he moved 
to the commodious quarters he now occupies at 106 to no Noxon street, 
where he has $20,000 invested, and employs 105 hands. Mr. Schmeer is 
the largest manufacturer of paper boxes in Syracuse. 

William Crabtree is one of the leading contractors and builders of the 
city, particularly in the line of stone work. He is a native of England, and 
came to New York in 1870. He located in Syracuse two years later, and 
worked at his trade until 1877, when the firm of Hughes & Crabtree was 
formed ; it continued in existence two years, since which time Mr. Crab- 
tree has carried on business alone. He purchased his present yard, corner 
of Montgomery and Taylor streets, and has carried on a large business, fur- 
nishing the stone for the Government Building, the County Clerk's office in 



ManuI'ACtl'king Industries. 647 



this city, the Court- 1 louse in Otsego county, several of the largest buildings 
in Auburn, and is now enyaged on a contract for a private residence in 
Cortland, costing $125,000, and is furnishing the stone for the Masonic 
Home in Utica. He employs from fifty to seventy-five men. 

Thomas Jackson, contractor and builder, located at the corner of Brown 
and Decker streets, came to Syracuse from England in 1859, and learned 
his trade in this city. He began business for himself in 1873. Among his 
important contracts are the wood work on St. Paul's Church and on the 
Leland Hotel, which burned down, and the new City Hall, whicii is in pro- 
cess of construction, the latter contract involving $37,000. He employs 
from twenty five to fiftj' men. 

Richard Dawson is located at 108 Baker avenue, as a contractor and 
builder. He came to Syracuse from Canada in 1865, and has been in active 
business here for twenty-three years. Among the more important build- 
ings constructed by Mr. Dawson may he mentioned the Kline Block, the 
Crichton I'lats, and the Marsellus casket factory. He employs from twenty- 
five to fifty men. 

I'hilip Goettel is a Iniilder of considerable prominence, located at 308 
Highland street. After service in the army he began his present business 
in 1870, and now employs from five to fifty men. He was a member of 
the 149th Regiment, Company B. He was wounded at Chancellorsville 
by a piece of shell, and at Gettysburg was struck by a bullet in his arm 
while ano'her passed through his knapsack. At Ringgold's Depot, in 
the Lookout Mountain operations, he captured two rebel flags, and holds 
a government medal for distinguished braverw At Savannah Mr. Goet- 
tel, Jacob Klein, and Nicholas Seaver were the first men who entered the 
navy yards. A rebel who asked Goettel who he was was told that he 
was a policeman. The joke was swallowed, and the rebel look the three 
men to breakfast. Goettel was also one of the 1 10 men who first took pos- 
session of Savannah. 

Charles Umbrecht, contractor anil builder at 214 Prospect avenue, was 
also a soldier of three years' servicTe in the P'irst Engineers, which went out 
from New York city to the siege of Charleston when Fort Sumter was re- 
captured. His regiment was in active service, and closed its service before 
Petersburg in the last year of the war. Mr. Umbrecht employs from fifteen 
to fifty men. 

In earlier pages of this work reference is made to the marble cutting shop 
of Isaac Stanton, who was one of the early settlers of the place. Mr. Stan- 
ton was one of the cholera victims of 1832, but was succeeded in his busi- 
ness by his son, Isaac StaiUon, jr.. in 1826, the business being then located in 
North Salina street. Isaac Stanton, jr., was one of the victims of the pow- 



648 Memorial Histouv of Syracuse. 

der explosion of 1841, and was succeeded in the business by his brother, 
Sidney Stanton, who continued in North Salina street, and hiter in James 
street, until the building of the West Shore Railroad. That company pur- 
chased his yard and he removed to 1 19 Lock street, where his son, Sidney, 
jr., still conducts the business founded by his uncle. At the time of his 
death, in 1890, Sidney Stanton was one of the oldest native residents of 
Syracuse ; he was born in Salina street in 1809. 

John C. Esser came to Syracuse from New York city, and he is .said to 
have been the first sculptor to carve our native stone. Among the many 
pieces of sculpture which owe their beauty and symuietr)- to Mr. Esser's 
skill may be mentioned the medallion of Judge James R. Laurence and a 
portrait bust of the journalist Lewis H. Redfield, both from life, and both 
of which grace their respective monuments at Oakwood Cemetery. The 
W'hitlock monument in Oakwood and tlie Malloy monument in St.- Agnes 
Cemetery are a couple of the numerous pieces of work of this kind which 
Mr. Esser has so beautifully executed. His son has now an interest in the 
business under the firm name of John C. Esser & Son, with their yard and 
office at 920 South Salina street. They own a stone quarry at Jamesville, 
from which they bring the supply for their own use and also for other build- 
ers. They are now extensively engaged in carrying out building contracts 
in marble, stone, and granite. The firm executes monumental work of a 
high character, and employs fifteen men. 

For more than twenty-five years Daniel J Francis has been prominently 
identified with the marble and granite working business in Syracuse, and at 
the present time the firm of Francis & Co. carries on the largest industry of 
that kind in Central New York. The firm is now composed of Mr. Francis, 
Thomas F. DeLany (who has been identified with the business since its 
commencement, and was admitted to the firm in 1873), and Newell E. 
Loomis, the latter of whom was admitted in 1885 ; their location is at 1 18 to 
124 West Onondaga street. Their work has attained a high reputation 
over a wide extent of territory, and they have exceptional advantages for 
obtaining the various kinds of marble and granite which their trade de- 
mands. They also conduct a large mantel, grate, and tile business, and are 
agents for the Perth Amboy Terra- Cotta Company and other specialties. 

C. Linehan came to Syracuse in 1854 and began marble working in 
Wolf street in the following year, lie subsequently took a partner, N. C. 
Hinsdale, and the firm removed to the Empire Block in Genesee street. 
Mr. Linehan sold his interest to Hinsdale, who went out of business, and 
Linehan opened an establishment in the Washington Block, in South Salina 
street. He shortly afterward removed to the site of the Dixon House, 
and in 1869 took his present location, 617 South Salina street. He employs 
five men and works in marble and granite. 



Manufacturing Industries. 649 

E. C. Stearns &" Co. — The inception of this business had its origin in 
about tlie year i860, when it was commenced by George N. Stearns, father 
of Edward C. Stearns and Mrs. Avis S. Van W'agenen, two of the present 
proprietors. Six j-ears later a small factory was erected in Cedar street. 
Mr. Stearns had during this time devoted his energies chiefly to the manu- 
facture of hollow augers. His business was a decided success from the 
beginning, and continued to expand and improve from time to time to keep 
pace with the ever increasing demands for his articles, which were accord- 
ingly increased in number as necessity required. He carried on the con- 
cern alone at this location till 1877, when owing to ill- health his son and 
daughter, Edward C. Stearns and Mrs. A\'is S. Van Wagenen (then Mrs. 
Avis Mead), purchased the business under the firm name of E. C. Stearns 
& Co., by which it has ever since been known. Three years later they re- 
moved the offices and plant to the old John A. Nichols gun works, on the 
north side of James street near the corner of Lock, and about the same time 
establislied a branch office in Chicago. The rapid growth of the businessi 
caused by the addition of saw vises, parlor sliding door hangers, band set- 
ters, spoke shaves, pointers, etc., to their list of maiuifacturcs, soon necessi- 
tated anotlier removal to larger and more commodious quarters, and ac- 
cordingly in 1882 the present extensive plant was erected at the foot of West 
Adams street, corner of Oneida, in the Sixth ward. Since then new build- 
uigs have been added each year, until it is now one of the most extensive 
manufactories of hardware in the country, and is justly entitled to a leading 
rank in the manufacturing industries of Syracuse. The firm now gives 
employment to 350 men, and turns out among other specialties ten distinct 
styles of patent sliding door hangers, a number of different kinds of pat- 
ented locks, window and door screens, screen frames, hinges, vises, spoke 
shaves and pointers, jack screws, lawn mowers, iron sinks, and stable fixt- 
ures, etc. Of many of these goods and of others they are said to be the 
largest manufacturers in the world, and prominent among these articles are 
their parlor sliding door hangers, barn door hangers, barn door locks, door 
and window screen frames, adjustable stove-pipe thimbles, adjustable screw 
and door frame clamps, hollow augers, spoke shaves and pointers, cast-iron 
stable hay racks and feed boxes, saw vises, bench drills, lawn mowers, mal- 
lets, chisel handles, jack screws, etc. The plant now utilized in the manu- 
facture of their various hardware specialties consists of the main building 
252 X 60 feet and four stories high, the foundry and woodworking depart- 
ment 250 X 220, two-story japanning building 43 x 25, pattern building 40 x 
20, screen frame factory 104x60, and storehouse 31 X72 and others 
aggregating 166x35. The buildings are all of brick, well lighted, 
and conveniently arranged for manufacturing purposes. They are fitted 



648 Memorial Histouy of Syracuse. 

up with costly machinery, much of which has been designed and built by 
the firm for their special use, and all tools and appliances used in the man- 
ufacture of their various articles are the very best. The firm consists of 
Edward C. Stearns, Mrs. Avis S. Van Wagenen, and Herbert E. Maslin. 

Express Companies. — The express business owes its origin to William 
F. Harnden, who began it in 1839. In 1841 his agent at Albany, Henry 
Wells, organized with George Pomeroy and Crawford Livingston the firm 
of Pomeroy & Co., which operated between Albany and Buffalo once a 
week. Wells first carried his parcels in a carpet bag and paid his fare as a 
passenger. Two years later Livingston, Wells & Pomeroy assumed con- 
trol, and soon after Livingston, Wells & Co., who continued till 1S46, oper- 
ating over the N. Y. C. R. R. Wells & Co. was then organized, and in 
1849 Butterfield, Wasson & Co. began in opposition over the same road. 
The ne.xt year these two firms and Livingston & Fargo (who had operated 
west of Buffalo) consolidated as Wells, Butterfield & Co. and Livingston, 
Fargo & Co.. but comprised a joint stock concern under the style of the 
American Express Co., with Henry Wells as President and William G. 
Fargo (a native of this county) as Secretary. In 1854 the United States 
Express Co. was formed, but was immediately merged in the American, 
which was re-organized in i860. The office in this city was first located 
where the White Memorial Building now stands, and subsequently removed 
to its present location in the Kline Block. Alfred Higgins, the company's 
genial agent, assumed charge in 1857, and has since continued in that 
capacity. When he was appointed the business was conducted b}- four 
men and one horse; now thirty-four men and twenty-four horses are em- 
ployed. The present United States Express Co. dates from 1854. The 
next year it was operating over the D., L. and W. R. R., with Frederick 
Hall agent at Syracuse. In 1872 the D., L. and W. Express Co. suc- 
ceeded to the business over this line, and continued till 1886, when the 
United States Express Co. regained control. Smith P. Snider has been 
the efficient local manager for the two companies since 1872. Two or three 
men and a horse were first employed, against twelve men and nine horses 
at the present time. The National ICxpress Co. was organized in 1855, and 
since the completion of the West Shore Railroad has operated over that 
line. The present Syracuse agent is Edwin L. Gifford. 

The three express companies in Syracuse transact yearly a money and 
money order business aggregating hundreds of thousands of dollars, carry- 
ing vast sums almost any distance with absolute safety and at reasonable 
rates. Letters at one time formed the principal part of the express mes- 
senger's parcels, and the carrying of these resulted in cheaper postage and 
better postal facilities. 



Manukactuking Industkiks. 649 

Adam Nies came to Syracuse in 1 850 and opened a stonecutting yard 
in 1866 in the firm of Graff & Nies, wiiich was dissolved in 1874, and Mr. 
Nies has since remained alone. He works almost wholly in gray limestone. 
At different times he has employed from ten to seventy-five hands. lie 
supplied the stone work of some of the Cornell University buildings, one of 
the Hinghamtoxi banks, and other large structures. 

J. F. Pease Furnace Company. — This company was incorporated in April, 
18S3, with a capital stock of $30,000 and the following officers: President, 
Dennis M. Kennedy; Vice-President, John V . Pease; Secretary and Treas- 
urer, \\ K. West. The company commenced doing business at 63 West 
Water street. In 18S5 they moved to their present location in Willow 
street, next to the Oswego Canal bridge, where their factory is still located. 
In 1887 they built a foundry at the corner of Belden avenue and Sand 
street, where their castings are now made by the Economy Foundry Com- 
pany, to whom the foundry plant was rented by the J. F. Pease Furnace 
Company. There are employed at the factory in Willow street from sixty 
to eighty hands, with seven salesmen on the road ; ;;t the foundry are over 
100 hands. In April, 1889, the late President, Dennis M. Kennedy, died, and 
the present organization is as follows : President and Treasurer, P3. K. 
West; Vice-President, John F. Pease; Secretary, Samuel Stephens ; Assist- 
ant Treasurer, W. K. West; Assistant Secretary, E. C. Moses. This com- 
pany manufactures, in addition to the ordinary warm air heaters, specialties 
consisting of a steam and warm air combination heater and a hot water and 
warm air combination heater, their business having increased more than 
seven hundred per cent, within the last seven years, and their sales extend 
from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, We., and as far south as Texas. 

Pierce, Butler & Pierce Manufacturing Company. — This company was 
incorporated in 1876 with a capital stock of $200,000 and increased in 
1890 to $600,000, and is an outgrowth of the mercantile business established 
by Sylvester P. Pierce in the year 1839. The business of the company 
embraces the manufacture of steam heating apparatus, lead and block tin 
pipe, solder, and the very popular and celebrated Florida steam and hot 
water heaters. The four-story brick building 66 x 130 feet in Clinton 
street is occupied for the offices and wholesale department of the company. 
In the basement are located two large lead presses. Their large foundry 
and machine shops, used for the manufacturing of their Florida steam and 
hot water heaters, are located at Geneva, N. Y., on the line of the N. Y. 
C. R. R. The officers of the company are as follows : President, S. P. 
Pierce ; Vice-President and Treasurer, W. K. Pierce; Secretary, C. C. Jen- 
kins ; these with C. V. Kellogg and M. C. Pierce constitute the Board of 
Directors. The concern employs 225 hands and produces an output of 
$1,000,000 and over per annum. 82 



650 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Howard Furnace Company, doing business at 529 and 531 South Clinton 
street, manufactures the warm air furnaces and combination hot water and 
warm air heaters patented in 1887 by Charles D. Howard. The company 
was organized January i, 1888, with a capital of $30,000, which was increased 
to $50,000 in 1S89, and all paid in. The company is in a flourishing con- 
dition and its business is constantly increasing. It has thirty employees and 
five salesmen. Its business has increased over 200 per cent, since its organi- 
zation. The officers are E. M. Moore, President; J. H. Norton, Vice-Presi- 
dent; Fred H. Moore, Treasurer; G. H. Kennedy, Secretary; and Charles 
D. Howard, Superintendent of manufacture. 

The business of the Wells Manufacturing Company was started in a 
small way in 1884. It is confined strictly to the manufacture of articles 
covered by patents, and their sales are made chiefly to the drug, stationery, 
and book trades. By persistent efforts they have been able to make a mar- 
ket for their goods, not only throughout the United States, but in consid- 
erable quantities in foreign countries. The business has been one of steady 
growth, and they have at different times enlarged their facilities for manu- 
facturing. In 1890 they built and are now occupying a large and commo- 
dious factory in Tallman street. The establishment embraces a printing 
office, book bindery, woodworking department, machine shop, and sewing- 
machine room. Arthur J. Wells is the manager and the inventor of the 
specialties which they manufacture. They use steam-power and employ 
from thirty to forty hands. 

Tlic Globe Laundry, located at 232 North Salina street, was started in 
1884 by Henry Funda. In 1885 William Schillinger purchased the busi- 
ness, and two years later substituted steam-power for hand labor. He 
keeps two delivery wagons and employs twenty people. 

The New Process Raw Hide Company, with offices at No. 248 West 
Washington street, and works at Baldwinsville, N. Y., was organized June 
25, 1888, with a capital of $30,000, which has since been increased to $40,- 
000. This company manufactures raw hide by its patented process of curing, 
which removes all superfluous matter and retains only the actual fibre to 
the full extent of its strength, the product bearing the same relation to or- 
dinary raw hide that steel does to iron. From the hide so treated various 
articles are manufactured, the principal ones which the company itself pro- 
duces being raw hide bound mallets and chisel handles, warranted not to 
split, and noiseless solid raw hide gears. The gears are used on all high-speed 
machinery, are strictly noiseless, and outwear both steel and bronze. For 
electric railway cars they are particularly desirable, and many of the most 
prominent lines have adopted them to the exclusion of all other kinds. 
That they will in a short time entirely supercede the use of metal gears for 



Manufacturing Industries. 651 

this purpose, against the noise of which tiic public generally vigorously 
protests, seems to be a foregone conclusion. The officers of the New Pro- 
cess Raw Hide Company arc T. \V. Meatheni, President; Hon. W. B. Kirk, 
Vice-President ; A. C. Vosburgh, Secretary ; and J. C. Kenyon, Treasurer. 

The firm of Dickison & Allen was fornied in 1887, the individual mem- 
bers being William Dickison and PIrwin M. Allen. Both were experienced 
contractors and builders: Mr. Dickison in Oswego, whence he came to 
Syracuse, where he has been for the past twenty three years, and Mr. Allen 
in this city, where his father had long followed the business. They are 
large operators, having the present year contracts for the Masonic Home 
and .School in Utica and the Young Men's Christian Association Building 
in Montreal, Canada. Their office and extensive factory for woodwork of 
every description are located at 41 1 to 417 Canal street. The firm emjiloys 
from forty to fifty hands at home and from lOO to 150 abroad. Mr. Dicki- 
son was a captain in the late civil war, enlisting in a regiment from Oswego. 

The firm of Martin, Sprague & Co., general contractors, was formed in 
1888, and consists of Andrew Martin, W. G. Sprague, and Daniel Candee. 
In the years 1888 and 1889 they built the James street sewer from the West 
Shore Railroad to Dr. Wieting's east line, and the two-foot brick sewers in 
Laurel, Seward, Highland, and Graves streets, 5000 feet long. Among 
their subsequent contracts have been the grading and macadamizing of Wil- 
bur avenue, three-fourths of a mile ; grading Lincoln avenue, now South 
Onondaga street, from Delaware to Geddes streets; and constructing a five- 
foot sewer in Talman and Croton streets, three-fourths of a mile. In 1890 
the same parties, under the firm name of W. G. Sprague & Co., were 
awarded the contract to build a sewer in South Salina street, from Kennedy 
street to Brighton, a distance of 4,000 feet, which work is now in progress. 
They employ from twenty- five to fifty men. All the members of this firm 
have been old railroad contractors. 

Martin, Sullivan & Donovan, street and sewer contractors, have been 
in business since 1886. Mr. Donovan was admitted to partnership in 1801. 
They are agents for the Empire Portland Cement Company, formerly the 
firm of Millen & Sons, the factory being at Warners, N. Y. They employ 
from fifteen to twenty-five men, and have an office at 112 West Genesee 
street and a yard on the corner of Lodi and Ash streets. The individual 
partners are Andrew Martin, C. J. Sullivan, and D. Donovan, the first men- 
tioned being also a member of the firm of Martin, Sprague & Co. 

Ed. Byram, contractor and builder, has a large shop on the corner of 
Orange and Water streets, with a planing- mill and machinery for wood- 
work, including stair-building, furniture, water cisterns, and moldings. 
He is engaged largely in building blocks and dwellings, and employs an 



652 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

average of sixty men. Mr. Byram has lived in Syracuse and followed 
this business twenty-one years. He was born and raised near Culpepper 
Court House, Va., and witnessed the hanging of John Brown, at Charles- 
town, twenty-two miles from Harper's Ferry. In i860 he was a member 
of the 13th Regiment, Virginia militia, which was ordered there to guard 
the execution. There were 105 men in his company, and every one was a 
carpenter by trade, officers included. The next year he enlisted in General 
Lee's army, Company C, 7th Virginia, Picket's Division, and fought in all 
the noted battles in front of Richmond, including Antictam, Gettysburg, 
and Fredericksburg. Making up his mind the South would never win he 
deserted in February, 1865, at Bermuda Hundred, Va., and made his way 
to Washington, got work at his trade, and helped erect the grand stand 
from which the officers reviewed the great parade at the close of the war. 
He then returned to his native town, married, and came North, living two 
years in Chicago before coming to this city. When he came here he could 
not write his name. He lives in Danforth street, has ten children, and is 
prosperous. 

Amie Harnois came to Syracuse in 1862, and began his present business 
in 1865. His first contract was on the corner of Union avenue and Town- 
send street. That year he built sixteen houses. After that he erected the 
first house on Prospect Hill, the first on Liberty Hill, and the first in Ger- 
trude street. Mr. Harnois has instructed many people of his nationality in 
the carpenters' and builders' trade, and helped them to start for themselves. 
Perhaps no Frenchman has done more to assist his countrymen to their 
very creditable and prosperous condition in Syracuse than has Mr. Harnois. 
He is a Director in the Fourth Ward Railroad Co., a Trustee in the Builders' 
Exchange, and a Trustee in the Central City Land Company. Besides his 
contracts with others he builds a good many houses to sell and to rent ; he 
employs thirty people, and is an extensive owner and dealer in real estate. 
The Syracuse Malleable Iron Works. — The origin of this concern dates 
from 1S82, when it was started by Hon. Willis B. Burns, the present propri- 
etor. A. W. Dowsland is Superintendent. The premises are on the north 
side of the Erie Canal at North Geddes street. This is one of the great 
metal works of the United States. In it upwards of 225 workmen are em- 
ployed in conducting the various operations incident to the production of 
every variety of malleable casting. The foundry, 100 x 200 feet in dimen- 
sions, is supplied with open hearth furnaces in which the iron is melted, and 
by the use of which direct radiation from the flame is derived. In this way 
a pure quality of casting is produced, as the metal is not contaminated with 
sulphur. The main building, which is 60 x 235 feet in size, is de\oted to 
the operations of annealing, tempering, pattern-making, trimming, etc. 



Manufacturing Industries. 653 

The motive power is supplied by a 6o-horse-po\ver Straight Line I'^n- 
gine and an Abcndrotli & Root lOO-horse- power boiler. Connected with 
the works are three large coal sheds and a spacious horse stable. The mate- 
rials received include anthracite and bituminous coal, fire sand, molding 
smd, luting clay, fire brick, etc. The castings made here vary from one- 
half pound to 300 pounds in weight. The works consume about 3,000 tons 
of coal and 15,000 fire brick annually. 

Fricdcl &" S>v//f in 1 8S4 succeeded Jacob Listman in the manufacture of 
paper bo.xes at their present location, 408 Clinton street, and 1 i i and 1 13 
Walton street. At first they employed about thirty hands. Their business 
has increased until now they employ fifty hands. They have made a sjje- 
cialty of sample cases for candy, ami their goods are sold in all parts of the 
surrounding country. 

T/tc Palace Steam Laundry, at 329 Warren street, was started by Ar- 
thur B. Russell and Edward A. Hunt in 188S, who have .some forty branch 
offices in Syracuse and adjacent cities and villages. They run three deliv- 
ery wagons, and give employment to fifty people. 

The Syracuse Tube Works. — In the year 1881 a number of Sjracuse 
men organized the Syracuse Iron and Tube Compan\^ and a comparatively 
small plant was established on the block bounded by Pine, Beech, Wash- 
ington, and Water streets. N. R. Ryder was President. After an existence 
of less than two years the entire establishment was disposed of and a new 
company, called the Syracuse Tube Company, which included most of the 
old shareholders, was organized, with James Morrison as President, and 
with a capital of $100,000, which has since been increased to $180,000. 
Manufacturing was begun on an extensive scale, the product being wrought- 
iron pipe and boiler tubes. Specialties are high grade boiler tubes for loco- 
motives and stationary boilers. About fifty men were at first emploj'ed, 
which number has increased to nearly four hundred, and extensive addi- 
tions have been made to the plant, until it is at the present time one of the 
leading industries of Syracuse. The officers are: James Morrison, Presi- 
dent; W. 11. Niven, Vice-President; George Timmins, General Manager; 
George B. Leonard, Treasurer ; J. M. Colwell, Secretary ; A. Telfcr, Super- 
intendent. This Board has held the offices from the beginning. The office 
is located at 13 17 East Washington street. 

The Syracuse Stove Works was incorporated July 13, 1888 ; capital, 
$150,000 The plant is located on the north bank of the Erie Canal, east 
of North Geddes street. The officers of the company are J. M. I^aton, 
President; Frederick J. Fincke, Vice President ; Nicholas Devereiix, Sec- 
retary ; Francis Kernan, jr., Treasurer. The word " Welcome" lias been 
adopted and is widely known as the trade mark for their goods. They 



654 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



manufacture a complete line of stoves and ranges, employ about one hun- 
dred men, and melt from ten to twelve tons of iron per day. 

Alfred Tily. — Mr. Tily has the longest business record of any one in his 
line in Syracuse who is still in the trade. He learned liis trade by a 
thorough British apprenticeship in Hampshire, England, and came to Syra- 
cuse in 1854. In 1857 he opened a store at No. 75 East Genesee street. 
At that time the only man in the plumbing business in Syracuse was 
George Gratton. Two years later F. E. Carroll, afterwards Mayor of the 
city, became a partner with Mr. Gratton. In 1861 Mr. Tily removed to 
his present location (then No. 89) 333 East Genesee street, which he leased 
of Richard Paine. In 1865 he purchased the property for $5,500, embracing 
a lot running through to Washington street 20 x 127 feet. There was then 
no building on the railroad street side. During the past thirty years ]\Ir. 
Tily has employed from five to forty men, and has made an honorable busi- 
ness record. 

Edward Joy has had an extensive experience of twenty-si.x years in the 
steam heatuig and plumbing business in Syracuse. His establishment has 
been located since 1865 at the corner of East Washington and Market 
streets, and his business has so increased that he now occupies four stores 
on the ground floor. Among the prominent buildings and residences which 
Mr. Joy has furnished with steam heating and ijlumbing are the new Kirk 
Block, I'^lorence Flats, Church of Assumption School, the new House of 
Providence, new City Hall, the residences of Congressman J. J. Belden, 
Senator Frank Hiscock, Senator Francis Hendricks, Judge Wallace, Judge 
Ruger, George Barnes, and the Solvay Process Company's new oftlce, be- 
sides a number of fine residences in Cazenovia and Oneida. 

R. C. McClure began his plumbing business in South Clinton street in 
1879. In 1 891 he put up the five-story brick building now occupied by 
him, which is 133 x 40 feet, at a cost of $25,000. He gives employment to 
fifteen men. 

Charles G. Hanchett began plumbing and heating at No. 13 West Wash- 
ington street in 1S81, and occupied his present location. No. 351 South Sa- 
lina street, in 1887. He employs twenty men, and put the plumbing and 
heating in the Snow Building, the Syracuse Savings Bank, the Crouse Sta- 
bles, the Orphan Asylum, and many of the finest residences. 

Fraiuis Bauvier. — Many residents of Syracuse will learn here for the 
first time that the largest manufactory of wa.x candles in the United States 
is located in their midst. Francis Baumer's candles have acquired a repu- 
tation which has enabled the manufacturer to assume the leading position 
in that trade. Mr. Baumer and Hugo Moosbrugger began making wax 
candles in 1871. In 1880 Mr. Moosbrugger withdrew from the firm and 



Manufactukinh; Industries. 655 



Mr. Bamuer has since remained alone. The business was small at the first, 
employing tiirce workmen, but persistence in manufacturing only the best 
of goods and gro.it improvements in processes made by him soon greatly 
increased the business. The sales extend throughout the United States 
and Canada, and a business has been built up which has grown from year to 
year and now employs nearly sixty workmen. The wax candles from this 
manufactory are made of the best refined beeswax, and vary in weight from 
one-quarter of an ounce to thirty pounds and even larger. Many of the 
candles; especially those for the first communion and Easter services, are 
elegantly decorated, fine artists being constantly employed in this work. 
The manufacture of parlor candles is also carried on extensively. About 
400,000 pounds of beeswax candles and 300,000 pounds of stearic acid and 
paraffinc candles are turned out annually. The refining and bleaching of 
the great quantity of wax is done in Pond street, where the plant covers 
an entire block. The factory proper is a large brick building in Alvord 
street. Mr. Haumcr was born in Bavaria and came to Syracuse in 1848. 
He has won a reputation as an honorable and useful citizen, and his manu- 
factory is one of the representative succossfiil establishments of this city. 

Eckerman & Will. — From an insignificant beginning this industry has 
developed with the growth of the city, and with the increased demands 
made upon it through the general growth and prosperity of the country. 
It has become not only one of the important industries of Syracuse, employ- 
ing as it docs about sixty hands, but has helped to give the city of Syracuse 
a national rei)utalion in this peculiar branch of industr\-. The pioneer in 
this business, not only locally, but in the United States, was Anthony Will, 
who emigrated from Wurtemberg in 1855. lie had .served his apprentice- 
ship in Bavaria in the days when the " Wanderbursche" was wont to carry 
his bundle upon a slick over his shoulder, and trudge from town to town 
to serve an apprenticeship with each "Meister." Arriving in America, and 
being unable to find employment at his trade, he began by working a few 
months at the carpenter trade, ilevoting spare hours to producing the first 
wax products by preparing and melting his small stock of material upon a 
cook stove. From this small beginning the facilities were steadily increasetl, 
enabling him to produce better goods and at a lower price than the im- 
imported article; for at this time all of this class of goods were imported 
from Italy and Germany, making them so expensive that the demand was 
limited. When it is understood that in those da)s there was a lack of 
proper tools to work with, the few samples of his work, which are still pre- 
served, bear evidence of skill and taste Framed pieces entirely of beeswax, 
representing the Singers' Wreath and Book, are still upon the walls at the 
Liederkranz rooms, and though made over thirty years ago are well pre- 



656 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



served specimens of the art. Mr. Will may justly be styled "the father of 
the wa.K business" in this country. After his death, which occurred in 1865, 
the business was continued for a time bj- his widow, under the style of Eck- 
erman & Will, and more recently bj' his sons, the present members of the 
firm being Louis and Albert Will. lilnergy and enterprise have character- 
ized their management, and the business has had a steady and healthy 
growth. They have branch offices at New York and San Francisco. The 
increase and prosperity of the business soon induced competition, and now 
there are five firms engaged in this industry in Syracuse, employing an ag- 
gregate capital of about $300,000 Characteristic of all American enter- 
prises, the scope of the product has been materially enlarged, embracing 
almost everything produced in the line ol wax and its by-products. These 
include beeswax and stearine candles, plain and decorated for Catholic and 
Episcopal Church use, bleached white an'^. refined yellow beeswax for 
chemical and pharmaceutical purposes, wa.x tapers and fancy candles in 
colors, and elegant decorations for drawing-rooms and evening parties. 
The little toy candle that illuminates the Christmas tree to the delight of the 
little folks is also an impiirtant product, while the " house for the little busy 
bee" is now prodticed in the shape of artificial hone\comb, thus saving the 
labor of house building, and increasing the honey product correspondingly. 
Steam-power is employed in melting and refining the various grades of wax, 
and special machinery, gotten up in the course of many years of labor and 
experiment, has supplanted hand labor to a large extent. 

Moosbnigger Caudle Co. — When the partnership between Francis Ikui- 
mer and Hugo Moosbrugger was dissolved, in 1880, the latter continued the 
business until his death in 18S9, under his own name. Since March, 1890, 
the firm of Moosbrugger Candle Co., comprising E. Moosbrugger, Frank A. 
Ranch, and J Hisley, jr., has carried on the c.iiulle business at the corner 
of Pond and Carbon streets. They turn out a full line of decorated wax 
candles and church and parlor candles. From eight to twelve persons are 
emi)l(iyed. 

r/w Canning Industrv. — This industry in Syracuse is an important one, 
j)articularlv from the unique character of some of its products, and there 
are several establishments that rank high among the prominent ones of tiie 
country, and whose goods find a market in many of the States. One of the 
earliest firms to engage in the business here was that of Loomis, Allen & 
Co., which was composed of C. C. Loomis, George R. Allen, and W. B. 
Ostrander. They began canning tomatoes and corn in 1867, in Willow 
street, where the Pease Furnace Company is now located. In 1875 the 
business was removed to Cicero, where its facilities and product were en- 
larged. In 1878 H. H. Loomis and A. J. Loomis purcliased the interests 



Manufactukin(; Industries. 657 



of C. C. Loomis and W. B. Ostrander, and in 1883 a branch was established 
in the First ward, in which Russell Z. Sadler became, and still is, a partner. 
Mr. Sadler was Supervisor of the First ward in 1887, '88, and '89. This in- 
dustry has grown to large proportions. In a single year they have used 
the product of a thousand acres of sweet corn, filling 750,000 cans, which 
they also manufiicturcd. During the active season 300 operatives are em- 
ployed, and the annual production has a value of $75,000. 

In the spring of 1869 Oscar F. Soule and G. Lewis Merrell formed a 
partnership for canning purposes, locating opposite where they now are, in 
West Fayette street. The product of the first season amounted to only 
about $12,000 in value. In the following year they purchased a site on the 
corner of Marcellus and West streets, where they remained with a gradu- 
ally increasing business until 1881. Needing more room at that time they 
purchased their present quarters, comprising 114 feet frontage on the north 
side of West Fayette street, and bounded on the west by the creek and on 
the north by the Central Railroad depot. Two years later Frank C. Soule 
became a partner in the firm, and in order to accommodate their greatly in- 
creased corn canning business the firm established a factory at Chittenango, 
on the Erie Canal. There the product of from 1,200 to 1,500 acres of land 
is packed every season, equalling an average of as many hundred thousand 
cans. Their well known trade mark of Captain George, of the Onondagas, 
is seen in all parts of the country, and is recognized as a guarantee of ex- 
cellence. They also export largely. In 1873 the firm developed new pro- 
cesses in the canning of corn and secured valuable patents on the machinery 
invented for the purpose. The manufacture and sale of this machinery has 
grown into a prominent part of their business, particularly in the Western 
States, where most of the canneries work under their processes. In 1885 
they began in a small way the manufacture of condensed mince meat, which 
has now developed into the largest part of their business, averaging a large 
number of tons daily in the two- pie package form for family use. 

The South Syracuse Canniiie Company, located at 230 Brigliton avenue, 
was organized March i, 1883. During the season from 100 to 125 people 
are employed, and the annual sales amount to from $5,000 to $25,000. 
The President of the company is John A. Webster, the Superintendent is 
William Cannon, and the Secretary and Treasurer is S. Beeman. 

Louis Windholz, for the past twenty years a citizen of Syracuse, in 1888 
bought land and built a factory 132x48 at 610 Cortland avenue, and 
began canning corn and tomatoes. His yearly production averages 350,- 
000 cans. In the spring of 1 891 he added the manufacture of malt, wine, 
and cider vinegar, making twenty-five barrels per day. During the busy 
season 200 people are employed and the yearly sales amount to $30,000. 
83 



658 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Mr. Windholz is caterer at the State Camp of Military Instruction at 
Peek-skill. 

Shirtmakers. — Shirt manufacture in Syracuse has had a checkered ex- 
perience. Ten or twelve years ago it was on a flood-tide of prosperity, 
with two large factories running at full capacity and employing perhaps 400 
hands. Good prices for the manufactured goods prevailed, and the oper- 
atives made good wages. Sharp competition came from other cities, 
especially from Troy, where makers sold shirts at nearly cost for the sake 
of introducing collars and cuffs at a good margin of profit. Later still the 
Jewish manufacturers of New York city came into the field, and now con- 
trol the larger share of the trade in the cheap grades of cotton shirts and in 
flannel shirts. All this applies to what are known as stock shirts — the com- 
paratively low priced goods sold by dry goods dealers, lii the better grades 
of custom-made shirts the dozen or more makers in Syracuse have built up 
a good trade, which they are steadily increasing. They are, however, two 
or three makers of stock goods here who, in spite of the fierce competition, 
are securing large sales. One of these, C. A. Tiffany, has a factory in the 
Industrial Building, which he opened two years ago with a small capital and 
four hands. He now employs fifty hands and his sales last year reached 
$35,000. He manufactures all grades and colors of stock goods as well as 
custom shirts and overalls and jackets. The number of persons employed 
in the industry in Syracuse will approximate 300 and the value of the 
product $200,000 annually. 

Cooperage. — Early in the history of Syracuse the cooper's trade assumed 
a prominent place on account of the heavy demands of the salt industry. 
The manufacture of the barrels necessary for the enormous product of the 
salt springs has been vividlj' de.scribed in the chapter of this work on that 
industry, written by the Hon. Thomas G. Alvord. The decline of the salt 
business in recent years has dwarfed the business of the coopers hereabouts 
to a minor industry, which has been counteracted only in a small degree 
by the demands of the brewers. Twenty years ago there were about fifty 
shops in the city, which gave employment to 400 men. Now there are eleven 
shops, employing approximately fifty men. Five of these are in the I'^irst 
ward, four in the Second, and one each in the Fifth and Tenth wards. 
Four of these shops make tight- work for the brewers, a branch of the in- 
dustry that employs about thirty men, and five shops are suflicient to sup- 
ply the demand for salt barrels, as far as the city is concerned. Charles G. 
Haendle & Co. began in the business in Basin street about twenty five 
years ago. They now make 50,000 slack- work barrels and kegs, 2,000 
beer kegs, and 1,000 pork barrels per year. It is the only shop in the city 
where all kinds of work are done, and employs from ten to fifteen men In 
1890 Mr. Haendle took his son, Henry, into partnership. 



Manufacturing Industries. 659 



Charles Schug & Son. — Charles Schug came from Germany to Syracuse 
in 1853 and learned the cooper's trade at slack-work in 1862 of Henry 
Goettel, and in 1866 the tight- work portion of the business of Jacob 
Schwcizer. In 187 1 he opened a shop in Lotli street for tight- work, and in 
1883 removed to Basin street. Mr. Schug has three sons, Charles, William, 
and Louis, all of whom work in his shop, and William is a member of the 
firm. They now make flour barrels for Jacob Amos, plaster barrels for the 
Adamant Company, besides 27,000 salt barrels, 5,000 lime barrels for A. E. 
Alvord, and 1,200 pork barrels, making a product in 1890 of over 60,000 
barrels, and giving employment to from ten to fifteen men. 

James Westfall arrived in Syracuse from Schenectady on the memorable 
day of the Jerry Rescue, and rented a cooper shop in Deacon Spencer's 
building, in Fulton street, where he made salt barrels for seven years, when 
he removed to Geddes. There he made flour barrels for J. W. Barker, be- 
sides supplying the Ashton and the New York State Salt Companies with 
barrels. Seven years ago Mr. Westfall contracted with the Solvay Com- 
pany to supply all of their barrels and kegs, which he has since continued 
to do, turning out about 600 per day, all hand-made. In one year the num- 
ber reached the enormous figure of 250,000 barrels and kegs. During the 
seven years a little over 700,000 have been made by him. He keeps 
twenty-five men employed, and gets his stock chiefly from Canada and 
Michigan. 

Edward D. Atherton, manufacturer of salt, flour, and fruit barrels, and 
dealer in wood, came to Syracuse in 1869 and worked at his trade as a 
cooper two years for Jacob Fellows in Carbon street. He then began the 
business alone in Wolf street, and was afterward, until 1880, in Center street, 
when he removed to Geddes, foot of Emerson avenue, his present location. 
Since that time he has been the largest producer of salt barrels in Syracuse. 
The first year in Salina he made 25,000 salt barrels, and one year 50,000. 
During the past ten years his least annual production has been 100,000 bar- 
rels, and his greatest 175,000. His wood yard is supplied from timberland 
which he owns on Oneida Lake, and brings here by boat. He employs 
constantly twenty- five men. Mr. Atherton represented his ward on the 
Board of Supervisors three successive years, 1887-89. 

L. Burkhard is a tight-work cooper at No. 205 Basin street, where he 
has made from io,coo to I2,000 barrels, hogsheads, tubs, and kegs for beer 
and liquors per year since 1884, employing fifteen men. 

David A. Powers began making salt barrels at the corner of Lodi and 
Wolf streets in 1862, and has turned out from 25,000 to 50,000 per year 
since that time. He emplo\s from five to ten men. 

Willoiu Baskets. — Two-thirds of the willow baskets used in the United 



66o Memorial History of Syracuse. 

States are made in Onondaga county, and the industry is so closely identi- 
fied with Syracuse that it deserves mention here. The baskets are made 
v/holly by hand labor and their manufacture gives employment to about 300 
families, of wliich number forty families live in the city and the remainder 
in the vicinity of Liverpool. The industry was started in the early days of 
the war period, when a few German salt boilers took it up for winter occu- 
pation, and others rapidly followed. The baskets were then peddled around 
the country by the wives of the makers. In 1864 Henry Lacy, now Cashier 
of the Third National Bank, but then in business at Liverpool, began ship- 
ping baskets to other localities. In 1868 he sold out to Francis Alvord, 
who merged the business with what was known as the American Peat Com- 
pany. This companj' engaged in willow cultivation on an extensive scale; 
but for some reason the company failed, and was succeeded by William 
Gleason, who is now the principal shipper at Liverpool. Two years ago the 
baskctmakers of that section formed a syndicate and employed Mr. Gleason 
to manage the sale of the product, and he still acts in that capacity. 

In 1882 Hoyt H. Freeman and Henry L. Loomis formed a partnership 
as dealers and shippers in willow baskets, and in one season this firm alone 
shipped as high as 18,000 dozen throughout the country from Maine to 
California. 

To supply the workman in this industry with material requires 3,000 
tons of willows annually, for the production of which 7,000 acres must be 
kept under cultivation. The annual production has now reached 40,000 
dozen, which brings an income of about $150,000. 

The only other manufacturer of baskets in Syracuse of much impor- 
tance is L. L. Thurwachter, whose salesroom is in West Fayette street. 
He shares the monopoly of the industry with those before mentioned, hav- 
ing begun it in 1868. 

Hides and Leather. — In the very early history of Syracuse there was a 
small tannery located on Onondaga Creek, near where Water street now 
crosses it; but the first one of much importance and permanency was estab- 
lished in Water street near Grape, by the late H. W. Van Ruren, in the 
year 1825. He carried on his business there with success until about 1858, 
when he removed it to a building which stood on the site of the present 
new R., W. & O. freight depot. Many j-cars ago he opened his leather 
store in Hanover Square, where the trade was successfullj' conducted for 
many years. Mr. Van Huren died in 1887, and a j'ear later the tannery 
was closed. 

In 1856 Joseph l^'alker began a trade in both hides and leather in 
Water street near Warren. In 1864 his son, August, acquired an interest 
in the business, and upon his father's death in February, 1889, became sole 



Manukactuking Industriks. 66i 



owner. The establishment has always done a lar^'c business, but it has been 
exclusive of tanning. Mr. h'alker is now the only person in the city who 
handles both hides and leather. 

Jacob Marshall began purchasing and selling hides and pelts in 1853, 
at ills residence, No. 222 Cedar street, using his barn for a storehouse. In 
1880 he took in his son under the firm name of Jacob Marshall & Son, and 
in 1883, the business demanding larger accommodations, it was removed to 
Nos. 126-128 James street. To provide still larger facilities the firm has 
recently purchased the building in North Salina street formerly used by 
McKinstry & Son, as a soap and candle factory, and a four-story structure 
will soon be erected there. The firm handles wool in addition to their hide 
traffic, and their stock comes from New York and adjacent States. 

In the year 1866 August Finck began tanning on a small scale in ICast 
Division street, where he continued for twenty years, but was compelled 
to give it up on account of the difliculty in obtaining bark. In 1886 he 
bought the stores at No. 650 and 652 North Salina street, and is carrying 
on a successful business, dealing in leather and finding.s, shoe store supplies, 
cut soles, etc. 

Although the leather trade is not one of the more prominent industries 
of Syracuse, there is still a large capital invested in it, in its various lines, 
and it adds materially to the wealth of the place. 

The Shnmous Hamc Coinpauy. — This firm comprises J. F. Cockings 
and W. II. Simmons, and the works are located at 2005 Park street. The 
ompany was established in 1890. The sales of tlieir specially manufact- 
ured wares have met with a very large demand, and have exceeded the pres- 
ent capacity of their factory. They employ fifteen men and their goods 
are sold mostly in the West. 

The Solvay Process Company. — This is probably the leading manufactur- 
ing industry of Syracuse in point of magnitude and importance. The com- 
pany was incorporated in 1881, with a capital of $300,000, which from time 
to time has been increased until it now is $1,500,000. The first ofiicers were: 
President, Rowland Hazard; Secretary, O. V. Tracy ; Treasurer and Gen- 
eral Manager, William B. Cogswell; Directors, Rowland Hazard, William R 
Cogswell, William A. Sweet, G. E. Dana. E. B. Alvord. The products of the 
works are soda-ash, caustic soda, and bicarbonate of soda. The manufactory 
is located in Geddes on the line of the Erie Canal and the N. Y. C. & H. R. 
Railroad, and covers fifty-five acres of ground. In the year 1882 sixty men 
were employed, and the number has now reached 1,500. The greater 
share of this success is due to W. B. C"gswell. The present officers of the 
company areas follows: President, R. flazard; General Manager, W. B. 
Cogswell; Treasurer, F. R. Hazard ; Secretary, O. V. Tracy; Directors, R. 



662 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Hazard, W. B. Cogswell, George E. Dana, R. G. Hazard, W. A. Sweet, and 
F. R. Hazard. 

The Split Rock Cable Road Company was organized in June, 1 888. The 
first officers were John L. King, President ; O. V. Tracy, Secretary; Will- 
iam B. Cogswell, General Manager ; and F. R. Hazard, Treasurer. The 
Directors were John L King, Edward N. Truni]:), and R. G. Hazard. The 
object of this com|)any was to build an elevated cable tramway of the sys- 
tem patented by Adolph Bleichert, of LeipsTg, Germany, for the transpor- 
tation of limestone from Split Rock quarries to the Solvay Process Works, 
for their use and for other purposes. The distance is about three and one- 
fourth miles, and the capacity of the line is 750 tons of limestone per 
twenty- four hours. This line has been in active operation since May, 1889, 
and the quantity of limestone already transported amounts to more than 
200,000 tons. The present officers of the company are those originally 
chosen. 

The Tully Pipe Line Company was organized in April, 1889, with the 
following officers : President and General Manager, William B. Cogswell ; 
Secretary, John L. King ; Treasurer, F. R. Hazard ; Directors, William B. 
Cogswell, George E. Dana, O. V. Tracy, Edward N. Trump, John L. King, 
R. G. Hazard, and F. R. Hazard. The object of this company was to 
bring doun saturated brine from the newly-discovered salt fields at Tully 
to Syracuse foi the use of the salt manufacturers and other industries in 
this city. The plant of the company consists of a twelve-inch main extend- 
ing from the brine wells at Tully to the large reservoir near the works of the 
Solvay Process Company, and includes this reservoir, which has a capacity 
of 5,000,000 gallons, and a smaller one in the town of Cardiff, which will 
hold 1,000,000 gallons. The distance is about twentj'-two miles. Work- 
was begun in May, 1889, and the pipe line was complete and in operation 
in November of the same year. Since that time this pipe has delivered 
daily a very large quantity of brine. The full capacity would furnish brine 
sufficient to produce 15,000,000 bushels of salt per year. The present offi- 
cers and Directors of the company are those originally chosen. 

Onondaga Pottery Company. — This company was incorporated on the 
20th of July, 1871, with a capital of $50,000, and the following officers: 
President, N. S. Gere; Vice-President, C. D. Avery; Secretary and Treas- 
urer, Mills P. Pharis, who with C. E. Hubbell, A. C. Morey, !•:. B. Van Du- 
sen, R. N. Gere, G. W. Draper, and Charles Mitchell were the first Direc- 
tors. The works were begun in what was then Furnace street, near the 
present site in the Tenth ward, and employed about fifty hands. The 
buildings were burned in 1884; but new buildings had been erected in 
1 88 1, on the corner of Fayette and School streets, which comprise three 



Manufacturing Industries. 663 

structures four stories high, and two whicli are two stories. About 200 op- 
eratives are now empIoyeJ, and tiie protiuct consists of china and ironstone 
china dinner and toilet ware, plain and decorated. riic present officers of 
the company are : President, Mills P. I'haris ; Vice-President, E. B. Jud- 
son, jr.; Secretary, C. D. Avery; Treasurer, M. P. Pilaris; General Mana- 
ger, F. F. Alexander. The Directors include the above and Charles E. 
Hubbell, Charles R. Hubbell, Giles liverson, and Jacob Crouse. 

Central City Pipe Works. — The manufacture of cement tile and sewer 
pipe was commenced in this city by George and Thomas G. Bassett in 1864. 
Their works were in East Water street, in what was long known as tlie "Old 
Barrel Factory." Here tiiey remained but a short time. As their business 
increased they were obliged to remove for want of room to the corner of 
Harrison street and Renwick avenue, where they did an immense business 
for one so young. They used only Rosendale cement and Onondaga gravel, 
but did excellent work, much of which still attests their honesty in the selec- 
tion of materials and skill in manipulation. About 1872 the plant and 
good will were purchased by M. G. P'ield & Company, who removed it to 
South avenue, where it continued with varying success till 1879, when it 
was purchased by Mansfield J. French, who has continued the works till 
date. On the accession of Mr. French he commenced the use of Portland 
cement, believing it to be in most cases far superior to any other, either natu- 
ral or compounded. He employs more than a dozen men, and uses over 
2,500 barrels of cement annually and produces $35,000 worth of manufac- 
tured goods. There are many miles of sewer in the streets of the city, vary- 
ing in size from three feet in diameter to less than one foot, and thousands 
of feet of side drains of smaller dimensions, of his manufacture. These 
sewers, of tliis material, when well laid, have given general satisfaction. 

Lcfevcr Arms Covipauy. — Among the inventors who have become cele- 
brated in connection with impiovements in firearms is D. M. Lefever, of 
Syracuse. This companj- was organized in 1884 for the manufacture of 
fine guns under the patents of Mr. Lefever, who had carried on the busi- 
ness since 1867. The works are located in Maltbie and North Clark 
streets. The buildings have 140 feet front in Maltbie street, and are forty- 
five feet deep and three stories high. Beginning with twenty-five men the 
business has been so successful that 100 are now employed, and the capacity 
of the works has been doubled. The guns made by this concern have a 
deservedly high reputation throu5,hout the country. The officers of the 
company are as follows: President, A. A. Mowlett ; Treasurer and Mana- 
ger, J. F. Durston; Superintendent, U. M. Lefever. 

Adamant Manufactiiriui:; Covipauy. — This is a manufacturing enterprise 
peculiar to and originating in Syracuse. The company was organized in 



664 Memorial Historv ok Syracuse. 

January, 1887, with a capital stock of $1 50,000. The company began bus- 
iness in a small way in the old match factory building in East Water street. 
Much of the work was done by hand, and the little machinery was crude 
and insufficient to meet the rapidly increasing demand. Machinery had to 
be invented and adapted to this special work, and much time and money 
were spent in working out the problem how to produce adamant rapidly 
and cheaply. Early in 1888 buildings were erected in the eastern part of the 
city, on the canal at the foot of Teall avenue. These consisted of a mixing 
station 1 20 X 80 feet, two stories high ; a chemical building 40 x 80 feet; and 
a boiler-house. The office is at 309 East Genesee street. A fire in Octo- 
ber, 1888, destroyed the chemical building and damaged the others. New 
and better buildings were at once erected, and the plant now covers over 
an acre of ground. Tiiis is the parent company. It owns numerous pat- 
ents and issues rights to other parties to mix and sell, while it retains the 
right to manufacture the chemical which forms the basis of the plaster, and 
which is furnished to its licensees at a guaranteed price. There are now 
over thirty companies operating under the several patents in the United 
States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. The Adamant wall plaster has 
been thoroughly tested in hundreds of prominent buildings, and fully 
proven its great superiority. The officers of the company are as follows: 

E. W. Parmelee, President; W. E. Abbott, Vice-President ; C. T. Brockway, 
Treasurer and New York State Manager; W. E. Hopkins, Manager chemi- 
cal department ; S S. Ruston, Secretary. The Trustees are E. \V. Parnie- 
lee, W. E. Abbott, VV. E. Hopkins, C T. Brockwaj', S. S. Ruston, George 

F. Hine, and George West. 

The Paragon Plaster Company. — This company was organized June 22, 
1888, with a capital of $30,000, which was increased to $75,000 in 1889. 
The first officers were Jacob Amos, President; W. K. Niver, Vice-Presi- 
dent ; A. E. Nettleton, Treasurer; George C. Cook, Secretary. The mills 
are situated at West Fayette and Magnolia streets and the Erie Canal in the 
Ninth ward. About twenty men are emplojed. The product is a pat- 
ented wall plaster which is a valuable substitute for the old-fashioned lime 
and hair mortar. The company owns the patent for the United States, and 
is the parent organization. The office is at 209 Warren street, and the 
present officers are Jacob Amos, President; W. K. Niver, Vice-President; 
Ira O. Goodrich, Secretary ; Lucius Moses, Treasurer. 

Syracuse Glass Company. — This company was organized in 1863 with 
a capital of $60,000 The jjlant is located in East Water and East Wash- 
ington streets, and the office is at 1016 East Water street. The entire 
plant covers an area 300 x 160 feet. There are three furnaces and twenty- 
four pots in operation, producing about 9,000 boxes of glass monthly, and 



Maxufactuking Industries. 665 

giving employment to about 120 operatives. All kinds of crystal, window, 
picture, and car glass arc manufactured. In addition to the establishment 
in the streets named above the company occupies a three-story building on 
the corner of East Water street and Crouse avenue, which is used for stor- 
age. The present officers of the company are E. B. Judson, President ; 
Jacob Crouse, Vice-President; J. G. Wynkoop, Treasurer; F. VV. Bennett, 
General Manager. The first three, with Charles J. Glass, E. R. Plumb, 
W. E. Abbott, and E. B. Judson, jr., constitute the Board of Directors. 

H. Finn cV Sons. — The manufacturing of soap and candles has been 
carried on in Syracuse for more than fifty years, but has never attained 
great magnitude as it has in many cities. The late Alexander McKinstry 
carried on the business here for many years and made it successful. His 
factory was near the Oswego Canal bridge in Salina street. H. Finn came 
to Syracuse, May i, 1838, and was employed in the soap factories of A. 
McKinstry, McKinstry & Dunham, Oliver Orcutt, and Orcutt & Bcardsly. 
He began making soap in 1859 on the north side of the canal, in what is now 
the West Shore Railroad freight house. When the railroad was built in 
1883 the business was removed to its present quarters in East Water street, 
where ten men are employed. G. M. and A. G. Finn, sons of the founder 
of the business, were taken in as partners in 1872. The present factory is 
50 X 80 feet and three stories high. The special article made now is the 
Salt City soap. 

American Bleach and Chemical Company (successors to the Eureka 
Chemical Company). — The Eureka Chemical Company was organized in 
1884, with a capital stock of $25,000; this was increased in 1885 to $200,000. 
The officers were A. E. Dewey, President; G. S. Farmer, M.D., Vice-Pres- 
ident ; H. C. Townley, Secretary ; and L. F. Phillips, Treasurer. These 
officers were all of Watertown, N Y., and with F. A. Fletcher, Iliram Cop- 
ley, Charles H. Remington, E. II. Thompson, and A. E. Nettleton con- 
stituted the Board of Directors. The buildings were located on the R., W. 
& O. Railroad, near Marsh street, and consisted of a sulphate of soda building 
40 .\ 93 feet, a condensing building 20x98 feet, and the "still" house 
40 X 90 feet. In 1885 was added a sulphuric acid and bleach i)lant 
82 X 334 feet, also a building for packing and drying 40 x 76 feet, and an 
engine-house and machine shop 28x52 feet. The bleach chambers and lime- 
dressing plant are in another building 36x275 feet, while the olilice and 
laboratory are in still another structure. There were employed at first 
about thirty men. In the spring of 1887, on account of the sulphate ma- 
chinery giving out and the plant needing repairs and improvements, the 
works were shut down. On the first of April, 1890, they were leased to 
the American Bleach and Chemical Company. 

84 



666 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

The Eureka Company had in view the manufacture of bleaching powder 
(chloride of lime) for general bleaching purposes. There were imported last 
year 6o,000 tons, while none was made in this country; but the development 
of such an enterprise, where perfection of detail is not fully understood, is al- 
ways a work of time and sometimes of disappointment. While the works 
of this company were shut down they perfected a new process for manu- 
facturing bleaching powder, upon which patents were secured in America, 
England, and Canada. Where the old process required three tons of salt 
to produce one ton of the powder the new process produced a ton of thirty- 
eight per cent, powder from a ton of salt, while all of the raw material used 
is reclaimed and again used, except hydrochloric acid, which is converted 
into chlorine, and this into bleaching powder proper. The making of these 
experiments demonstrated the need of greater capital, which led to the leas- 
ing of the works to the American Bleach and Chemical Company on the 1st 
of April, 1890. The capital stock of this company is $25,000, and the 
works have been placed in order and are in operation. It is intended to 
produce sulphuric acid, chloride of lime, bleaching liquor, muriatic acid, 
sulphate of iron, sulphate of soda, etc. The officers of the company are 
H. H. Loomis, President ; James Van Vleck, Vice-President ; T. J. Brower, 
Treasurer ; A. Achilles, Secretary ; and A. E. Dewey and A. H. Sawyer, 
of Watertown, T. J. Brower and W. S. Firman, of Rochester, and John N. 
Babcock, James Van Vleck, and H. H. Loomis, of Syracuse, Trustees. 

Lime and Plaster. — Matthias Britton was born in Dutchess county in 
1820. In 1825 his father, Israel Britton, brought his family to Onondaga 
and bought a tract of land upon which father and son spent the remainder of 
their lives. Matthias followed farming till 1867, when in company with his 
son, Israel E. Britton, he bougiit a stone quarry and began burning lime and 
cement the next year. In 1870 M. Britton & Son leased of E. B. Alvord 
the premises at No. i Lock street, which they occupied for seven years. 
In 1877 they bought at No. 92 (now 325) North Salina street a frontage 
of 1 12 feet and extending back to the canal, on which they erected a sub- 
stantial three- story building, with the best machinery, and there con- 
tinued the manufacture of water-lime. In 1880 they put in machinery 
for a custom feed-mill and the two kinds of business were conducted on a 
large scale till the fall of 1889. Matthias Britton died in 1887. He was 
a man of strong qualities of body and mind, active, persevering, far-sighled, 
with a character above reproach. The surviving member of the firm, Israel 
E. Britton, has discontinued manufacturing at No. 325 North Salina street, 
and has remodeled the buildings into stores and flats. The machinery for 
grinding water-lime has been transferred to the quarry, where it is made in 
still larger quantities. The production of quick-lime has been developed 



ManuI'ACTURinc; Industries. C^^^l 



till it is now the largest in Onondaga county. To the one kiln at the start 
nine more have been added, and the output is now 3,300 bushels per day. 
A large part of this is loaded on cars near by and sold to the great Solvay 
Process Company at Geddes. In 1889 Mr. Britton purchased an interest 
in a gypsum quarry in Alpine, California, sixty-five miles north of Los 
Angeles, whither he went and spent the following winter. He took heavy 
machinery from Syracuse, Buffalo, and Chicago, and established works that 
produce 300 barrels of plaster of Paris every nine hours. The industry is 
very promising, as the quarries are developing new and unexpected quali- 
ties of excellence. 

Becker Manufacturing Company. — ^The commencement of the knit goods 
manufacturing business in Syracuse must be credited to A. Park Sager, who 
started the industry alone in 1876. In 1879 Mrs. Albert Becker and her 
brother, A. Park Sager, established the first exclusive hand-made worsted 
goods manufactory in Syracuse, and opened a store in South Salina street, 
under the name of A. Park Sager & Co. In 1884 Mrs. Becker bought her 
partner's interest and Mr. Albert Becker organized the Becker Manufactur- 
ing Company, which has continued in a prosperous business to this time. 
The industry has been a great help through employment furnished to hun- 
dreds of poor people, and now supplies work to from 400 to 700 persons in 
the bus}' season. 

Sager Brothers. — A. Park Sager associated himself with his brother, 
George J., after leaving the firm above described, and the firm of Sager Bro- 
thers is now located at 316 South Clinton street, where they occupy a five- 
story building. They employ about 800 knitters the entire year, and some 
2,000 are employed in the industry in and about the city, mostly at their 
homes. Jacob Sager, father of the Sager brothers, come to Syracuse in 
1847, and George J. has been connected with the business interests of the 
city since 1853, and served honorably in the 149th Regiment during the 
war of the Rebellion. 

The Syracuse Twist Drill Company. — This is a partnership company, 
the active member and manager being Thomas Hooker. The business was 
begun in a small way in 1877, room and power being rented for the pur- 
pose of Cobb, Ilerrick & Co., on the corner of Water and Grape streets. 
In 1 88 1 the present site (now 936 Grape street) was purchased and a 
wooden building erected, which w^is destroyed by fire on the 1st of May, 
1884. The firm immediately rebuilt with brick. In 1887 the works were 
enlarged and the building is now 32 x lOO feet, besides the boiler extension 
and a wooden carpenter shop. The original design was to adapt the well 
known twist drill of the machine shop to the use of woodworkers, more 
particularly tlxise working in hardwood. The demands of trade have led 



668 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

to additions in the lines of carriagemakers' and electricians' drills, with a 
few other special tools. Their drills have become so favorably known that 
they are largely imitated, and a trade mark has just been registered to pro- 
tect their customers as well as themselves. They employ about forty hands, 
and their market covers the whole country and something of an export 
trade. 

The Boomer &■ Boscltert Press Company was organized in 1874 under 
the manufacturing laws of the State of New York, with the following offi- 
cers : President, A. A. Ilowlett ; Vice-President, George B. Boomer; Sec- 
retary and Treasurer, W. D. Dunning; Superintendent, R. E. Boschert. It 
is devoted to the manufacture of power and hand presses and machinery 
connected therewith. It covers a great variety of presses, such as for lard, 
tallow, tankage, oils, cider, wine, leather and rubber belting, cloth, paper, etc. 
Their factory is located at 329 West Water street, with branch offices at 
New York city, Detroit, and Chicago. The present officers arc : President, 
George B. Boomer ; Vice-President, Rufus E. Boschert ; Secretary and 
Treasurer, William D. Dunning. Their knuckle-joint presses are known 
all over the world as the "Standard." They also produce screw and hy- 
draulic presses for almost every purpose requiring great pressure. 

The Farmers' Fertilizer Company was organized in February, 1 880, and 
incorporated under the laws of the State of New York. Its principal office is 
in Syracuse, and its factory and storehouses in the town of Dc Witt, on the 
Erie Canal, and on the N. Y. Central and West Shore Railroads. Its prin- 
cipal business has been in the State of New York, and its officers and stock- 
holders are nearly all citizens of Syracuse. Situated in the center of the 
State, on the great arteries of commerce, and being the only company man- 
ufacturing fertilizers in this part of the State, its business has increased from 
year to year, and its products are as well and favorably known as those of 
any concern doing business in this State. Beginning with an output of 
600,000 pounds the first year, it has gradually increased this to 12,000,000 
pounds, and of this Onondaga county takes of its products as much as any 
other three counties. The manufacture of fertilizers involves the produc- 
tion of sulphuric acid, by which the ground animal and fossil bone is dis- 
solved. Sulphate of ammonia and sulphate and muriate of potash are re- 
quired, and imported from Germany, and nitrate of soda, bone, and bone 
ash come from South America. 

The Goodstock Mauufactiiring Company. — This company was estab- 
lished in 1 88 1 in Port Byron, N. Y. In the spring of 1887 the business was 
bought by C. A. Peters, who is now the sole owner. The factory was first 
in the Motel Burns Block in West Fayette street, but in 1889 the new brick 
manufactory at 106, 108, and i 10 Noxon street was erected, 40 x 80 feet, and 



Manufacturing Inuustkies. 669 



four stories high. Ten men and fifty girls are employed in tiie factory and 
sixty girls outside. The product is flannel and negligee shirts, of which 
about $75,000 worth were sold in the past year. 

The Noi'clty Manufacturing Company. — This manufacturing establish- 
ment had its inception in 1872, and began with the manufacture of novelty 
picture frames by Clarence G. Brown, on the upper floor of the brick build- 
ing in Gifford street, just west of the creek. This frame was then a novelty 
and found ready sale. At first one or two men only were employed, and 
Mr. Brown traveled and sold the product. The demand increased at a 
marvelous rate, and the old knittini^-mil! building on the same street was 
occupied, and the facilities for manufacturing largely extendcii. Mr. 
Brown's father, the late II. K. Brown, took an active interest in the business 
for a time. Other articles in woodwork, such as light chairs, fancy cabinet 
ware, cabinets, brackets, and all the numerous home conveniences and dec- 
orations, have been added to the product. The elder Mr. Brown retired 
from the business in 1884, and Edward C. Abeel acquired an interest at the 
same time. Meanwhile the works were removed to their present commo- 
dious building erected for the purpose in Dickerson street. The property 
represents an investment of between $60,000 and $70,000. Over 100 men 
are employed, and the annual product reaches more than $125,000 in value. 
The goods are shipped to all parts of the United States and many foreign 
countries. In the j^ast year a five-story building 50 x 60 feet has been added 
to the plant, with all the latest appliances. They have in course of construc- 
tion large and improved dry kilns, and when their new 100 horsepower 
Corliss engine is placed they will have one of the most complete wood- 
working establishments in this part of the country. 

The Wales. Manufacturing Co. was organized in 1883, and succeeded to 
the business of George Beadle in the manufacture of fare boxes, such as are 
used on street cars for the collection of fares. Under the supervision of 
VV. S. Wales, the President of the company, the construction of the box was 
immediately remodeled, and in connection with new patents a new and more 
satisfactory box was developed. The business has been continually increas- 
ing until the box is now found on the principal roads of this country, as 
well as on roads in South America, Australia, England, and other foreign 
countries. This company within the past year, in order to keep up with 
the increasing business, has bought lands and erected its own buildings, 
corner Park avenue and Liberty street, and has extended its business to the 
manufacture of supplies for electric railroads and novelties in general. 

The Syracuse Bamboo Furniture Company. — This company owes its ori- 
gin to Henry Loftie, who, in 1888, under the style of the Syracuse Split 
Bamboo Fish Rod Company, began the manufacture of split bamboo fish 



670 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

rods. That business increased rapidly. In cutting up a bamboo pole for 
these rods there are only about four or five feet of the butt that can be used; 
the remainder of the pole was supposed of course to be useless. The vast 
accumulation of waste suggested the manufacture of bamboo easels, which 
were at that time quite a rarity. Two or three patterns were made and put 
on the market as an experiment. They sold with surprising rapidity, and 
several more styles were added; also a table and two styles of umbrella 
stands. The waste material was soon exhausted and they were compelled 
to use the entire poles. Heretofore only Calcutta bamboo or tiie dark col- 
ored material had been used, it being impossible to use the Japan or white 
bamboo, owing to a method of fire mottling which, after much time and a 
great deal of experimenting, was at last discovered, and they were then 
ready to defy competitors. Each week showed a steady increase in the 
sales of furniture, and many new and original articles were added to the 
line, including easels, screens, tables, chairs, divans, couches, cabinet man- 
tels, and chamber suits. In fact almost every conceivable article in fancy 
furniture is made. A few of the remarkable features of this furniture are its 
extreme lightness, at the same time it combines the greatest strength 
and durability ; its beautiful natural finish exists in the enamel, which is 
very hard and smooth. The tools used in working this have to be of the 
best steel, and even then require frequent resharpening. The firm ships its 
furniture to nearly every State and territory in the Union, selling the larg- 
est dealers in nearly all tlie large cities; they also sell many goods for ex- 
port. The business has grown with wonderful rajiidity. Where they first 
bought the poles in bundles of fifty, they now purchase entire cargoes of 
from 50,000 to 100,000, almost entirely for the manufacture of furniture. In 
spite of the great importance this furniture business has assumed they have 
not neglected the fishing rod business, and are now making one of the finest 
grades of rods on the market. They also manufacture a full line of trolling 
baits, including the glittering gang bait invented and patented b)' Mr. 
Loftie. Many other specialties are also made, nearly all of which are con- 
trolled by patents. Owing to the steady increase of business the firm has 
been compelled to change its quarters several times during the past three 
years, and now occupies the stores Nos. 237 to 245 West Onondaga street, 
and a large storehouse on Temple street. They employ seventy- five hands. 
Tlic Warren- Scharf Asphalt Paving Company is a corporation organ- 
ized under the laws of the State of New York in 1884, for the purpose of 
laying sheet pavements of Trinidad asphalt in tlie United States and Can- 
ada, or in any other field. It was organized with Cyrus M. Warren as its 
President, and with Samuel R. Scharf as its General Superintendent. Mr. 
Warren is one of the foremost chemists in this country, and has made a 



Manufacturing Industries. 671 



careful study of the nature and properties of asphalt and its allied products 
for many years Mr. Scliarf is known as one of the highest authorities on 
the construction of all classes of pavements, and has had long experience 
with the Trinidad asphalt pavement, being among the first to lay it. In 
the short period of the existence of this company it has laid considerably 
over a million square yards of pavement, and has extended throughout a 
large part of this country and Canada until it covers in its operations twenty- 
two cities, and has the reputation of doing its work in a thoroughly first- 
class manner. In Syracuse, N. Y., this company has laid asphalt pavements 
for the last two years, the amount during 1889 being approximately 17,000 
square yards in James, Townsend, and West Onondaga streets, and in 1890 
30,000 square yards in James street. West Onondaga street, and West Gen- 
esee street. The present officers of the company are William R. Warren, 
President; Samuel R. Scharf, General Superintendent; William Hurnliam, 
first Vice-President; and S. Whinery, second Vice-President. During the 
season of 1890 there were constantly employed in the construction of the 
three streets paved in Syracuse from 300 to 350 men, besides many more 
by contractors furnishing supplies for the work. In addition to this labor 
employment was the shipment of 800 car-loads of freight in and out of Syra- 
cuse, divided among all the dififerent railroads passing through the city, 
aggregating some 32,000,000 pounds or 16,000 tons of freight. The capi- 
tal of the company is $750,000, and its principal office is at 81 Fulton 
street. New \'ork city. 

The Steam Gauge and Lantern Company. — This company was incorpo- 
rated in Rochester, N. Y., February 7. 1 88 1 . with a capital of $250,000. The 
factory was destroyed by fire November 9, i888, and the business trans- 
ferred to this city during the month of May, 1 889. The present officers and 
Trustees of the company are as follows: John Dunn, jr.. President; O. F. 
Howe, Vice President; P. L. Salmon, Secretary and Treasurer; D. B. Sal- 
mon, E. S. Jenney, O. N. Howland, and F. L. Felton. The factory is located 
at 221 Wilkinson street. There are now about 250 employees. The prin- 
cipal product consists of tubular lanterns, tubular street lamps, tubular sta- 
tion lamps, locomotive head-lights, switch lamps, railroad lanterns, etc., in 
many forms and designs. The patents for lamps in the Patent Office num- 
ber many thousands, many of which are owned by this company. 

Elevators. — In October, 1883, E. W. Houser bought the stock, fixtures, 
and machinery of H. M. Graves, who first manufactured hand elevators in 
Syracuse. To this busine.ss Hr. Houser added steam-power and hydraulic 
passenger elevators. In 1891 C. C. Decker was admitted to partnership, 
the style of the firm being the Houser Elevator Company. They have 
two large shops. Their sales are extensive and extend from New Xoxk to 



672 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Minneapolis. The company will soon increase its plant to meet the de- 
mands of its growing business. When first begun the industry was located 
at 74 East Water street. It is now at Nos. 314, 316, and 318 in the same 
street. 

B. D. Bramcr. — In 1856 Chauncey Stevens was the principal harness 
manufacturer in the city, and among his employees was B. D. Bramer, who 
is now engaged in the same business in Hast Fayette street. In 1858 Mr. 
Bramer was located in the Dillaye Block, and sold out to Palmer Shaw and 
removed to Fabius, where he remained until 1864. In February of that year 
he returned and bought out Shaw in company with D. M. Bailey. The firm 
of Bailey & Bramer continued until November, 1869, when Mr. Bailey died 
and Mr. Bramer purchased the interest of his partner, and has since carried 
on the business alone. Mr. Shaw was the oldest harnessmaker in the city, 
having carried on the business since 1827 ; but he has recently retired. 

J. S. Carter. — This business was established in 1867 by Gardner 15. 
Weeks in West Water street. He was succeeded by J. S. Carter, at 83 
South Clinton street, who removed to 28 and 30 James street, where he re- 
mained four years. He then located at 69 Warren street, and remained one 
year, when he removed to 47 and 49 West Jefferson street, where he oc- 
cupied a four-story building erected especially for his business. He re- 
mained there five years, and then removed to his present location, 303 to 
309 Lock street, where he purchased land and built his five-story brick 
block in 1SS9. He employs forty hands, and manufactures a complete line 
of dairy apparatus. His trade extends over the United States and exports 
to South America and Australia. 

Perfection Oil Tank Cotnpany. — This business was established about 
1875 by Wilson & Blye, in West Fayette street. They were burned out, 
and then located at No. 59 North Salina street. Mr. Blye bought his part- 
ner's interest and afterwards sold out to Hopkins & Abbott, who removed 
the business to 61 West Water street. On the 1st of November, 18S6, the 
present company took the business. The tank which they make has a wide 
reputation for excellence. 

Balti'a'insville Centrifugal Pump Works. — The plant of this establish- 
ment is located at 230-236 West street. The business was first inaugurated 
at Baldwinsville in 1861 by White, Clark & Co., who continued it until 
1880, when it was purchased by Clark & Van Wie, and in the following year 
they removed the business to Syracuse. In March, 1884, Irvin Van Wie 
became sole proprietor. All styles of vertical, horizontal, and suction pumps 
are made, with capacitj' ranging from 100 to 40,000 gallons per minute. 

Boggs & Clarke. — This firm was organized in 1883 and is composed of 
H. H. Boggs and W. V. Clarke. The important article of manufacture is 



Manufacti'kinc. Industries. 673 



centrifugal pumps of all kinds and a wide range of capacity. General ma- 
chinery is also a part of their business. The works arc located at Nos. 535- 
539 South Clinton street, where from ten to twenty men are employed. 
Their product is sold largely to paper and i)ulp- mills, tanneries, dry docks, 
quarries, and contractors. 

Howard i-r Jfii/inii^s. — Biddlecom & Howard in 1876 began the manu- 
facture of pumps, and seven years later Dwight P. Jennings bought out Mr. 
Hiddlecom's interest and the firm became Howard & Jennings, as at present. 
Wooden pumps have always been their leading article of manufacture, and 
they have also made chain pumps for the past ten years. Ten hands are 
employed and 3,500 pumps are made annually. The firm built the block 
which they now occupy in Church street. 

Halcts and Confictioncrs. — Joseph VValier, a native of Switzerland, be- 
gan his trade in Austria in 1845, while yet a boy. After four years he went 
to Poland, where he remained about two years, and then traveled through 
Germany and France to Madrid, Spain, where he remained a year and a 
half; thence he went to the West India Islands, stopping for a time at Ha- 
vana, Jamaica, Kingston, Turk's Island, and St. Domingo, spending two 
years in all at these various places. From the last named point he came to 
New York city, where he worked at his trade as he had done in the places 
previously mentioned. After two years in New York he came to Syracuse 
in 1855, and worked ten years for Reuben Wood, who was the first fancy 
candy manufacturer in this city. In January, 1866, Mr. Waller took a part- 
ner, and the firm of Waller & Erhard opened a candy factory in North Sa- 
lina street. In t868 they removed to the corner of Clinton and Walton 
streets, where they remained together for twenty years. Since that time, 
when Mr. lirhard withdrew from the firm, Mr. Waller has carried on a very 
prosperous business at the same location. 

Daniel Scliviecr manufactures confectionery at No. 515 North Salina 
street, where three hands are employed. Mr. Schmeer has been a resident 
of Syracuse thirty years, and has held the ofiice of School Commissioner 
four terms, or eight years. 

Syracuse Biscuit Works. — This business was inaugurated by Francis 
Hall, who was succeeded by George S. Larrabee on the ist of March, 1883. 
About the same time George Young began the same business in Noxon 
street. The two concerns were consolidated on the 1st of March, 1886, 
under the firm name of Young & Larrabee. C. W. Young, the senior part- 
ner, is the son of George Young, who has for years been engaged in the 
same line of business in Utica. The firm bakes bread, crackers, fancy bis- 
cuits, and cake, and manufactures confectionery on a large scale. They em- 
ploy six traveling men outside of the city, and seven men for city and 

S5 



674 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

suburban trade. They also employ 125 people and sixteen horses, and 
their product has an annual value of over $300,000. 

There are about thirty-five small baking establishments in the city, who 
employ seventy-five persons, and use about seventy-five barrels of flour 
daily. 

Tlic Smith Premier Typewriter. — This manufactory is owned and oper- 
ated by L. C. Smith, and is now working 278 people in manufacturing the 
justly celebrated typewriter of the above name. There are also employed 
outside of the factory, in \arious cities, sixty-five assistants. Their ma- 
chines are shipped to nearly all English speaking countries, and have been 
on the market about two years. The typewriter is manufactured under the 
patents of Alexander T. Brown, of Syracuse. 

Byington, Kendall & Co. — January i, 1 890, Byington, Kendall & Co. 
succeeded to the business of the old Becker Manufacturing Company. 
In June, 1891, they moved to their present quarters, comprising a store 134 
feet deep with two floors and basement. The firm's specialties are under- 
wear, hosiery, fancy knit goods, and yarns. They employ in the busy sea- 
son some 300 people. 

Jacob Amos. — Jacob Amos came to Liverpool, N. Y., from Germany in 
1840. About 1850 he built the Amos Hotel in North Salina street, and 
eight years later opened a flour and feed store, which latter industry was 
the outgrowth of the manufacture of farina, started bj' Mr. Amos a few 
years previous in the Dunlap mills at Jamcsville. In 1862 he moved his 
business to Syracuse, and rented four stores in Water street, where the 
Amos Block now stands. Three years afterward two more stores adjoining 
were rented, and a steam mill was established in these quarters, which had 
a capacity of grinding 125 barrels of flour, 30 barrels of farina, and a large 
quantity of feed daily. In 1867 he erected a mill at Baldwinsville capable 
of turning out daily 150 barrels of flour, 75 kegs of pearl barley, and 50 
kegs of farina. This he continued alone till 1876, when his sons, Charles L. 
and Jacob, jr., were admitted to partnership, under the firm name of Jacob 
Amos & Sons. In 1878 they bought the Barker mills in West Water 
street, which constitute the present Amos mills, and increased their capacity 
to 400 barrels per day, and in 1881 substituted the old four runs of stone with 
the best Hungarian roller machinery, necessitating an outlay in both mills 
of $7S,ooo. They were the first to adopt this system in this section. Mr. 
Amos died in 1883, and his sons continued the milling business as Amos 
Brothers till 1887, when Charles L. died, and the firm became and still is 
Jacob Amos. The motive power is furnished by two Corliss engines and 
four boilers. The total output of the two mills in 1890 was 130,460 bar- 
rels of flour, besides a large quantity of farina and mill feed. The value of 



Manukacturing Industries. 675 

the business that year amounted to over $1,500,000, and sixty people were 
given employment. 

Hughes Brothers. — This firm (all born in Syracuse) was formed in 1877 
b)' the two older brothers, Charles and James Hughes, to which the younger 
brother, Kugcne Hughes, was admitted in 18S0. Their father, James 
Hughes, founded the business in 1850, where the Phcenix I-'oundry now 
stands. He removed to the present location in Gifford street in 1861, and 
died in 1869. The yard was rented to other parties till his sons became old 
enough to assume its management. Their business has grown steadily till 
tliey have become the heaviest operators in Central New York. They built 
the Court-House in Scranton, Pa.; the Paulus Church, Sixtieth street. New 
York city; numerous locks on the canal ; and the present City Hall. But a 
contract they are now engaged in ech'pses all others. They are building in 
Chippewa county, Michigan, a lock in the famous Sault Ste. Marie ship canal, 
around the rapids in St. Mary's River, that connects Lake Superior with 
Lake Huron. The growing importance of this canal, which already does a 
third more business in eight months than the great Suez Canal does in a 
whole year, demands a larger channel, and the Hughes Brothers, and E. T. 
& A. M. Bangs, of Fayettcville, are under contract with the United States 
government to have completed within three years a lock 1,200 feet long, 
100 feet wide, with side walls 45 feet high, and a water lift of 23 feet, which 
reaches the enormous quantity of over 80,000 yards of solid stone, and 
costing $1,300,000. When completed it is believed it will be the finest 
lock in the world. For several years past their stone quarries at Split 
Rock, the Indian Reservation, and Fulton, with their contract work, have 
furnished labor for 200 men, and their annual business has exceeded 
$300,000. 

The Syracuse Nurseries and Stock Farvi. — The Syracuse Nurseries, 
Smiths & Powell, proprietors, were established in 1830, by Alanson Thorpe, 
and are doubtless the oldest nurseries west of the Hudson River. W. Brown 
Smith purchased a half interest in 1845, the firm name becoming Thorpe 
& Smith. The nurseries then consisted of about four acres, nearly all apple 
trees, and so extensive was this establishment considered at that time that 
Mr. Smith's friends endeavored to dissuade him from making the purchase, 
for the reason that, in their judgment, such a large quantity of trees could 
not be sold in this country. Mr. Smith became sole proprietor by pur- 
chase about i860. The business was gradually enlarged and e.xtended, and 
at various times new and younger members were added to the firm, the 
firm now consisting of W. Brown Smith, Edward A. Powell, Wing R. 
Smith, and W. Judson Smith. The greenhouse department and the fine 
live stock department were added, until the business assumed its present 



6j6 Memorial History ok Syracuse. 



large proportions. The area of land now owned by this firm and the vari- 
ous members thereof, and kept under a high state of cultivation, is about 
1,200 acres, the most of which is located on the west shore of Onondaga 
Lake. There are probably 3,000,000 trees and shrubs now growing in these 
nurseries. Nearly i ,000,000 stocks are planted each spring. The business 
is nearly all wholesale, and the trees are shipped by car-loads to all parts of 
the United States. The department of blooded live stock, which was added 
about twenty years ago, has gradually increased and developed until the 
" Lakeside Stock Farm " is known to breeders of fine stock the world over. 
At almost any time within the past few years from 300 to 500 head of pure 
bred Holsteiii-Friesian cattle, all recorded, and all black-and-white, could 
be seen on tliis farm. It is undoubtedly safe to say that no herd of dairy 
cows, either in Europe or America, has ever equalled this in actual pro- 
duction of milk and butter, as shown by well authenticated records, and no 
other, probably, has so wide a reputation. The horse department consists 
of from I 50 to 200 blooded animals, of the various improved breeds of 
America and Europe. Shipments of cattle and horses are frequently made 
to various foreign countries, including Europe, Canada, Mexico, South 
America, Central America, Australia, Japan, etc. The greenhouse de- 
partment is carried on under the name of P. R. Quinlan & Co., Mr. Quinlan 
having purchased in 1884 a one-half interest and assumed general super- 
vision. From a small beginning this branch of business has grown year by 
year until its various houses now contain about 40,000 square feet of glass. 
The growing of choice roses has been made a prominent feature, and sev- 
eral large greenhouses are now entirely devoted to this popular flower. 
The Warners Portland Cement Manufacturing Company. — This enter- 
prise was organized in December, 1888, and the work of construction was 
soon afterward begun. Later the capital stock was increased and the 
capacity of the works much enlarged. The works are situated at Warners, 
ten miles west of Syracuse, the business office being located in the city. 
The output is about 350 barrels per day, and has no superior. It is univer- 
sally used by those who understand its qualities, and the demand for it is 
constantly increasing. Employment is constantly given to seventy men. 
The company is represented in its Board of Directors as follows: W. B. 
Cogswell, Hon. George N. Kennedy, John L. King, Frederick D. White, 
Edward N. Trump, Henry O'Neil, Edward Joy. Mr. Cogswell is the Presi- 
dent; Burnet Forbes, Secretary ; and Frederick D. White, Treasurer. The 
process of manufacture with the aid of extensive yet simple machinery, 
made expressly for these works, is interesting. There is an abundance of 
marl and clay, from which the cement is made, on the land purchased by 
the company. This is the most extensive plant of its kind in this country. 



Manufacturing Industries. 6^^ 

It is a somewhat curious fact tiiat Onondaga county once furnished nearly 
all the water-lime used in this country, and that now it should be su[iplyin{^ 
the best cement. The industry is likely to grow into much larger propor- 
tions with the constant increase in the demand for the product. 

Syracuse llcat and Poivcr Company. — This company is one of those de- 
velopments which may be credited to the push and business enterprise of 
the community — an enterprise demanding a large investment and sagacious 
confidence in the final outcome. The company was organized in 1888, with 
a capital of $2O0,OOO and the following incorporators: Wilber S. Peck, 
William K. Pierce, E. P. Bates, Edward Joy, Clarence Kellogg, William W. 
Cox, and Frank J. Webb. Land was purchased in Pearl street, a large 
building erected for boilers, and the plant for 2,500 horse-power jnit in- 
Two miles of street mains were laid, and the patronage by power users and 
those desiring heat has rapidly increased until now about thirty-five tons of 
coal are used daily. The plant is fitted up with everj' modern improve- 
ment of value, and is one of the best in the country. The officers of the 
company are Wilber S. Peck, President; William K. Pierce, Vice-Presi- 
dent ; M. J. Myers, Secretary ; Ira A. Holly, Superintendent. 

Petin & Lee. — Carriage springs is one of the important articles of man- 
ufacture in Syracuse. In the year 1881 George Penn and Henry M. Lee 
entered into partnership for the manufacture of carriage, car, and locomotive 
springs, under the firm name of Penn & Lee. They purchased a lot on the 
corner of Canal and William streets, and erected a building 316 x 66 feet, 
which they still occupy. Only one other establishment of the kind in the 
State of New York exceeds this in capacity, while .in the quality of their 
product they have no superior; all of their work is tempered in oil and 
guaranteed in quality. They give constant employment to 100 nun, and 
their annual output is 1,500 tons of manufactured goods. Before he came 
to Syracuse Mr. Penn had works of the same character in Bridgeport, 
Conn., and Gananoque, Can. An interesting feature of their establishment 
is its splendid brass band, which is composed wholly of their employees. 
It was organized in 1885, now has twenty-five members, and is under tlie 
leadership of Prof Charles I"". Walcott, of Boston. In October, 1889. this 
band accompanied the Knights Templar to Washington, and was the escort 
of the combined order of this State on that occasion. 

Syracuse Specialty Manufacturing Company. — This company was or- 
ganized in May, 1889, for the manufacture of hardware specialties in gen- 
eral, and especially patent buckles for overshoes, rubber coats, and horse 
blankets. The factory is on the corner of West Fayette and Geddes streets, 
and about fifty hands are employed. The officers of the company are : 
A. R. Dickinson, President and Treasurer; F. C. Howlett, Vice-President; 



678 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

A. R. Dickinson, E. D. Dickinson, John Dunn, jr., F. C. Hewlett, and John 
Nase, Directors. 

T. D. Green. — The manufacture of pickles was begun in Syracuse 
about 1854 by the late C. C. Loomis, and was conducted by him until 
about 1878, when it passed to the control of Thomas D. Green, and he has 
ever since carried it on. He now manufactures more than three-fourths of 
all the local product. His product has secured such a hold on the markets 
that about 400 acres of land are required to grow the raw material, and 
employment is given to a large number of people. The prejudice against 
commercial pickles has almost disappeared, and the industry is still in its 
infancy. The brand adopted by Mr. Green is the " Royal," and it is con- 
sidered a guarantee of excellence. 

Kemp & Burpee Manufactiiritig Company. — This company was estab- 
lished by the present proprietors in 1881, for the manufacture of the Kemp's 
patent manure spreader, a device of great utility to farmers, and then the 
only one of the kind. In 1891 the company erected a new building on the 
corner of West Fayette and South Geddes streets, I20x 56 feet, and three 
stories high with basement. Steam-power is used, and a force of thirty 
men employed. 

Jolin Marsellus Manufacturing Company (Limited). — John Marsellus 
came to Syracuse from New York city in 1877, and began the manufacture 
of coffins, caskets, and undertakers' supplies at 79 and 81 South Clinton 
street. In 1878 Oscar D. Byers, who came from New York with Mr. Mar- 
sellus, became a partner, under the firm name of John Marsellus & Co. 
A factory was established in 1883 on the corner of Geddes and West Fay- 
ette streets, and two years later Charles B. Kiggins purchased an interest 
in the business. In 1888 a new brick factory was built, with office and 
salesroom, on the corner of Van Rensselaer, Richmond, and Tracy streets, 
the building being 60 x 220 feet, four stories high, and the present company 
was then organized and incorporated, with John Marsellus, President; 
F. S. Wicks, Vice-President; Oscar D. Byers, Secretary; and Charles B. 
Kiggins, Treasurer. These executive officers have ever since remained in 
charge of their constantly increasing business, and are qualified by a long 
experience to fully meet the various demands of the trade. The goods are 
sold throughout the States of New York, Pennsylvania, and New England, 
and also in Canada. The manufactures of the company include cloth- 
covered caskets, robes, wrappers, habits, linings, pillows, embalming tables, 
and undertakers' supplies generally, their factory being equipped with all 
the modern appliances for the successful and rapid production of these arti- 
cles. They also handle a large variety of cabinet hardware and upholstery 
goods. It is the only establishment of its kind that has succeeded in Syra- 



Manufacturing Industries. 679 

cuse. Similar concerns have been started, but owing to lack of necessary 
experience, and the fact that the trade cannot be forced, they have proved 
disastrous ventures for those who invested their money. 

E. J. Eddy. — Mr. Eddy came to Syracuse in 1867 from Pharsaha, 
Chenango county, where he was born in 1848. His first employment was 
as a clerk, in which capacity he continued four years. In i 87 i lie opeiud 
a Iiardware estabhslrment in the First ward. He soon built up a prosper- 
ous trade, and won for liimself a prominent place among the substantial 
merchants of that part of the city. In 1878 he bought his present site in 
North Salina street, and for ten years carried on his business in buildings 
then standing. In 1888 he built his brick block, which is 60x80 feet 
and five stories high. In 1890 lie bought 1,000 tons of rags, and iiis manu- 
facture and sale of tinware has become so extensive that he employs tliirt)- 
wagons on the road, ten of which are his own, and the remainder furnished 
by tlie drivers. He employs five tinners, twenty-five women, besides his 
oflice help and men on the wagons. His business amounted in 1890 to 
$100,000. Mr. Eddy was Supervisor of his ward in 1885-86. 

A. E. Alvord. — The water-lime and plaster-mills on the corner of Lock 
and Catawba streets were built by their present owner, A. Iv Alvord, in 1 884, 
who succeeded his father in this business in 1875. Water-Iinic is ground 
from stone quarried and burned in Manlius and brought by rail to the mills. 
Quick-lime is also burned at Manlius in nine large kilns, which have a ca- 
pacity of 600 barrels daily. Stone for land plaster is quarried on Mr. 
Alvord's farm in Onondaga Valley, from which about 2,000 tons of plaster 
are ground and sold yearly. Two years ago Mr. Alvord expended several 
thousand dollars in a plant at his mills for the manufacture of calcine plaster, 
or plaster of Paris. This was the introduction of a new industry in Syra- 
cuse, and has proven very successful. It is made from the same stone as 
the land plaster, and the works have a daily capacity of from 200 to 300 
barrels. The quality of this new product is most satisfactory, and orders 
already exceed the production. One hundred people are required to oper- 
ate the quarries and mills. Mr. Alvord's father, E. B. Alvord, was the pio- 
neer in this business in Syracuse. In 1848 he built a lime and plaster-mill 
on the corner of Lock and Canal streets, which he operated till 1872 or 1873, 
when he converted the building into a packing-house and moved the ma- 
chinery for grinding water-lime and i)laster to a new mill in Pearl street, 
which was removed to make room for the West Shore Railroad. 

The Oitoudagn County Milk Association is a stock company, incorpo- 
rated March 21, 187 1, with twenty- four charter members, eighteen of whom 
were milk producers and stockholders. The scheme was the invention of 
B. Austin Avery, a dairy farmer a few miles north of the city. No sys- 



68o Memorial History of Syracuse. 

tem had ever been devised which embodied his idea of bringing milk pro- 
ducers and milk consumers into mutual relations. The financial results of 
twenty years have proved the wisdom of his plans. At the organization 
Mr. Avery was chosen President ; James L. Hill, Vice-President and Man- 
ager; and Cyrus D. Avery, Secretary and Treasurer. The original capital 
stock was $50,000. The old Park Hotel standing on their present site was 
rented, horses and wagons were bought, drivers hired, and milk routes 
established in the city. Stockholders brought their milk, which was weighed 
and credited, put into a common stock, and sold to the best advantage. At 
the end of one year 1,505,000 quarts of milk had been sold at a saving of 
over one cent per quart to consumers, and at the same time the receipts 
had paid the producers more money than they had been able to realize 
when each man made his own sales. The Park Hotel property was bought 
the second year, and at the end of tlie third year the growing prosperity of 
the enterprise demanded more room and better facilities. Experience had 
taught just what was wanted, and the present handsome and commodious 
building was designed and completed in 1875, at a cost of $17,000. Since 
then two lots with dwelling houses in Onondaga street have been purchased 
to make room for stables and shops, in which the association keeps its 
horses, makes and keeps in repair ail its wagons, and does all necessary 
blacksmithing. In the milk trade ice is in constant use, and 1,500 tons are 
consumed yearly, all of which is stored on the premises. During 1890 28,- 
000 pounds of milk were handled daily. All milk not disposed of before 
2 P. M. is made into butter and cottage and factory cheese the same day. 
This large quantity of milk is obtained of stockholders, and of those who 
rent stock, and so are entitled to the co-operative benefits. Two years ago 
the association began making ice cream, selling since that time from 75 
to 100 gallons per day. In June, 1890, lunch parlors were fitted up, and 
this branch of the business has become very popular. A large boiler 
and a twenty- horse- power engine furnish the motive power, and hot water 
and steam for general uses. In 1891 4,550,368 quarts of milk were han- 
dled, netting the milk producers two and three-fourths cents per quart. 
The year's business amounted $136,812.92, to do which required forty 
horses, twenty- five wagons, and forty-three people. The stock has been 
increa.scd to $100,000, of which $63,450 has been paid in, and the property 
is valued at $100,000. The Presidents succeeding B. Austin Avery have 
been John Wells, Hiram Kingsley, and George C. Gere. Cyrus D. Avery, 
the first Secretary and Treasurer, was succeeded in a few months by Irani C. 
Reed, who was also made General Manager, which positions he has held for 
the past twenty years. The officers of the association, with six others, con- 
stitute a Board of Trustees as follows : George C. Gere, President ; J. C. 




^. ',J^^iU)^y 



7/ 



'/ - 



Hotels. 68 1 

Miinro, Vice-President; Iiam C. Reed, Secretary, Treasurer, and General 
Manager; J. S. Jerome, John Wells, George Geddes, V. S. Knapp. P. P. Mid- 
ler, and H. F. Scott. 

HOTELS. 

T/ie Globe Hotel was erected in 1846 and 1847 ^Y Henry Stevens, and 
inimediately opened as a temperance house. Two years later it was given 
up, and the next landlord was William Winton, who was followed by Win- 
ton & Butler. This firm conducted the house till 1854, when they were 
succeeded by Ira Garrison, who ran it about ten years, and sold to Austin 
& Dickinson, under whose manas^cment the corner facing Washington and 
Salina streets was remodeled and the west portion of the hotel built. 
Messrs. Austin & Dickinson were succeeded by E. D. Dickinson, and he by 
Dickinson & Austin, and later the firm of Dickinson, Austin & Bacon be- 
came proprietors. A. R. Dickinson was their successor. The firm of Dick- 
inson, Bacon & Ellis was then formed and assumed control, and continued 
in that capacity till Mr. Dickinson withdrew, and the proprietorship passed 
into the hands of Bacon & Ellis, the present landlords The Globe is one 
of the best appointed hostelries in Central New York. It is conveniently 
located, substantially built, and a general favorite with the traveling [)ublic. 

The Vande7-hilt House was built in 1867 by John L. Cook & Son, who 
opened it in 1868, and kept it for ten or twelve years, when Oliver \\. Allen 
became the proprietor. He was succeeded two or three years later by P. B. 
Brayton, who sold to G. W. Day, and he to George W. Taylor. In the 
spring of 1891 Mr. Taylor disposed of his interest to J. H Fife, of New \'ork 
city, the present proprietor. In compliment to its name Commodore Van- 
derbilt presented this house with an excellent oil painting of himself, which 
has been admired by thousands of guests. During their bridal trip the 
Commodore and his second wife spent a night here. The hotel justly en- 
joys the reputation of being first-class in all respects. In 1879 Daniel Can- 
dee, Horace Candee, and the estate of Earll B. Alvord bought and still own 
this valuable property. 

The Empire House was constructed in 1844-45 by John L. Tomlinson, 
a son-in-law of James L. Voorhees, of Lysander. Mr. Tomlinson lived in a 
house where the County Clerk's office now stands, and he owned the whole 
block except the Onondaga Hotel and one dwelling house. He was killed 
by the cars at Little Falls in 1848, and the property soon after was bought 
by James L. Voorhees, who traded that part on which the Court- House now 
stands for the old court-house lot between Syracuse and Salina. The new 
owner called it the Voorhees House. A few years later it came into the 
possession of Horace and Hamilton White, and is now owned by Horace 
m 



682 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

K. and F. D. White. The Empire House was opened in the fall of 1845 t>y 
Mr. Miller as a temperance house. He remained one year. The succes- 
sion of landlords since then has been Captain Joel Cody, Philo N Rust, 
Mr. and Mrs. Barent Filkins, Barney Becker, Lucius Wright, Sprague & 
Gage, Mrs. Gage, Hose Rockwell & Carpenter, Mr. Carpenter, Mr. Patten, 
Mr. Satterlee, and C. E. Talbot & Co., the present occupants. The name 
of the hotel was ciianijed from the Voorhecs House to the I'-mpire while 
Sprague & Gage were in it. The Empire is one of the largest hotels in 
Syracuse, and contains a spacious hall in which almost every society and 
organization in this State, and some national organizations, have repeatedly 
held annual meetings. 

Hotel Burns. — About 1870 I'eter Burns bought the block now known 
as the Hotel Burns, on the corner of West Fayette and South Clinton 
streets. A hotel had been kept in it for many years by Hutchinson, I'Last- 
man, and others. Mr. Burns remodeled the building, and leased it to 
Elias T. Talbot, who opened and kept a first-class temperance house for 
eleven years, when he leased his interest in it to Oscar L. Brownell. Mr. 
Talbot again assumed the management, and was succeeded in 1888 by the 
present proprietors, Messrs. Townsend Brothers. The hotel still belongs to 
Mr. Burns, and has always been kept as a temperance house. 

Congress Hall, located on the corner of West Washington and South 
Franklin streets, was erected about 1876 by Jacob Crouse, and opened the 
following year by Copley A. Nott, who has ever since conducted the house 
with great credit to both himself and Syracuse. In 188S his son, Claude R., 
was given an interest under the firm name of C. A. Nott & Son. The build- 
ing is five stories high, is located near the principal railroad depots of the 
city, and is altogether a most admirably appointed house. 

Hotel Caudee. — In 1864 Charles E. Candee opened the eastern half of 
the present Hotel Candee, formerly known as the Brintnall Hotel. Two 
years later he sold to Wagner & Sweatland. Mr. Sweatland soon after sold 
his interest to Horace B. Castle, and Mr. Wagner sold to Jerome Vromati, 
who in turn sold to Mr. ]5e!den, and he to Mr, Hiscock. The latter dis- 
posed of his interest to James H. Burke, and 1869 Mr. Candee repurchased 
the house and has been its proprietor ever since. In 1887 he leased the 
upper part of the old Talbot House, extending to the corner of I-'ayette and 
Warren streets, thus giving him 150 rooms Mr. Candee is the oldest con- 
tinuous hotel-keeper in Syracuse. In 1882 he was elected Alderman of the 
Sixth ward, and has by successive re-elections held that office ever since. 

The Jervis House, corner of East h'ayette and Mulberry streets, was built 
in 1854 by Harvey Sheldon and Charles A. Wheaton. The block was sold 
to the old -Syracuse City Bank, antl afterward [)urchased by General William 



Reminiscences. 683 



J. Hough. It was first known as the Sheldon RIock, and for many years the 
upper part was rented by Mr. Coblcigh, of R<. Chester, for his dancing 
schools. General Hough afterward refitted it for a family boarding-house 
and hotel, and gave it its present name after l^ishop Jervis, of luigland, from 
whom he was descended. General Hough died in 1869, and in the divis- 
ion of his estate the Jervis I louse became the property of his daughter, wife 
of Charles E. Stevens, an attorney. Mr. Stevens was Superintendent of 
Public Schools from 1863 to 1866. The successive landlords of the Jervis 
House have been Harvey Bennett, Mrs. Harvey Iknnctt, Jeremiah Ilinch- 
man, John A. Goodell, Captain C. G Nye, A. F. Hamilton, and Mrs. Eu 
nice C. Gardner. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

RKMINISCENCES. 

Notes and Reminiscences with Wit and Humor Interspersed — Interesting Anecdotes of His- 
torical Importance. 

HOWEVER much the procrastination may be regretted, it is nevertheless 
now too late to gather from a generation almost gone much incidental 
history of the city. Indeed, who is there to tell of those early years of 
village history, when the population was sparse, the streets mere Indian 
trails, and the forests the home of beasts ? Seventy years have passed since 
1820, when the village first began to bestir itself, and who is there of four- 
score years who lived among the scenes of that day ? A decade ago a vol- 
ume of interesting reminiscences might have been gathered ; but now there 
are few indeed to relate incidents and events of even half a century ago. 
A chapter of such matter has been gathered for this book which may serve 
to, in a degree, relieve the monotony incident to the narration of cold his- 
torical facts. Considerable more matter of this character might be gath- 
ered, and yet recollections are so conflicting that the work would be more 
or less unsatisfactory to the compiler. It has been said that no two per- 
sons ever see the same scene alike ; certainly, when the events of a lifetime 
ago are recalled by two persons there is almost invariably a decided conflict 
of opinion. The writer has had recourse to letters and scrap-books for the 
facts contained in many of the paragraphs which follow, and here and there 
one has been condensed from local publications. Some have been related 
by friendly citizens, and others are from the writer's memory of anecdotes 
told to him dtiring the thirty years of liis residence in the city. Scattered 
through this entire voltime are many narrations of events and incidents 



684 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

which, taken in connection with this chapter, would constitute a good be- 
ginning for some writer who has the tact and patience for preparing a vol- 
ume of such sketches as he might now be able to procure. For example: 

An amusing incident occurred about the year 1840, in which a laugh 
was turned upon Gen. A. P. Granger. A familiar group was gathered at 
the Syracuse House, comprising such well known citizens as Mr. Granger, 
A. N. Van Patten, Amos Gillett, Daniel Kellogg, D. D. Hillis, Moses D. 
Burnet, Daniel Grofif, Henry Young, Philo N. Rust, Samuel Larned, and 
others. The General was fretting and scolding about a note that he had 
endorsed for Young, and said some quite hard words over his being com- 
pelled to pay it. Mr. Young explained that he had been disappointed in 
getting money that he expected, and could not meet the note. But this 
did not pacify the General, and he continued to complain. I'inally Young 
ended the matter and created a hearty laugh by exclaiming, "Well, General, 
what is an endorser good for if he don't pay?" 

Many years since, when the late J^aniel Pratt was holding court, a tall, 
uncomely specimen of humanity was called up for trial for some misde- 
meanor. He stood up, apparently without counsel, whereupon he was 
asked by the Judge if he had counsel, and replied in tliL- affirmative. As no 
member of the bar appeared to act as such the Judge further questioned 
him, " Who is your counsel ? " The man replied, " God Almighty ! " The 
Judge promptly advised the ])risoner thus : " You better get somebody who 
practices in these courts." 

Several years ago the late Damon Coats, who was noted for his lively 
wit, defended a prisoner who was on trial for felony. As the trial proceeded 
some of the bar left the court- room for a lime. Returning, they met Mr. 
Coats just going out, and said to him : " Well, how did you make out with 
your prisoner ? " " Oh," was the reply, " I succeeded in convicting him, 
with the aid of the district attorney ! " 

In the year 1829 there was a drug store on the southwest corner of 
Warren and East Genesee streets. On one occasion, when several villagers 
had gathered there to discuss the current to[)ics, a deer bounded directly 
through one of the front windows and into their midst. The animal came 
from the east through Genesee street. It is not too much to saj- that the 
gossipers were surprised. At about the same lime a bear was killed in South 
Salina street. 

The " Salina Gang," as they were termed, met one of their severest 
battles and repulses in a fight with the " village boys " while the erection of 
the first Bastable Block was in progress many years ago. Dean Richmond 
led the Salina party, and when it reached the scene of the struggle they 
found the street barricaded with timbers and the Syracuse boys well sup- 



Reminiscences. 685 



plicil with paviiiq; stones. The fiyht was brief but intense, and the Salt 
Pointers were forced to retreat, several of tiieni being severely injured. It 
was one of the most riotous of the numerous proceedings of that character 
of those days. 

When the Hon. Andrew D. W'hite was a boy he displayed much invent- 
ive genius. He had a workshop in the basement of his father's home, on 
the site of the present residence of Dr. Uidama, antl much of liis time was 
spent in scientific and mechanical pursuits. He made, among other things, 
a printing press entirely of wood, which did its work in quite a perfect man- 
ner, some of the principles of which are emplo\ed in the perfecting presses 
of to-day. He also came very near being the inventor of telegrapliy be- 
fore Morse made his discoveries. Me constructed a batterj' and strung 
wires, and by breaking the current produced a spark. He then devised a 
code by which sentences could be transmitted by manipulating the sparks. 
A " sounder " is used in these days to indicate dots and dashes, made by 
breaking the current, the sounds of the instrument taking the place of Mr. 
White's sparks. 

In the olden practice at our courts B. Davis Noxon was retained in a 
trial with his usual tact and persistence, and was engaged against an oppo- 
nent who continually interposed objections. The Judge, who was many 
years Mr. No.xon's junior, uniformly decided in favor of the objections. 
Becoming irritated at Mr. Noxon's persistency the Judge exclaimed : "What 
am I here for except to decide these questions as they arise ? " Mr. Noxon, 
with his usual gravity, laid down his glasses and pen, and looking up at the 
Judge, replied : " Your honor has got me now ! " 

Mr. Noxon was long recognized as the nestor of the bar prior to his 
death. Many years since his son-in-law, now the venerable Judge Corn- 
stock, was elected Judge of the Court of Appeals on the Know-Nothing 
ticket. Soon after his election the late Judge Mason, of the Supreme 
Court, of Hamilton, N. Y., met Mr. Noxon and congratulated him upon 
Mr. Comstock's election to the Court of Appeals, adding that as he had 
long been a judge in theory, he Iiad now become one in fact, and that no 
doubt he would make an excellent judge. "Yes," Mr. Noxon replied, 
"Judge Comstock will if he is n't most woefully deceived in himself." 

In times past the rules of practice required attorneys, in causes tried at 
the Circuit desiring an appeal, to make a motion on defendants with notice 
before the end of the term. A trial having been had in court before the 
late Judge Daniel Pratt, and a decision made adverse to the clients of Messrs. 
Gardner & Burdick. a motion, with notice on afFida\its hastily drawn was 
made by Hamilton Burdick (now a senior and honored member of the On- 
ondaga Bar). He began to read the affidavits with his usual custom, slowly 



686 Memorial History ok Syracuse. 

and deliberately, when Judge Pratt, after a short time, said to him, " Hand 
up your papers." Mr. Burdick did so, and after the Judge had tried in vain 
to read them he impatiently threw them on the desk with the remark that 
any lawyer who would write like that ought to have his motion denied on 
the spot. Mr. Burdick coolly replied : "I don't know as lawyers are to 
blame if the people elect Judges that can't read writing." No one enjoyed 
the reply more than the Judge himself. 

About five years ago Ezra Town was in Syracuse on a visit to James 
M. Ellis. Mr. Town was in business in this city from 1825 to 1855, and 
gave the following particulars of trade matters at an early day: "East of 
Montgomery street, between the Genesee turnpike and the Erie Canal, was 
a dense alder swamp. On the corner of Mulberry and Fayette streets was 
a house, but it was considered away out in the country. The man who 
built it was ridiculed for going so far for a home. The old red mill was 
still standing on the east bank of the creek near the turnpike. The amount 
of business done in Syracuse in 1825 was much less than that at Onondaga. 
Nearly all of the .stores were on the north side of the canal, in a block be- 
tween the two bridges. When it became known that I was going to open 
a grocery on the other side of the canal people said that I could not live, 
but I did, and without selling whisky, which was the general custom with 
merchants of that day. Syracuse then contained only about thirty houses. 
Reuben West and the Eastmans, at Onondaga Hill, and W. H. Raynor, at 
the Valley, sold more goods and bought more produce than the whole of 
us in Syracuse." 

The venerable Mr. Elisha Ford says that the first brick building in 
Syracuse was the Syracuse House, and the first brick dwelling is the build- 
ing which is still standing just east of the Bastable Block. It is more than 
remarkable that both of these structures should have so long escaped the 
numerous changes that have taken place. 

In 1824-25 James Webb came down from Onondaga Hill and built the 
first and only stone dwelling house in the village. It was erected in West 
Water street, and he kept it for a time as a boarding-house. Since then it 
has been used for various purposes, and is now standing and used as a dye- 
house. 

The manner in which railroad trains were run fifty years ago is in part 
illustrated by the following statement of a locomotive engineer who be- 
came connected with the Syracuse and Utica division of what is now the 
Central in June, 1845, si.\ years after its comi)letion : "When I became 
an engineer on this division," he says, " the company had five engines. 
The heaviest one did not weigh over fifteen tons. The smallest weighed 
about thirteen tons. The time of the regular run between Syracuse and 



Reminiscences. 687 



Utica, fifty-one miles, was three and one-lialf hours. The usual train con- 
sisted of four passenger coaches and a freight car. Tlity were all small 
eight- wheeled cars. One day I ran my train from Syracuse into the station 
at Utica fifteen minutes ahead of time. Every one about the station was 
astonished, and a great many questions were asked regarding the trip. 
Some persons thought I must have left Syracuse ahead of time. They had 
been accustomed to seeing the trains come in late. In some way the news 
of my fast trip reached the ears of the officials of the road in Syracuse. 
When I arrived in that city on my next run Superintendent John Wilkin- 
son called me into his office and reprimanded me for running my train so 
fast. I argued that there was no time-card stating what time the train 
should arrive at stations on the line, and I had no specific orders as to run- 
ning fast or slow. The Superintendent told me that a repetition of the 
offense would result in my discharge from the company's services. I was 
more careful after that. Our fastest train was the one that carried the 
Governor's message. It made the time from Utica to Syracuse in about 
two and one-quarter hours. It took seven and one half hours to carry the 
message from Albany to Auburn. The train was watched by groups of 
astonished people along the line. They said it went like lightning, but 
such lightning could easily be dodged. There were no switches along the 
road in those days. The road was double- tracked between Verona and 
Canastota, and trains were e.xpected to pass each other between those sta 
tions. When they failed to do this and met on the single track one of the 
trains had to back up and run in on the extra track or turnout. There was 
no telegraph and consequently no orders along the line for the running of 
trains. In case of an accident to the train we would get a farmer to drive 
to the nearest station and notify some of the employees of the road, and 
then a hand-car would be sent to Syracuse or Utica for aid. Railroading 
in those days was pretty slow business, but we did n't think so at the time. 
I did not expect to live to see it advanced to its present state." 

The venerable Judge Comstock had but recently been beaten in several 
cases before the General Term, when he re- appeared in reference to several 
other cases in which appeals had been taken from the trial court, and re- 
membering his recent experiences he made no argument, but brought 
smiles to the faces of the Justices when he said : " May it please your hon- 
ors, I pause here on my way to the Court of Appeals only long enough to 
hand up my briefs." It was characteristic wit and sarcasm. 

David J. Mitchell was once assigned by the court to the defense of an 
im[)ecutiious negro at Morrisville. Mr. Mitchell exerted his best efforts 
during the taking of testimony and spoke at much length in summing up; 
but the guilt of the man was so clearly proven that the jury found a verdict 



688 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

without leaving their seats, and five minutes later the Judge had sentenced 
him to State Prison for life. Mr. Mitchell then turned to the negro and re- 
marked : " Well, sir, you may thank me for that speech, for without it you 
would have got twenty years more." 

Perhaps the best exhibition of legal lore ever made in the city was on 
the occasion of the trial of one Lindsay, indicted for the murder of a man 
near Baldvvinsville. The late Hon. Charles B. Sedgwick appcarctl as one 
of the counsel for the prisoner, and during the trial an expert from Phila- 
delphia was called by the people to show that blood that had been put in 
evidence was human blood, and blood of the murdered man. He had 
sworn very positive!}' and at considerable length when Mr. Sedgwick be- 
gan his cross-examination, which continued during the most of two days. 
Mr. Sedgwick had especially prepared himself for this branch of the exam- 
ination, and step by step he wove a web about the expert which at last 
began to disturb his equanimity and indicate the main purpose of the in- 
quiry. Mr. Sedgwick had applied his severest sarcasm and irony in at- 
tacking the standing of the witness as an expert, and had confronted him 
with the opinions of eminent authorities with whom the witness had disa- 
greed, and in the earlier part of the examination firmly asserted that it was 
easy to distinguish between the blood of a person and that of a pig. Mr. 
Sedgwick led up to the important question: "Do you now say, in view of 
all the authorities that have been presented, and following the vehement af- 
firmations which you have made, that you can distinguish the blood of a pig 
from the blood of a man ? " in such a skillful manner that the witness began 
to tremble at the conclusion of the question. He was pressed for an an- 
swer, and finally replied : " No," thus destroying his testimony for the 
people. 

During the War of 1812 th.e old military arsenal in the Valley, which 
has been described on an earlier page of this work, was a place of consider- 
able importance. Bodies of soldiers often made it a stopping-place for a 
night, or while awaiting orders. The antiquarian is interested in this con- 
nection in the fate of an artillery officer and a comrade, who was probably 
a private, who were passing from the Niagara frontier eastward, towards the 
close of the war. It is said that the officer belonged to the first artillery 
conqiany in the country. These two soldiers were taken sick on the march, 
and when tlie old arsenal was reached they were left to receive such care as 
could be given them there. Both died and were buried on the Hopper 
farm on the hill at the west side of the Valley, and the graves are marked 
with simple stones. Those two graves have attracted the attention of hun- 
dreds of passers by, and caused almost endless conjecture as to whose re- 
mains were buried there. 



I, 




% 



JL 





Cl^<^^^<^^ 



Reminiscences. 689 

Wieting Hall, though it some time ago was superceded by the Wieting 
Opera House, is of historic interest. It was the offspring of a happy 
thought of the owner of the Wieting Block, Dr. John M. Wieting, and twice 
it was destroyed by fire, h'or many years the State conventions of tlie 
political parties were held in it, and not a few lively scenes were witnessed 
at such times, some of which have been referred to in an earlier chapter 
of this book. Among the very last of such conventions held in it was 
that of the year 1872, when the Liberal party, which supported Horace 
Greeley for the Presidency, was organized in this State. The events at- 
tending that division of the Republican party were even more interesting 
to the public than those on the occasion of the withdrawal of John Kelly 
and Tammany Hall, when they, like the Liberals, found themselves in the 
minority and unable to control the organization of the convention. Wiet- 
ing Hall and Syracuse only yielded up their popularity when the great car- 
avansaries of Saratoga bid successfully for political patronage, and even 
after that time State conventions were occasionally held here, one, in par- 
ticular, at which Grover Cleveland was nominated for Governor, on his way 
to the Presidency. Here for many years congregated the politicians of the 
State, great and small, and of all parties, the " Barnburners," " Loco-Focos," 
"Hunkers," "Silver Grays," "Woolly Heads," Whigs, Democrats, Repub- 
licans, Know- Nothings, and Abolitionists. Here great men and women 
have been seen or heard, or both, for while some have electrified great audi- 
ences by their oratory, acting, or song, others have controlled assemblages 
by their quiet, yet powerful, influence, such for instance as Thurlow Weed, 
Dean Richmond, Peter Cagger, John Kelly, and many others of no less 
fame. Among the political sayings that have come down from these con- 
ventions is one from Dean Richmond, which, because it illustrates so much 
of political management, will live for some time to come. His will was the 
will of his party, and, on one occasion, after making up the " slate " for the 
convention, one of his lieutenants observed that he had neglected to name 
the last and most insignificant candidate. Mr. Richmond's attention being 
called to the fact, and weary of the task he had already performed, re- 
marked: "Yes, I have made that omission " ; and then after a moment's re- 
flection said, " perhaps that nomination might as well be left to the conven- 
tion," and it was. The first convention in the city that can be recalled is 
that of the Whigs in 1850. It met in September in Market Hall, which, 
before the erection of Wieting Hall, was generally used for public meetings. 
It was also the City Hall, and was renovated from time to time according 
to the needs of a growing city, but was demolished in 1890 to make room 
for the new municipal building now in course of erection, at a cost of some- 
thing more than two hundred thousand dollars. Within its walls, too, has 

87 



690 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

resounded the eloquence of voices of national reputation. Of the orators 
and statesmen who have been heard in VVieting Hall were Charles Sumner, 
Wendell Phillips, Samuel J. Tilden, John B. Gough, Henry Ward Beecher, 
Horace Greeley, Henry J. Raymond, Frederick Douglass, Stephen A. 
Douglass, Governor Andrew, Governor Brough, and Governor Morgan, (" the 
war Governors" of Massachusetts, Ohio, and New York respectively,) Roscoe 
Conkling, Senator John Sherman, Gerrit Smith, William Lloyd Garrison, 
Vice-President Hamlin, Rev. Samuel J. May, President Chester A. Arthur, 
John Van Buren, Horatio Seymour, Anna Dickinson. The dramatic stage 
attracted Charles Dickens, Janauschek, Charlotte Cushman, Edwin Booth, 
John McCuUough, Lawrence Barrett, Edwin Forrest, Joseph Jefterson, and 
many others scarcely less brilliant in both America and Europe. Parepa 
Rosa, AdelinaPatti, and Christine Nillson were of those who succeeded Jenny 
Lind in this country, with many other magnificent vocalists of reputation. 
In the days when the lyceum was popular scores of lecturers afforded excel- 
lent instruction and entertainment ; concerts were frequent, and scientific 
exhibitions were well patronized. The I'ranklin Institute was for a time a 
flourishing institution, and its midwinter "fairs" were popular in the ex- 
treme. Not the least attractive were the courses of lectures on physiology 
which Dr. Wieting gave, several winters after he built the block and hall 
from the proceeds of such lectures given by him throughout the country 
during several years previously. These lectures were illustrated with the aid 
of manikins and charts — something quite new for those days. As Syra- 
cuse was looked upon as a " hot bed of abolitionism " in the more heated 
anti-slavery days, it was but natural that Market Hall and Wieting Hall 
should have been the arena of some of the most renowned debates, and in 
some instances these gatherings of Abolitionists were disgracefully assailed 
by mob violence. Especially in "wartimes" was Wieting Hall filled with 
eloquence, patriotism, and enthusiasm, when there were great assemblages 
of people to devise ways and means for recruiting the army or giving it 
moral and political support through the aid of the " Union party," a union 
of Republicans and Democrats in support of the Union army. On such 
occasions the hall was frequently magnificently decorated with the Old Flag 
and tricolors, especially in celebration of some important victory. At 
such times bands of music would occupy the gallery, while cannon would 
boom from the packet dock with an eloquence of oratory which would stir 
the multitude to the highest pitch of excitement. But when the Wieting 
Block was last burned a few j-ears ago the hall of course lost its personal 
interest, but memories of it will live while those li\e who were witnesses to 
its many stirring scenes. The entrance to it was from Salina street, one 
flight up, with the stage in the west end. A wide gallery extended from 



Reminiscences. 691 



the stage around the hall. Originally its seats were connected wooden 
chairs, and moveable, but in later years, after the first fire, it was supplied 
with opera chairs. The present Wieting Opera House is much more pre- 
tentious in its appearance than the old hall, but it is no more pleasing to 
those who remember Wieting Hall. 

Convention Hall was less pretentious, but for many years it was a pop- 
ular place of meeting for small conventions and newly organized churches. 
Concerts and lectures were frequently given in it. It was located in the 
Convention Block in East Genesee street, ne.xt west of the building now 
occupied b)' the Courier Printing Company. 

Corinthian Hall was also well known thirty years ago, and was the place 
of some noted entertainments. It was situated on the second floor of the 
building in North Salina street, a little south of the present Columbia 
Market. 

Malcom Hall, in the present Malconi Block, South Salina street corner 
of Washington street, was also once a popular place of amusement. The 
Christy Minstrels of long ago made their first appearance in this part of the 
State there. 

And there was Myers Hall, in the present Myers Block, which became 
somewhat conspicuous from being the lodge room of the " Sons of Malta," 
an organization of much dignity on the e.\tcrior, but highly deceptive and 
amusing in its interior. There are still many of its victims living who will 
remember the midnight parade it once made, with its thousand mem- 
bers in cowls and gowns, and the distribution of bread it made to the poor. 
Its membership embraced many of the most prominent citizens, inveigled 
into its mysteries by deception, but when once within its doors waited with 
good humor to have revenge upon some innocent friend. The "order" had 
no object other than to gratify fun-loving dispositions. 

These facts may be noted here for preservation : Onondaga county was 
first settled in 1786. Syracuse was first known by the Indians as Webster's 
Camp and Webster's Landing. It was known as Bogardus Corners from 
1796 to 1809, when the name was changed to Milan, and to South Salina (to 
distinguish it from Salina) in 1812. Two years later, in 1814, the name 
was again changed to Cossitt's Corners, and in 181 7 to Corinth. There 
was a postofTice in the State of that name in 1820, when it was desired to 
establish a postoffice here, hence it was neces.sary to again change the name, 
this time to Syracuse. The village was incorporated April 13, 1825, and 
the village became a city December 13, 1847, with a population of about 
1 6,000. 

John Wilkinson was the pioneer lawyer. He came to " Corinth " in 
1819, and located his office " out of town" on the corner now occupied by 



692 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

the Globe Hotel. He was followed in 1824 by Alfred Nortliam. Then 
came Harvey Baldwin and Schuyler Strong (in 1826), and Horace Wheaton, 

Davis, E. W. Leavenworth, B. Davis Noxon, James R. Lawrence, 

Joshua Forman, George F. Comstock, Grove Lawrence, John H. Hulbcrt, 
Daniel Gott, D. D. Hillis, Daniel Pratt, Charles B. Sedgwick, William J. 
Hough, Henry J. Sedgwick, John Ruger, John G. Forbes, James W. Nye, 
Thomas T. Davis, N. B. Smith, Peter Cutwater, R. H. Gardner, James S. 
Leach, Le Roy Morgan, Hamilton Burdick, Thomas G. Alvord, William C. 
Ruger, Charles Andrews, George N. Kennedy, Frank Hiscock, while many 
have followed them. It is believed that of all these but seven are now 
living. 

It is said that the discovery of salt under the Tully hills but verifies the 
oft-repeated behef of a famous and respected chief of the Onondaga Indians, 
Captain George. Upon what he based his opinion is not definitely known ; 
but a member of the tribe recently told the writer that the chief often said 
that " if white men would go deep down in the earth over towards the morn- 
ing sun they would find salt in big piles." About twenty wells supply a 
1 2-inch pipe which now brings a million gallons of very strong brine to the 
city every day. W. B. Cogswell spent much time and money in " pros- 
pecting " for a salt mine, and was at last (in 1889) abundantly rewarded. 
The Solvay Process Works (of which Mr. Cogswell is President) are now 
supplied with brine of the exact strength required (within one degree of 
saturation), and there is brine to spare for some of the manufacturers of 
salt. 

Bradley Carey, eighty-seven years old, recalls these facts and incidents: 
"When I came here in 1825 I was nearly twenty-one years of age. The vil- 
lage of Syracuse contained 800 or 900 inhabitants, for the most part north 
of and near the Erie Canal. The old Mansion Tavern stood where the Empire 
House does now. The salt men were then just commencing to make salt 
by the solar process, and were building works south of West Genesee street. 
Two years before I came here to live, or in 1823, I recollect attending a 
show in the hall of the Mansion Tavern. Samuel Earned used to carry his 
show about on a canal boat, exhibiting at the towns along the canal. I re- 
member it consisted of wax figures, two of which were Lady Jane Grey and 
Mary, Queen of Scots. We thought it was a great show in those days. 
The greatest excitement we had then was town meeting. The nearest 
polling place was at Salt Point, or, as it later was called, Salina. As town 
meeting came in the spring of the year we often had to go in sleighs over 
a very rough and much drifted road. I remember one election, the first 
time Jackson ran for the Presidency. Excitement ran high. There were 
two or three feet of snow in the road. Both parties had sleighs carrying 



Reminiscences. 693 



people to the polls, and as the road had only a single track then a trip to 
Salt Point was pretty rough. When I came to Syracuse the only church 
in the village which was finished and occupied was the Baptist church, 
which stood where the First Universalist church now stands. I was a car- 
penter by trade and worked on the first Presbyterian church and the first 
I'Lpiscopal church ever built in the city. In 1825 these churches were be- 
ing built, also tlie first Methodist church ever erected in the city. They 
were all, I think, small wooden structures. The Presbyterian church stood 
where McCarthy's retail store now stands ; the Episcopal church (old St. 
Paul's) on the lot bounded by Genesee, Washington, and Warren streets, 
where the Granger Block stands, and the Methodist church where the First 
Methodist is now. I think the present First M. E. church is an enlargement 
of that same building, at least it is on the same site. The Catholics bought 
the Episcopal church some years later and moved it down in Montgomery 
street, where it now stands. It is the old St. Mary's." 

The ground now covered by the Durston Memorial Building and con- 
tiguous stores, at the corner of James and Warren streets, possesses some 
historic interest. In 1820 Daniel Kellogg, William H.Sabine, and Joshua 
Forman, then owners of these premises, entered into a contract with Thomas 
Spencer and David Johnson to build a boat-house and construct a dry 
dock. The title to the property became vested in the Syracuse Company 
in 1824, and by the company a sale was made to Thomas Spencer in 1828. 
Mr. Spencer was a boat builder. An interesting document still preserved 
is an agreement dated February 27, 1834, under the terms of which Maria 
Durston, of the town of Salina, indentured her son, John Durston, to Thomas 
Spencer as an apprentice, John Durston then being seventeen years old. 
The agreement was that Spencer should furnish " the said John good and 
sufficient meat, drink, washing, and lodging, and also pay for his services at 
the rate of $75 for the first year." The wages were so graded that on 
reaching his majority the young man was to receive $200 a year. The 
young boat builder was industrious and economical, and in 1843 he pur- 
chased the property of Mr. Spencer and owned it until his death. 

The first execution for murder in the county was that of Zachariah 
Freeman, a negro living in the town of Lysander. He murdered a white 
woman named Sarah Boyd, on the i8th of May, 1840, and was hung in 
Syracuse on the 19th of November by Sheriff Phillips. Governor Seward 
was petitioned to commute the sentence, but he refused to interfere. Colo- 
nel Johnson, Under Sheriff, acted as executioner. All the witnesses are 
now dead. There were present, besides the Sheriff and Under Sheriff, 
Deputies Erastus Baker, jr., and Henry Seymour, Jailer Butts, Constables 
Henry L. Fellows, William D. Lewis, Amos Gillett, T. Holmes, and Sylves- 



694 Memorial History or Syracuse. 

ter House, Judges Lawrence, Strong, Hall, and Mason, District Attorney 
Dodge, County Clerk Elijah Rhoades, and Surrogate Minard. The official 
witnesses were Jonas Earll, Amos P. Granger, Oliver Teall, Moses S. Marsh, 
Z. W. Cogg^.well, William A. Cook, Josiah Wright, William Malconi, Rufus 
Stanton, Samuel Hickox, Philo N. Rust, and Frederick Benson. 

Many older citizens still remember the stone bridge built in the form of 
an arch over the Erie Canal, in Salina street. This bridge was so low that 
people upon the decks of canal boats passing under it were frequently in- 
jured. The attention of Canal Commissioner Earll being called to the fact, 
he said : " Yes, I will have the cause of these complaints removed by deep- 
ening the bottom of the canal at that point ! " 

At a meeting held at Onondaga Hill, in the Court- 1 louse, on February 
23, 18 16, to furtiier consider the project of constructing the Erie Canal, 
a plan for raising the required amount of money, $10,000,000, was proposed 
which would be quite novel for these days. A memorial to the Legislature 
was presented, having previously been prepared by a committee, of which 
Judge Forman, General Thaddeus M. Wood, and Judge Geddes were mem- 
bers, which suggested aid from these sources: Congress, $2,500,000; 
State of New York, $2,500,000; State of Ohio, $1,000,000; New York 
city and adjacent counties, $2,000,000 ; and individuals, $2,000,000 ; the last 
to be secured by the issue of stock, to bear interest at five per cent., protected 
by a lien on canal tolls. The money was to be raised in amounts of one mil- 
lion for ten years, the estimated time required for constructing the canal. The 
memorial was adopted and presented to the Legislature by a committee, 
but it was never acted upon. 

In '• war times" considerable jest was made of a clumsy order issued by 
the colonel of one of the regiments which went from this city, in which he 
somewhat irreveranlly mentioned the Almighty, though not intending to 
do so. But he afterwards redeemed himself with his friends by showing 
how easy it was for army officers to make or overlook mistakes by sending 
home an order, issued by the Adjutant-General of the army, which, for 
want of punctuation, read as follows in its closing paragraph : " May God 
preserve the Union of the States by order of the Secretary of War. 
L. Thomas, Adjutant- General." 

It is interesting to know that in its early daj-s the western part of Syra- 
cuse was wooded with hemlock, birch, and soft maple, while the timber in 
the eastern part was cedar, pine, and hickory. Vast quantities of this wood 
were consumed by the salt works. 

It is well to preserve the fact that nowhere was the death of General 
U. S. Grant more sincerely mourned than in Syracuse, as was shown by 
the street drapings and the monster assemblage at the Alhambra at the 



Reminiscences. 695 



memorial service, August 8, 1885. Mayor Thomas Ryan presided, and the 
address was delivered by Hon. Carroll K. Smith Prayer was offered by 
the Rev. K. W. Mundy, and remarks were made by the Rev. Dr. J. J. Mo- 
riarty and the Rev. T. K. Clark-. Hymns were sung by the great congre- 
gation, led by the Apollo Club. 

There was once an e.xtrensive Indian burying-place near where the 
High School now stands, formerly occupied by the red mill. In excavating 
a dike leading to it, in 18 19, the skull of an Indian of unusual size was ex- 
humed. More than one hundred skulls have been found in that locality. 

Albion Jackson is supposed to have been the first white child born 
within the old village of Syracuse. The event occurred in December, 1800. 

On the evening of January 8, 1829, a " grand military ball " was given 
at the Syracuse House in celebration of the election of General Jackson to 
the Presidency in the fall of 1828. A. N. Van Patten was the leader in 
tile event. In the middle of the ball room was a hickory tree, with manu- 
factured leaves upon it painted green, and live squirrels upon the branches. 
It is probable that Elisha Ford, of Syracuse, is the only person now living 
who attended the ball. Six Shakesperean engravings which were used in 
the elaborate decoration of the hall are now in the possession of the Hon. 
William Kirkpatrick, of Syracuse. 

Tlie First Presbyterian Ciiurch Society was organized in 1824. A year 
later Judge Foiman circulated a subscription paper to raise a fund with 
which to erect an edifice. There were eighty-two subscribers, of whom not 
one is now living. 

In 1827 the Trustees of the village, having due regard for the safety of 
property, appointed a " Protection Company " of twelve reliable citizens, 
whose duty it should be " to protect such goods as must of necessity 
be removed at a fire, and to direct the packing of the same." Each mem- 
ber of the company was ordered to carry " a good and sufficient bag to all 
fires for the more safety of packing and removing goods." It was also or- 
dered that " the Trustees shall each carry a staff at fires, such as shall be 
designated an insignia of office of fire wardens, for the purpose of compell- 
ing such [persons] as are unwilling to render due assistance in all cases at 
fires." 

Personal sensibility and personal sorrow shown in a public manner were 
never more conspicuous than on the occasion of the death of President 
Abraham Lincoln. The main thoroughfares of the city were heavily 
draped, and there was scarcely a home which did not bear some insignia of 
mourning. So great was the demand for common black cambric and so 
scarce became the supply that a dollar a yard was freely paid for it. Thou- 
sands of draped flags were to be seen, and the signs of mourning were uni- 



696 Memorial Histukv of Syracuse. 



versa!, and none who stood among the thousands of people on tlie line of 
Washington street on the night when the remains of the good President 
passed through the city on the way to Springfield, Illinois, can ever forget 
the scene. It was nearly midnight when the headlight of the pilot engine 
which escorted the funeral train was seen coming from the tunnel. At that 
moment all the church ami public bells of the city began tolling, and the 
firing of minute guns broke upon the perfect stillness of the air. The great 
crowd of people w;is hushed, and slowly and almost silently the draped en- 
gine passed by, when .ill eyes were turned to watch for the approach of the 
following train. Soon it appeared, and, literally covered with black, it 
rolled quietly along to the station, then standing in what is now Vanderbilt 
Square. As it entered the station it was at once surrounded by a local reg- 
iment of military, acting as a guard of honor. The impressiveness of the 
entire scene, where people stood with heads uncovered and spoke almost in 
whispers as the body of the great oak among men was borne along towards 
his last resting place, cannot be described. Everything conspired to lend 
awe and solemnity to the occasion. Memorial sei vices took place in Sj'ra- 
cuse, as in hundreds of other large places throughout the country. The 
funeral oration was pronounced by the Hon. Charles B. Sedgwick. It was 
a masterly production, unquestionably the ablest of his many brilliant efforts. 

In 1822 Liverpool was a place of much more importance than either 
Salina or Syracuse. Farmers found a good market there and received cash 
for their products, while in the places last mentioned an equivalent was too 
freely offered in salt. 

John Randel, jr., made the first maps of this locality, and they are now 
prized for their accuracy. He was a resident of Albany, but was employed 
to survey Central New York. Before beginning his work it was his custom 
to require his assistants to take an oath, which read as follows: "We, the 
subscribers, do severally swear that we will faithfully execute the trust re- 
posed in us by John Randel, jr., as assistants. So help us God." In 1821 
he established the monuments in the Salina salt district. 

The Rev. Daniel Waldo, who died July 30, 1864, aged lOi years, ten 
months, and twenty days, was remarkable for a long life most actively spent. 
He was born in Connecticut in 1762, and was a living witness to the events 
and progress of this country for more than a century. At the time of his 
death he was the oldest graduate of Yale College — a member of the class 
of 1788. He participated in many thrilling events of the war of the Rev- 
olution, though young in years. In 1789 he entered the ministry of the 
Congregational church, and continued in it to the time of his death. He 
preached his last sermon after he had entered uj)on his I02d year. Atone 
place where he was stationed as a minister in his earlier years (Columbia, 



Rkminiscences. 697 



Connecticut) a military review took place, and Mr. Waldo was invited to 
participate in the dinner which followed, and there gave an example of the 
readiness with which he could meet almost any unexpected situation. At 
the table there was a free use of profanity, and the commanding officer 
having said to Mr. Waldo, by way of intended compliment, jjcrhaps, that he 
was glad he had come to dine with the officers, and that in doing so he 
seemed to differ in his judgment with some of his brothers who had de- 
clined smiilar invitations, Mr. Waldo replied : " My Master was not afraid 
to dine with publicans and sinners, and I am not." In December, 1856, 
being then ninety-four years of age, he was, on the motion of Representa- 
tive Amos P. Granger, appointed Chaplain of the House of Representatives, 
and when his term e.xpired was re-elected. His long life was literally filled 
with well-doing, and he died honored of all who knew him personally or by 
reputation. 

The Syracuse subscribers, in 1834, to the fund of $400,000 for con- 
structing the Syracuse and Auburn Railroad, were Stephen Smith, $2,000 ; 
L. H. Redfield, $1,000; M. S. Marsh, $1,000; W. and H. Raynor, $10,- 
000; Joseph Savage, $500; John B. Ives, $5,000; James Manning, $500 ; 
Thomas Spencer, Agnew & Wood, and Daniel Elliott, $1,000 each ; I'hilo 
N. Rust, by G. Lawrence, attorney, $200; Richard S. Corning, $1,000; 
Joel Cody, by J. Manning, attorney, $100; Amos Benedict, $500; John 
L. V. Vates, $300 ; John Wilkinson, $2,000; V. W. Smith, $2,000; Henry 
Davis, jr., $2,000. The subscriptions in Auburn amounted to about 
$350,000. 

The first court-house was erected at Onondaga Hill in 1805-06. In 
1829 the county seat was removed to Syracuse, and a court-house was built 
midway between Syracuse and Salina. This building was burned in 1856, 
after which the present structure in Clinton Square was built. 

It is said that the oldest house in the city, built of wood, is No. 310 
James street, occupied by Martin Still. The first house constructed of stone 
is still standing in West Water street.Jand is occupied bj' Smith, the dyer. It 
was built about 1824, by John Webb. The first steps made of stone may 
still be seen at the entrance to an unsightly building at the east end of the 
Bastable Block, in East Genesee street. A cut of the oldest brick building, 
on the corner of Salina and Ivxchange streets, appears on page "jj. 

The State took possession of the Salt Springs Reservation in 1797. 
William Stevens was the first Superintendent, from June 20, 1797, until his 
death in 1801. 

It is believed that the first colored man to come to this locality was Isaac 
Wales, who, with his family, settled here in 1824. " Uncle Ike " came from 
Maryland to Manlius with the Fleming family as a slave in 18 10. He 

88 



698 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

bought his freedom for $80. John Savage's was the first Irish family to 
locate here. The late Richard Savage was a son of John Savage. The 
first German resident was Andrew Fessenmyer. 

A contemporary of the Hon. T. G. Alvord relates that when they were 
boys they were members of a lyceum in Salina. Mr. Alvord had not reg- 
ularly joined in the discussions, so that one evening the President souglit to 
bring him into the debate, and asked him, " Which side of the question will 
you discuss ? " " Either side," Mr. Alvord replied ; and added, " I can talk 
on one side as well as the other, and can carry my point, too." 

The line of stage coaches which was run between Albany and Buffalo, 
and through Syracuse, half a century and more ago, was quite as important 
to the traveling public and business interests of the country as is the New 
York Central Railroad now. The first use made of broken stone fora road- 
way was on the old Genesee turnpike. Coaches were run in such number 
daily as the needs of the public required, some one of them carrj'ing the 
mails, with letter postage between Syracuse and New York at eighteen and 
three-fourths cents, and a way-bill accompanying every letter. A good 
stage driver was a man of prominence as well as of deeds ; and the more 
renowned was he if he could excel in blowing his horn to warn relay sta- 
tions along the road of his approach. Among the more prominent drivers 
were " Sam " VVildrick, Thomas Wheeler, Mr. Williams, " Dan " Bennett, 
Colonel Wood, " Ed " Chappel, " Bob " Blanchard, T. H. Faxton, and 
Henry Bristol. The Syracuse House was headquarters for all of the stage 
lines. The stage coaches supplied the model from which cars for the 
first railroads were built, with a wide board along the exterior, upon 
which the conductor walked to collect fares. A line of packet boats on 
the canal made competition lively. These offered comfortable accommo- 
dations and made good speed, the horses, in tandem, being driven at a trot- 
ting pace. And the captain of a packet boat was a more important per- 
sonage than the captain of an ocean racer is in these days. 

In other years Syracuse was sometimes, and with much truth, called 
an " abolition center," a grand station of the " underground railroads," this 
latter designation meaning that it was easy to secretly run an escaping 
slave through the place on his way to Canada. In May, 1851, the Ameri- 
can Anti-Slavery Society met in Syracuse, and among those present were 
such renowned Abolitionists as William Lloyd Garrison, Gerrit Smith, Fred- 
erick Douglass, Parker Pillsbury, Abbey Kelley Foster, and our own Rev. 
Samuel J. May. In his opening address Mr. Garrison showed the preju- 
dice which existed throughout the country at that time. Said he: "This 
society has heretofore met in New York ; but we arc not permitted by a 
power that is greater than liberty in our land to hold an anniversary in that 



Reminiscences. 699 

city tliis year, as neither a mcctiiig-lioiise nor a hall could be obtained. If 
driving the society from New York has covered that city with historical in- 
famy, the receiving of it in Syracuse will cover this city with historical re- 
nown." Tliereafter Syracuse was the place of many Abolition conventions. 
At this meeting there was a noted controversy between the Hon. Charles B. 
Sedgwick and George Thompson, a member of the English I'arliament. 
Mr. Sedgwick made an address in which he strongly favored the abolish- 
ment of slavery, but he would accomplish it by ])eaceful means rather than 
by force. To this Mr. Thompson took exceptions and made a severe per- 
sonal attack upon Mr. Sedgwick. Mr. Sedgwick made a brief, courteous, and 
scorching reply, which threw the assemblage into a tumult that continued 
for some time, and amid the confusion friends of both parties to the contro- 
versy attempted to make speeches, but the assemblage would not hear 
either Mr. Sedgwick or Mr. Thompson again. At length quiet was re- 
stored, when Mr. Thompson offered an apology, when the excited audience 
arose and gave three cheers each to Mr. Thompson, Mr. Sedgwick, and the 
city of Syracuse. Mr. Sedgwick did not speak, but subsequently sent a 
letter to Mr. Thompson in which he fairly reviewed the occurrence and 
treated the matter in a way which won the admiration of all and the friend- 
ship of Mr. Thompson. 

Lewis H. Redfield was undoubtedly the oldest printer in the State at 
the time of his death, July 14, 1882. His history covers a long period of 
unusual activity and business success. In his boyhood he learned the art 
of printing and for many years published a newspaper at Onondaga Vallej', 
and later at Syracuse. He was at one time the associate of Horace Greeley 
as a compositor. He was an early settler, and a representative man. His 
tombstone in Oakwood Cemetery bears this inscription, at his own request: 

Lewis II. Redmei.d, 

Printer. 

A worn and battered form 

Gone to be recast. 

More beautiful and perfect. 

Born November 26, 1793. 

Died July 14, 1882. 

Before coming to Syracuse, with which they were so long identified, 
James R. and Grove Lawrence practiced law in the village of Camillus. 
Among those who graduated from James R. Lawrence's office in Camillus, 
as lawyers, were Daniel Pratt, D. D. Hillis, Joseph Sabine, William Porter, 
and Calvin Bingham, afterwards Governor of Michigan. 



700 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Onondaga Lodge of Odd Fellows was founded forty- nine years ago. 
The nearest lodges at that time were at Utica, Rochester, and Ithaca. A 
lodge room was established in Salina street, corner of Washington street. A 
removal was made later to the chamber of a building situated where the Mc- 
Carthy store now stands. About thirty-two years ago the building was 
burned and the lodge lost all it possessed. It is now situated in the Agan 
Building, and is still flourishing. 

One of the most famous law suits ever instituted in the county was begun 
by County Clerk Hicks. His tenacity of opinion was well known, and was 
well illustrated in his suit. While W. W. Teall was postmaster a transient 
newspaper came to his office addressed to Mr. Hicks, on the wrapper of 
which the initials of the sender were afli.xed. Under the postal regulations 
the postmaster made a demand for letter postage for the paper. This Mr. 
Hicks refused to pay and began a suit in trover for damages. The case 
was tried before Justice of the Peace Hurst and a jury, Stephen D. Dillaye 
appearing for the defence. The verdict was in favor of Mr. Hicks, where- 
upon Postmaster Teall, on a relation of the facts to the Postmaster- General, 
was instructed to take an appeal, which was done, and the case taken to the 
County Court, where judgment was affirmed. The case was ne.xt taken to 
the Supreme Court before Judge Gridley, and the judgment of the lower 
court affirmed. An appeal was taken to the Court of Appeals, where it was 
argued by Mr. Dillaye for the postmaster, and B. Davis No.xon for Mr. Hicks. 
Here again judgment was affirmed, and the case went to the Supreme Court 
of the United States, William H. Seward appearing for Mr. Hicks. Again 
the decision was in favor of Mr. Hicks. The Postmaster-General took special 
interest in the case from the beginning, and employed every proper means to 
secure a decision in favor of his department. The late Judge Allen was then 
United States District Attorney, and by request of the Postmaster- General 
gave his personal attention to the case. The postal regulations of those days 
declared that when marks were made upon newspapers " to convey in- 
formation" they were subject to letter postage. There was no evidence to 
show that the marks on this paper were placed there for the purpose of 
" conveying information," that they were in capital letters, or placed upon 
the wrapper by the person sending the paper. 

The first postmaster was John Wilkinson, appointed in 1820. He re- 
moved the office from time to time, always being able to transport its con- 
tents in a bag. It is said of him that he never allowed letters to remain in 
the office over night, but deposited them in his hat on closing the office, 
taking them to his home. The population of the village at the time of Mr. 
Wilkinson's appointment did not exceed 200. There were no church or 
school-houses. 



Reminiscences. 701 

The depression in agricultural regions to clay ought not to be discour- 
aging when contrasted with the prices in the winter of 1819-20, when 
there was not an inch of snow until February. Wheat sold for thirty-one 
cents a bushel, corn eighteen cents, and potatoes ten cents. Other produce 
bore relative prices. Four bushels of wheat was required to buy a pound 
of tea. 

The " Village Green," seventy years ago, and up to a considerable later 
period, was comprised within the boundaries of S.ilina, Fayette, Warren, 
and Washington streets. Here it was that caravans pitched their tents 
and the village boys indulged in frolics. Along the north side of the green 
were located the large barns belonging to the various stage lines. The only 
building on the square was the Presbyterian church edifice, constructed of 
wood, with hugh pillars in front and a spire which was considered tall for 
those days. Here it was that the nnich-beloved Rev. John Watson Adams 
ministered for many years, and until his death, which occurred while the 
present edifice was being erected. Some time after the wooden church was 
built a small, single story building was constructed in the rear of it, which 
was used by the sessions for occasional meetings. Many of the public village 
meetings were also held here, and the Young Men's Lyceum Society occu- 
pied it once a week and flooded it with eloquence. This lyceum was 
popular with the elite of the village. 

The museum of early days, long before the present Historical Society 
was organized, was in the second and third stories of a building on ground 
now occupied by the Onondaga County Savings Hank. It was a great 
creation, quite equal in boyish ideas, with its wonders and curiosities, to 
Barnum's later conglomerations in New York. Here were wax figures of 
Washington, Arnold, and Kidd, Mrs. Temple the murderess, the Witch of 
Fndor, and other celebrities and notorious characters. There were also 
many relics and Indian curiosities, and war weapons in abundance of South 
Sea Islanders. A stuft'ed crocodile of hugh proportions was a great at- 
traction. This entire collection was destroyed by fire, during which the 
crocodile was thrown from a window into the street and much broken, when 
it was found that its make- up had mysteriously changed to wood and 
leather. So the Cardiff Giant was not the first case in this locality of the 
imposition upon the public of a fraudulent figure. 

Two peculiar characters of the village were Scribbins, the constable, 
and John Contree. Scribbins was a man of very large proportions, of iron 
will, and true to duty. He was looked upon b\- children as being danger- 
ous to iheir existence. Carrying with him the very odor of jail bars, hand- 
cuffs, and thumb-screws, when Scribbins approached a party of children 
at play they would invariably lay their sports aside and hasten away. Yet 



•J02 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

he was a good officer. Contree was yellowish in color, and his hair was 
curly and crisp. He was good natured and happy in disposition, well 
known, and well liked. He ran of errands, rang auction bells, and did odd 
jobs of various kinds. At auctions he prided himself on his ability to name 
the list of goods offered for sale, usually closing it with "black silk stock- 
ings of all kinds, and other goods too numerous to mention." And there 
was a White Hat Association in those days, as there is now, and Contree 
appeared one day in the dress of the association, much to his disadvantage, 
for when night came he was very emphatically told that he had committed 
a serious breach of etiquette, and lost his head and good feeling at the same 
time. John died a victim to strong drink. 

Although the boundaries of the locality in which "American hydraulic 
cement," or water- lime, was first discovered are outside of the limits of 
Syracuse, nevertheless the city became a great center for the distribution 
of the article, and a sketch of such discovery may have an appropriate 
place here. It was during the early days of the construction of the Erie 
Canal that a large contract for quick-lime for the structures was made with 
Harris & Livingston, of Chittenango, Madison county. They burned a 
large kiln of limestone, but it was soon found, on practical trial of it, that 
the lime would not slack. Canvass White, one of the canal engineers, be- 
came much interested in the product and began a study of its composition. 
He called to his aid a Dr. Barto, of Herkimer county, a gentleman of 
scientific attainments, and together they pursued their investigations. Pul- 
verizing a quantity of the burnt rock in a common hand mortar. Dr. Barto 
mixed the product with a quantity of sand, rolled it into the form of a ball, 
and submerged it in water over night. In the morning it was found to 
have " set " so strongly that it could be rolled about the floor. Dr. ]5arto 
pronounced it equal in quality to the best Roman cement. Mr. White, 
who had recently returned from a professional trip to England, was of the 
same opinion, and obtained a patent-right to his discovery. Four hundred 
thousand bushels of this water- lime was used in the construction of the 
canal, in defiance of the patent, worth in royalties to Mr. W'hite $i6,000. 
The cement was everywhere used, and Mr. White, to defend his patent, 
finally brought suit against Timothy Brown, living near Chittenango, and 
recovered $1,700. Other contractors were equally liable ; the article had 
been extensively manufactured in Madison, Onondaga, and Cayuga coun- 
ties, and Mr. White had but to establish the validity of his patent to re- 
cover $20,000. Tiiese contractors petitioned the Legislature for relief ; and 
after a protracted controversy the State paid Mr. White $10,000 in full of 
all claim against them, on condition of his assigning his patent to the people 
of the State of New York, which was done. The cement was first burned 



Reminiscences. 703 



for market in tlie town of Sullivan, Madison county, a mile and one- half 
west of Chittenango, in the fall and winter of 1818-19. It was burnt on 
log-heaps and ground in a mill fitted up by John H. \'ates. Onondaga 
county afterward became the more important place for its production, and 
from which vast quantities have been shipped throughout the United States, 
to Canada, and Europe. Of late years it has not been in so great demand, 
having come into competition with a cement niaiic by machinery from 
substances other than lime rock. 

Joshua Forman, of Onondaga county, was the first to propose the con- 
struction of the Erie Canal in the Legislature, by offering a resolution in the 
Assembly, l-Vbruary 4, 180S, (which was concurred in by the Senate on the 
following day,) appointing a joint committee to take into consideration the 
propriety of exploring and causing an accurate survey to be made for a 
route between tide water and Lake Erie, to the end that Congress might be 
enabled to appropriate such sums of money as might be required for the 
accomplishment of that great national object. The resolution met with fav- 
orable action a few weeks later. James Geddcs, also of Onondaga county, 
was the first engineer ajipointed under the resolution, his commission com- 
ing from Surveyor-General Simeon De Witt, under date of June 11, 1S08. 
Thus it was that this locality began at a very early day to lead in all great 
enterprises. The section of canal through Syracuse was completed Octo- 
ber 22, 1819, also the " Salina side-cut," two miles in length, to afford ac- 
cess to the salt manufactories. Joshua Forman was the first canal collector 
at Syracuse, at a salary of $250 a year. D. S. Bates made a report of his 
survey for the Oswego Canal January 7, 1820. He stated the fall from On- 
ondaga Lake to Oswego at 1 19 feet, and the distance thirty- one and a half 
miles. His plan contemplated the locking of boats at Salina into the lake. 
He estimated the cost of the route through the lake and along the Seneca 
and Oswego Rivers at $212,599. I" making his survey he sought to avoid 
the extensive fisheries on the Oswego River. He stated that one thousand 
barrels of eels and five hundred barrels of other fish were caught annual!}' 
at Oswego Falls, and that the income from the fisheries amounted to $30,- 
000 a year. A later plan was, however, adopted, the southern starting 
point being at Salina. The original canal, before its enlargement, was 
opened for navigation December 10, 1828. The cost of construction was 
$525,115. The present Weigh Lock inSyracu.se took the place of a hydro- 
static lock. The tonnage of boats was obtained by the latter by measuring 
in a pond the displaced water which had previously been gauged in the 
lock. 

Although the credit of producing a war ship of novel construction and 
called the Monitor, which created so much sensation and performed such 



704 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

excellent service at a critical period in the Rebellion, is generally ascribed 
to Ericsson and others associated with him, it was really the invention of a 
Syracusan, Theodore R. Timby. He constructed a turret in the winter of 
1842-43, for which he obtained a patent, the model of which was almost 
identical with that empjojed by Ericsson. It was built in the sliop of 
Elain Lynds & Son, situated near the present Central Railroad station. An 
effort is now being made to have Congress recognize the fact by passing a 
joint resolution of credit to Mr. Timby. 

There were no "flyers" in 1835, but there was some competition be- 
tween water and stage transportation lines. Passenger rates between Syra- 
cuse and New York, " for those u ho travel in the steerage of canal boats 
and on barges towed by steamboats, and find themselves, $3.56 "; for first- 
class passengers, " found by the owners of boats, $6.25." Packet fares were 
four cents per mile, " including board." iMcight rates from New York to 
Syracuse were 49 cents per 100 pounds for " heavy goods," and 59 cents 
for '• light goods." In this year the total length of all the railroads within 
the State was one hundred miles, divided among seven companies. 

Sixty years ago the ground now occupied by the Century Club house 
bore a cottage house in which lived Major M. D. Burnet. It stood upon a 
knoll, and was thickly surrounded by a hickory grove. In a pine grove 
where now is situated Hon. George P. Hier's house lived a man by the 
name of Fields. A small yellow house occupied the place where now 
stands Horace K. White's house, in which lived Keeler Hoyt. On either 
side of the street was a dense forest. What is now the Fifth ward contained 
at that time three houses and a brick yard, the latter near the intersection 
of Seymour and Onondaga streets, and owned by Zopher Adams. A man 
named Hall occupied the lot upon which O. C. Potter's house now stands, 
in Onondaga street. There was a race track even at this early day some- 
where in that locality, at the head of the patrons ot which was Eb. Hop- 
kins, who possessed several horses which were "fast" for those days. 

It is believed that the first race course in this vicinity was on the lake 
shore, between Gcddes and Salina, early in the '20s. In 1828 there was 
a mile track in what is now the I'ifth and Thirteenth wards. A celebrated 
race look place in that year for a "stake" of $1,000, between "Salt Point 
John," owned by a Mr. Moore, of Salina, and "Paul Pry," owner unknown. 
Peo])lc were attracted from all parts of the State to see it. Henry and Ste- 
phen \'an 1 loosen were the owners of a blacksmith's shop which stood on 
the present site of the Earned Block, and they were present under a retainer 
of five dollars to insure the proper footing of the horses. " Paul Pry " won 
two of the three " heats," and carried off the prize. 

It would be interesting to learn what kind of fish were alluded to in the 




//i^O' ^^-,-1 C, /V^ 7i c^o cy^^ 



Reminiscences. 705 



journal of Father Le Moyne, the Jesuit, who came to Onondaga in August, 
1653. He says : " In spring, as soon as the snow is melted, it [the Oswego 
River] is full of gold fishes ; carp succeed them, afterwards the achigeu, 
which is a flat fish, six inches long, of excellent flavor." The latter were 
probably our present bass ; but what were the " gold fishes ? " 

It is related that when Albert Congdon was returning from "the ham- 
let" to Pompey with a hogshead of molasses, soon after the Erie Canal was 
opened, he went by way of the " Cinder road," now Onondaga avenue, 
and that when he reached the Furnace Brook, where it crossed the road- 
way, there was a great splashing of water. Looking for the cause, he 
ascertained it to be a twenty-pound salmon, which he killed with the butt 
of his whip. 

In 1840 hundreds of sheep were sold in Syracuse for twenty-five cents 
a head. The hides and tallow only were saved. The other parts were used 
for manure. The tallow was mainly used by Oliver Orcutt in making 
candles. 

It is said of William B. Kirk that while he was Assessor he made an 
assessment of the property in the village of Syracuse without leaving his 
house. His bill for services was two dollars. 

Chauncey Parsons, then living at Onondaga Hill, uncle of V.. E. Chap- 
man of the First ward, is said to have removed the first shovelful of earth 
when the construction of the Erie Canal was begun in this vicinity. 

In the First Ward Cemetery there is a grave about which there is a some- 
what elaborate and costly structure of mason work. The grave is covered 
by a large slab, from which the lettering is almost eft'aced. It once bore the 
name of Ichabod Brackett, who was an active, prominent business man in 
early days, and to whose energy Syracuse owes not a little. He died in 
1832. 

When Luke Aldridge was digging a cellar in ground now covered by 
the School of the Sacred Heart, in 1845, the top of a coffin was thrown up, 
this having once been a burial-place. Upon it, made with brass nails, were 
the letters " T. O." No one could guess for what name the initials stood 
until Ira Gilchrist, 84 years old, saw them and remembered Thomas Or- 
mand, the man who brought the first kettle for boiling salt to this locality. 

Daniel Candee is authority for the statement that when William B. Kirk 
came to Syracuse his desire was to buy a hotel, situated on the site now 
occupied by Kearney's Brewery, in the First ward. But the price of the 
property was $4,000, which was more money by $i,00O than he possessed, 
so he contented himself with the purchase of a tavern, built of wood, two 
stories high, situated on ground now occupied by the Kirk Block. He paid 
$2,700 for the property. He did not claim any superiority of judgment for 

89 



7o6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

choosing the advantageous location, but was driven to it because of his 
financial condition ; he really desired the tavern at Salina. He called his 
purchase the Kirk House, and in the course of six or seven years it disap- 
peared to give place to a brick block, which included stores in response to 
the popular demand. It rented so readily and so profitably that, it is said 
the income from it paid its cost every three years. The present magnificent 
Kirk Block, built by the son of the original owner of the property, well 
marks the progress which Syracuse has made. 

Amos Stanton, father of the late Rufus Stanton, came from Massachu- 
setts to Pompey in 1791, and bought three hundred acres of land for$i50. 
In 1805 he removed to this locality, and gave a cow for an acre of land and 
a log house, situated on the east side of Salina street, where the street 
crosses the Oswego Canal. Here he died one year later, leaving the care 
of the family to Rufus, who was born in Montgomery county eighteen 
years previously. An old resident states that at this age (probably in 
1806) Rufus assisted in the construction of a tavern on land now occupied 
by the Empire House. It is also related that, at a somewhat later period, 
Mr. Stanton and his brother-in-law, Joseph Landon, became proprietors of 
the largest tavern west of Albany, and entertained General Scott and other 
officers on their way to Sackets Harbor, in 181 2. Many years later Gen- 
eral Scott met Mr. Stanton on the Mayjllower on Lake Erie, and rec- 
ognized him. Mr. Stanton's friends claim that he built the first frame house 
in Syracuse, on the site of the log house his father built, and that it was 
destroyed when the Oswego Canal was constructed. The house remained 
until it was destroyed by the construction of the West Shore Railroad. In 
18 1 6 Mr. Stanton had a field of rye where the old Syracuse House stands. 
In his earlier years he was a favorite of the Indians, and spent much time 
in their company in roving through the forests. 

Nelson Gilbert, residing at 308 East Willow street, says that until within 
a few years there stood near the north end of the Alhambra Rink a white 
oak tree that had a history. When the canal was completed, in 1824, the 
salt industry was greatly stimulated, which made Syracuse a great barrel 
market. The towns of Cicero and Clay furnished so many that their bar- 
rels were humorously called "Cicero wheat." The local coopers were 
naturally annoyed by the country competition. One night they collected 
around this oak tree, near which stood a wagon-load of Cicero barrels, cut 
off most of its top and branches, leaving stubs three or four feet long, on 
which they hung so many Cicero barrels that the denuded tree was almost 
covered. Mr. Gilbert well remembers how oddly the old tree looked the next 
morning and the merriment of the crowd that gathered to see it. He also 
says that away back in 1825-26 he used to play with the boys in a grove 



Reminiscences. 707 



where St. John's Catholic Church — the Cathedral — now stands. The grove 
belonged to a Mr. Sackctt, who lived in a long white house in North Salina 
street, near the present location of Burhans, Black & Co.'s hardware store. 
For some reason Mr. Sackett, who was peculiar in his make-up, incurred 
the ill-will of many who knew him. One morning this grove was no more, 
livery tree had been sawed oft' close to the ground and the stumps marked 
with white chalk. The afflicted owner made almost frantic efforts to dis- 
cover the aggressors, but never succeeded. A few years ago a farmer from 
Lafayette, in a talk with Mr. Gilbert about old times, smilingly said that he 
was one of those who slew Mr. Sackett's grove. 



CHAPTER XL. 

REMINISCENCES OF HON. ANDREW D. WHITE. 

Personal Recollections of Syracuse — Scenes and Incidents of Half a Century .\go — A Pen- 
Picture Closes the Volume. 

(The following reminiscences were dictated lo a stenographer by the Hon. Andrew D. While, at the request of the 
Editor, during one of hie recent visits to his old home. — Editor. ] 

YOU ask me to give you my reminiscences of Syracuse. In the short 
time at my command, and in the absence of any documents to correct 
my impressions, chronological or other, they must be discursive and inade- 
quate, and I trust that you will rectify any inaccuracies you may find in 
them. 

My recollections of our city begin in the year 1838, when, as a child in 
my seventh year, I was brought through it by my father and mother on the 
way to Niagara Falls for a summer excursion. The village at that time 
numbered about 4,000 inhabitants ; a few scattered residences in Fayette 
Park being at its outskirts on the east, and the Oswego Canal, where it 
crosses Salina street, being the boundary of its main inhabited center on the 
north, while on the south there was very little below Jefferson street, and 
on the west hardly anything of the better inhabited portion beyond Clinton 
street. Of course there were houses, some of them fairly good, beyond 
these limits, but the main inhabited portion of the village was within them. 
I remember being taken to see the tunnel of the Utica and Syracuse Rail- 
road, which was then building far to the east of the village ; but no railroad 
passed through it at that period, and we embarked upon a canal packet for 
Rochester. A year later the family removed from Cortland county to Syra- 



7o8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

cuse and took up its quarters at a house in South Salina street, standing di- 
rectly opposite (south) the present Fourth Presbyterian church, and oppo- 
site (east) the large apartment now standing at the intersection of Onon- 
daga and Salina streets. That position was at a point far south of the more 
thickly settled part of the village; indeed, "going down to the village" 
was considered in those days quite a long walk. To the northeast of our 
house were great commons, intersected by deep ditches ; to the south and 
southeast broad pastures, and to the southeast a somewhat sunken tract, 
which, during a considerable portion of the year, was largely a swamp. A 
few scattered shanties were all the marks of human habitation in that re- 
gion, extending from the present Fourth Presbyterian church to the foot of 
University Hill. In South Salina street there were a few houses south of the 
First Presbyterian church, which then stood opposite its present site, on the 
land now occupied by the dr)' goods establishment of Messrs. McCarthy ; 
to the northward, on Salina street, was a great gap between the village 
proper and what is now known as the First ward, but then as Salina. The 
better houses of the town were much scattered ; two of them in North Sa- 
lina street being especially noteworthy as the residences of Hon. E. F. 
Wallace, father of the present Judge Wallace, and Judge James R. Law- 
rence. Several houses, with pleasant grounds about them, were scattered 
along Clinton street, where all is now thickly built up with warehouses. 
In Salina street, where now stands the Globe Hotel, was a grove in which 
stood a row of pleasant residences, and opposite, where now stands the 
White Memorial Building and stores immediately south of it, was a ram- 
bling sort of a house in a large garden. Some building had begun in James 
street, where was pointed out especially the house of John G. Forbes, esq., 
which is still standing; but above all the house of Major Moses B. Burnet, 
now occupied by the Century Club. This house was the wonder of the 
whole region, and people mentioned with bated breath that it was sup- 
posed to have cost $20,000. There were few houses in the neighbor- 
hood of Fayette Park, though that had already begun to take shape as a 
pleasant part of the town. The only place of public resort in the open air 
was a sort of tea garden fitted up with summer houses and arbors, far out 
of town, south of the intersection of Warren and South Salina streets. 
But in 1839 or 1840 fire swept off the constructions there, and they were 
never renewed. The cemetery of the town was on the spot where now 
stands the station of the Syracuse and Northern Railroad, very nearly op- 
posite the present station of the New York Central, the entrance being 
upon West Water street. 

The principal churches of the place were the Presbyterian church, situ- 
ated on the site now occupied by the McCarthys ; St. Paul's Episcopal 



Reminiscences. 709 



churcli, tlien standing in the midst of a grove on the triangular plat of 
ground formed by Genesee. Warren, and Railroad streets ; the Haptist 
church, standing in East Genesee street about where the present building 
of that congregation now stands ; the Unitarian church, an unpretentious 
wooden building on the north side of East Genesee street, and a little way 
west from Fayette Park ; the Congregational church, a wooden structure 
just west of the present site of the Courier Building in Genesee street ; and 
the Methodist Episcopal, on its present site near Fayette Park. There was 
no Roman Catholic church edifice in the village at that time, the only one 
in the neighborhood, so far as I can remember, being the small wooden 
church in Salina. 

The Court-House, which was of brick, and which was considered a very 
imposing structure, stood on the north side of Salina street, about midway 
between Syracuse and Salina, and back of it stood the jail. The main land- 
mark among the public buildings was the Syracuse Academy on the knoll 
east of the village, it being the building which was afterwards occupied by 
the Onondaga Orphan Asylum, and which was removed a few years since. 
It was separated from the village by long stretches of unoccupied commons, 
and was really a great credit to the place. It was supported with much 
public spirit by a Board of Trustees, among whom were such men as Aaron 
Burt and Harvey Baldwin, afterward the first Mayor of the city; and the 
institution called to its service men of real value, both as scholars and 
teachers. Its Principal at that time was Mr. Oren Root, afterward during 
many years Professor of Mathematics at Hamilton College. Joseph A. 
Allen was his principal assistant, and afterward followed him in the princi- 
palship. Both of them were exceedingly successful in their wc.rk. Mr. 
Root was an ardent devotee of the natural sciences, and infused into his 
students something of his own spirit. Mr. Allen was the best teacher of 
English branches that I ever knew : without wearying his scholars, he 
allured them on so that study was a pleasure rather than a burden. I recall 
among the scholars at that period such men as Charles C. F"clton, present 
United States Senator from California ; Fldgar Marvin, who recently died 
as United States Consul-General at Victoria ; Donald and William Kirk- 
patrick. Judge W. J. Wallace, O. W. Clary, William B. Cogswell, the late 
J. Fcrman Wilkinson of this city, and, if I remember rightly, Hon. Carroll 
E. Smith. Very noteworthy were the exploits of two of the youngest 
students at that time; these now bear the honored names of Charles E. 
Fitch, of Rochester, and Prof. Oren Root, jr., of Hamilton College. I re- 
member that they used to be brought at the age of six or eight years into 
the academy chapel to give set speeches on declamation days, and that their 
eloquence was greatly and justly admired. 



7IO Memorial History of Syracuse. 

One feature of the town which gave it an aspect very different from 
that which it now presents was tiie mill pond formed by Onondaga Creek. 
This pond, which in those days seemed to me like a large lake, occupied a 
space west of Clinton street, in the center of which, as nearly as I can now 
recall it, stands to-day the Armory Building. It was greatly enjoyed for 
boating in summer and skating in winter. The flow of water through the 
creek was then much larger than at present, so that adventurous boys on 
Saturday could paddle their skiffs nearly as far south as Onondaga Hollow, 
and more than once I have seen, in the high water of spring, the Onondaga 
Indians in their canoes going to and coming from the reservation. 

In summer the great mill pond was not so satisfactory. The citizens 
living in all that part of the \'illage had to suffer j'ear after year from fever 
and ague in consequence of it. In order to feed the mill a dam had been 
erected, which threw the water back over the flats during the night and 
drew it off during the day. The result was that hardly a house escaped the 
scourge. In our own family my father, my grandmother, my brother, and 
myself were all down at one time with it, and in our neighbors' houses mat- 
ters were not much better. After a long and tedious litigation the dam was 
suppressed ; then the sunken space left by the pond was filled up and fever 
and ague disappeared ; but the reputation it gave the town lasted long. 
As late as 1866, when the late Ezra Cornell was urging me to come to Ith- 
aca to take the Presidency of the University about to be founded, he pro- 
tested jocosely against my living in a place like Syracuse, or, as he called 
it, " Salt Point," so notorious for chills and fever. 

The life of the village at that period was simple and pleasant. Nearly 
ail the citizens knew each other ; there was little if any separation into 
cliques, and the main important events were those connected with politics, 
the most famous of these within my memory being the great State Con- 
vention of 1840, an episode in the widespread movement which carried 
William Henry Harrison into the Presidential chair. The Whigs had gath- 
ered from far and near, long processions coming in upon all the roads, bear- 
ing banners and devices showing a world of patriotic ingenuity. At a 
point north of the Empire House, on the present site of the Onondaga 
Temperance House, was the great log cabin, the main center of the [polit- 
ical speaking of that year. There were gathered in all their glory the 
whole apparatus of coon skins, great balls which were made to " keep 
rolling," and barrels of hard cider, and thence swelled the chorus for "Tip- 
pecanoe and Tyler too." In this reaction against Mr. Van Burcn's admin- 
istration Harrison was elected ; but in a month after his administration he 
died, and most bitter was the disappointment of the Whigs when they fell 
into the hands of President John Tyler, Harrison's Vice-President and sue- 



Reminiscences. 711 



cesser. I remember that such Whig boys as Carroll E. Smith and myself 
regarded him as a sort of Satan incarnate. The attacks upon him by his 
old associates took shai)cs which showed the depth of this feeling. Appa- 
rently in order to build up a party for liimsclf he proceeded to turn out the 
Whig incumbents of many of the minor offices, and to fill their places with 
men supposed to be devoted to him. In those days it was really supposed 
by leading men that such a course would secure for a President his re-elec- 
tion. The Whig newspapers were wild with rage. The same editors who 
only a few months before had lauded and magnified John Tyler as one of 
the greatest statesmen in American history now announced his changes in 
the offices under tlie head of "Appointments by Benedict Ariioiti," or 
" New Appointments by Judas Iscariot." Four years later came the Clay 
campaign. That, too, was carried on with great vigor ; but the procedure 
was changed. People seemed to have sickened of the whole apparatus of 
log cabins, hard cider barrels, latch strings hung out, rolling balls, and all 
the rest of it : the only emblems of importance now were the hickory poles 
erected by the Democrats and the ash poles erected by the Whigs ; the 
former having reference to "Old Hickory," General Jackson; and the latter 
to " Ashland," the residence of Henry Clay. I remember feeling as a boy 
of twelve that the republic was nearly lost when one sad night the Demo- 
cratic boys cut down the ash tree of the Whig boys in South Salina street. 
The rallying place of the Whig party during the campaign of 1844 was a 
larsre barrack of rough hemlock boards on the site of the St. Charles 
Hotel Building, now the University Block, at the corner of Washington and 
Warren streets. Eminent among the speakers of botli campaigns were 
William H. Seward, Millard Fillmore, Francis Granger, Attorney General 
of the United States in Harrison's administration, and John A. Collier, 
who held various high offices. On the Democratic side appeared such men 
as Silas Wright, Daniel Dickinson, John A. Dix, and many statesmen who 
have mainly passed from men's memories. 

The manager of the Whig side at Syracuse in those days was the late 
Vivus W. Smith. He was in close relations with Governor Seward and 
Thurlow Weed ; but they were relations which implied no servile devotion 
to one or the other. Mr. Smith was a man of vigor and wisdom as a writer 
and adviser in political matters, so that throughout Syracuse and the region 
round about his voice, so far as the Whig party was concerned, was all- 
controlling. 

An interesting episode in the memories of the boys of that period was 
the return of soldiers from the Mexican war. A break in the canal upon 
the long level east of the city caused the stoppage of a great number of 
canal boats conveying soldiers who were on their way back to their homes. 



712 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Their talk made a great impression upon us all ; but what dwells on my 
memory especially is their denunciation of their Colonel, Caleb Cushing, 
who served the country afterward with such distinction during the civil 
war, as a lawyer, and who was nominated to the position of Chief Justice 
of the United States, but failed to secure a confirmation from the Senate. 
Very remarkable, too, was the coming back of some of the officers, and 
above all the interment with military honors of Captain Kirby Smith, who 
fell in the battle of Molino del Rey just as he was leading his troops tri- 
umphantly into the Mexican capital. It was the noble ending of a noble 
life, and deep feeling was shown throughout the village at this loss. How 
could we foresee that the prattling child he had left in Syracuse would rise 
to be a colonel in the United States army, would also fall in battle for his 
countr)', and receive a soldier's funeral from the sons of those who had 
formerly done honor to the remains of his father ! 

Entertainments in those days were few and simple. There was a " mu- 
seum," with a considerable number of doubtful curiosities, in the upper story 
of the building which now forms the south wing of the Syracuse House 
block in Salina street. But shortly afterward the building was changed 
into a hall, known as Library Hall or Lyceum Hall, and there lectures were 
given which were quite largely attended. A few men, distinguished in sci- 
ence or literature, from distant places, were from time to time secured ; but 
home talent was mainly relied upon, and some of those lectures by our fel- 
low citizens made so deep an impression upon us all that I have often won- 
dered since why it has not occurred to some of our more thoughtful citi- 
zens of late jears to try the same experiment again. Certainly in no country 
in the world are there more strange experiences and masses of quaint 
information " lying around loose " among men whom one meets daily in 
life than in this country, and nowhere in this country more than in ener- 
getic towns like Syracuse. Anything like a theater was as a rule discour- 
aged by very nearly the whole community. The only theatrical represen- 
tations which were welcomed by any considerable of the citizens took the 
shape of " moral exhibitions," depicting the downward career of the 
drunkard. 

Communications of the little village with the rest of the world were in 
those days few and far between as compared with those which we enjoy at 
present. With Cortland and other counties of the south, and with the 
Oswego and Lake Ontario regions of the north, the only communications 
were by routes which in all seasons of the year except summer were very 
bad, indeed at times almost impassable. As a small boy I had occasion to 
learn this to my cost, having been upset in a Cortland stage coach near 
Onondaga Hollow, narrowly escaping with my life. A large scar on the 





u^^^- 







-^h- ^.fy£^. 



Reminiscences. 713 



side of my head still reminds me of the condition of the roads of those 
days. Still I cannot say that improvement in our ordinary country roads 
has been such that our citizens have any cause to congratulate themselves 
upon it to-day. The great change has been wrought by the building of 
railways north and south, as well as by the perfecting of them east and 
west. As to the chain of railways which now forms the New York Cen- 
tral, a single track, made of strap rails, connected Syracuse with Auburn 
i.m the west and Utica on the cast. In winter but one passenger train was 
sent out daily ; in summer there were two. The train for Utica left in 
summer at half-past five in the morning, and for several years Syracusane 
who went to Saratoga Springs for a short stay in summer congratulated 
themselves that by thus leaving at half-past five in the morning they arrived 
at Saratoga as early as half-past six in the evening. It was thought a very 
great exploit thus to cover one hundred and sixty miles in thirteen hours. 
The most rapid trains ran at the rate of about fifteen miles an hour, and 
the largest trains were made up of three or four small box cars in which 
the seats ran from side to side. These seats were covered with brown 
leather, passengers sitting face to face, very much as they had done in the 
stage coaches ; and a great epoch was created when a " long car," as it was 
called, with diamond-shaped windows and with seats all facing the same way, 
was put upon the Auburn road. This, which could not have been more 
than half the length of the Pullman car of the present day, carried all the 
passengers from Syracuse westward for some years. A journey from one 
extremity of the State to the other was in those days a serious matter in- 
deed. The passenger, starting from Buffalo, first took the train over the 
Attica and Buffalo road ; at Attica he was changed to the Batavia and At- 
tica ; at Batavia, to the Rochester and Batavia ; at Rochester, to the Auburn 
and Rochester; at Auburn, to the Auburn and Syracuse; at Syracuse, to 
the Utica and Syracuse; at Utica, to the Utica and Schenectady; at Sche- 
nectady, to the Mohawk and Hudson, when, having been drawn part of the 
way by locomotives and then pulled up and let down two inclined planes 
by stationary engines, he was landed in Albany where he might take the 
boat. In making such a trip people generally stopped over, not only at 
Albany, but at Syracuse, where Rust's Hotel was famous. 

Westward from Buffalo in those days men journeyed by lake steamers, 
and they regarded the journey to Cleveland or Detroit as a far more serious 
matter than they now consider a trip to London or Paris. Railway travel- 
ing being so much interrupted, and the cost being so much higher that at 
present, the canal packet was for a few years preferred by a large part of 
the traveling public, and the leading event of those days with the Syracuse 
youth of various ages, and indeed with a considerable number of the grown 

90 



714 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

lip part of the community, was the arrival and departure of the packet boats 
at the canal basin, close to the Salina street bridge. The boats tiieinselves 
were long and trim, and seemed, to the simple views of people then, luxu- 
riously furnished. The captain, whether on board his vessel or in the 
streets of Syracuse, was a personage : far and near men spoke with pride, 
even with awe, of such great men as Captain Myers, Captain Daniel Brom- 
ley, Captain Stewart, Captain Wellington, and others. As I remember 
them, they were a fine body of men ; courteous, affable, very thoughtful as 
regarded the care of the passengers entrusted to them, and not without the 
sterner qualities which go to make up strong men. Fighting their way 
among the rough boatmen all along the canals, and especially through the 
locks from Buffalo to Albany, had undoubtedly developed in them much 
fertility of resources and courage in danger. I have since seen many fine 
ships upon various seas, but none that dwell in my memory as more beau- 
tiful than one of the better canal packets, its deck covered with passen- 
gers, dashing along the canal at the rate of six miles an hour, drawn by 
three trotting horses, handsome in build, matched in color, and gaily har- 
nessed. 

Postal facilities at that period were also vastly inferior to those enjoyed 
at present. Postage was rated according to distance, and I remember well 
that when from time to time I took to the postoffice a letter from a mem- 
ber of the family to a relative near Sandusky, in Ohio, I always paid twenty- 
five cents for postage. Postage stamps were a thing unknown. The 
money in ordinary circulation was also very inferior to that of the present 
day. The silver was almost entirely Spanish; "sixpences" and "shillings," 
from which the inscriptions were generally completely worn off by use, were 
the conmion small coin; dimes were very rarely seen. Much of the larger 
circulating medium was made up of the notes of distant banks, especially of 
banks situated at little known places in the swamps of Michigan. The re- 
sult was that every man in business on receiving paper money had to study 
with great care his bank note journal and counterfeit detector. Between 
the varieties of doubtful notes and the poor engraving of that period 
brokers throve and counterfeiters tlourished at the expense of the public at 
large. There was little, if any, effective system guarding the interest of the 
bank note holder ; everybody was subject to much loss, not only on coun- 
terfeits, but on bills of broken banks. Few of the present generation rea- 
lize what an immense service was rendered to every man and woman in 
this country, and especially to the artisans and laborers, by Secretary Chase 
and his compeers when they established the national bank system with the 
paper currency now in use. 



Reminiscen'ces. 7' 5 



Among the great events of the year were tlie [Kiracles of the volunteer 
fire companies and mihtary organizations — especially the former. In these 
large numbers of the most ijrominent citizens paraded in their various uni- 
forms, aiul it was on this account that the explosion of gunpowder in 1842 
marked such an epoch in the village. The circumstances having doubtless 
been referred to in this history, I will simply say that this event of nearly 
fifty years ago dwells in my mind as vividl>- as if it were yesterday. The 
terrible roar of the explosion, the sudden disappearance of the glare which 
up to that moment had filled the sky, and then, next morning, the sight of 
the dead carried along the streets or lying among the ruins, will remain for- 
ever fixed in my memory. 

There were also in that period two other events, or rather expected 
events, which made much commotion in the village. First of these was the 
prophecy widely circulated that on a certain day and at a given hour Syra- 
cuse and all the country for ten miles around would sink. I remember the 
feeling of dread in our little school when the hour approached, and the feel- 
ing of relief when it was well past. The otht- r prophecy was that of Will- 
iam Miller, who, after years of study in the Old Testament, announced the 
exact time when the world would end. As the time approached the "Mil- 
lerite " meetings became very fervent, and on the appointed day the believ- 
ers assembled in their " ascension robes " in various places, and especially 
upon the roof of the Granger Block ; but that day and night went by — as 
did other days and nights to which Miller adjourned the vast catastrophe, 
and at last the meetings ceased. 

Noteworthy, too, was the great temperance movement of those times. 
Speakers of great power came from throughout the State, and their ad- 
dresses had a remarkable effect upon multitudes. Among these apostles 
Messrs. Pollard and Wright were especially prominent. A favorite place 
for these earlier assemblages was the railroad depot, which occupied the 
larger part of what is now Vanderbilt Square ; as so few trains entered and 
left it, this great wooden enclosure was during many hours of the day free 
for public meetings. 

The political campaign of 1848 was also a noteworthy point in the de- 
velopment of Syracuse. The village had then become virtually a city, 
and on account of its central position in the State was generally chosen for 
the nominating conventions of both the greater parties, as well as by vari- 
ous bodies of political men struggling to shape public opinion. Among my 
more vivid remembrances of that period is that of General Lewis Cass, the 
nominee of the Democrats for the Presidency. He arrived in Syracuse on 
a hot, dusty afternoon, just as he had received the news of the nomination 



7i6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

of his old Democratic enemy, Martin Van Buren, by the Free Soil party. 
He knew, and those who received him with every show of triumph knew, 
and all the thinking people who lined the streets at his reception knew, that 
this nomination by the Free Soilers was the death knell to all his hopes. 
Certainly, of all the pitiable spectacles I have ever seen, that of this weary 
old public servant, dragged along the streets of Syracuse in apparent tri- 
umph, but really in utter dejection, was the most striking. In the follow- 
ing year his rival. General Taylor, who had been elected to the Presidency, 
came through the town upon the railroad, and I remember gazing at him, 
with the other boys of my age, as he sat at the window of his car very near 
the site now occupied by the Vanderbilt House. The State conventions of 
various parties, at that time, were held at the City Hall, and were a source 
of unfailing interest to the youth of the community. Of all the speakers of 
that period John Van Buren and General James W. Nye were I think the 
most admired. Yet a much deeper feeling was stirred in the hearts of 
many of the young men by the conventions of the Liberal party and other 
kindred organizations. In these such men as Gerrit Smith, Wendell Phil- 
lips, Frederick Douglass, John P. Hale, and Samuel J. May frequently 
spoke, and unquestionably to their speeches was mainly due the fact that, 
imperceptibly, Syracuse became a great center of anti-slavery thought. 
Not even the wild rhetorical antics of Abby Kelly Foster could so disgust 
the thoughtful youth of the time as to drive him away from these conven- 
tions, and not even such a winning speech as that which I once heard made 
by Henry Clay from the balcony of the Syracuse House, or such powerful 
arguments as those addressed by Daniel Webster to the citizens of Syracuse 
from a window in the present Courier Building, could resist this current of 
thought from these "fanatics," who assembled from time to time in the City 
Hall. The prosecutions which followed the Jerry Rescue case, so far from 
crushing the anti-slavery spirit, really increased it, and before long it was 
evident that the larger part of the old Whig party and a very considerable 
part of the old Democratic party were ready to join in the new movement 
against the extension of slavery. This of course greatly enlivened for us 
the meetings of the party conventions. The struggles between the Old 
Hunkers and Barnburners in one organization, and between the Silver 
Grays and Woolly Heads in the other, afforded opportunities for remarkable 
displays of skillful tactics and impassioned oratory. 

Although Syracuse has grown very largely since those days, and holds 
a most honorable place in the business of the country, I doubt whether at 
any period in its history the town has been relatively of so much import- 
ance in public afifairs as in those early days of the anti-slavery struggle. 



Reminiscences. 7'; 



Tlie public ilebates tlieii held, the Jerry Rescue case, and the strug^'les in 
the great conventions attracted the attention of tlie whole conntry, and a 
Syracusan in any part of the land was immediately drawn into a discussion 
of the great political issues of the period. 



This volume may fittingly be concluded with the following extract from 
an address delivered July 4, 1876, on the occasion of the centennial cele- 
bration, by the Hon. Thomas G. Alvord. The celebration was a mammoth 
affair, and the exercises took place in Hanover Square, under the direction 
of the Hon. Daniel Pratt. In concluding his address Mr. Alvord spoke 
propiietic as well as strongly contrasting and descriptive words : 

" Compared with the huts of our fathers our habitations are palaces; 
they dot every hilltop, they nestle in every valley ; they stand in the seried 
ranks in our beautiful and growing city, and cluster around the school and 
the church in all our smiling and thriving villages ; our thrifty husbandmen 
look upon countless herds of lowing cattle, on seas of waving grain, on 
graneries bursting with the rich and bounteous yield of their fertile acres ; 
our merchants in their stately marts of commerce gather from the ends of 
the earth the produce of every soil, the handiwork of savage and civilized, 
all creations of nature and art to satisfy the wants and gratify the tastes of 
our people ; the unceasing hum of the manufacturer's wheel, the contin- 
uous blows of the sturdy artisan and stalwart laborer chase solitude from 
all our borders ; our water highways link us with the lakes of our own 
West, and give us peaceful entrance to the great ocean which rolls between 
us and the land of our fathers; highways of iron rib our conntry north, 
south, east, and west, broad avenues run by the doors of the humblest, and 
commerce, with its white wings of peace, has blotted out forever the war- 
path of the savage and the tree-marked way of the hardy pioneer. Re- 
ligion dwells in more than an hundred temples of beauty dedicated to the 
service of the living God. Education, from the lordly towers of the 
princely university to the more humble school-house of the cross-roads, 
boasts its many habitations. We are the central county of the Empire State, 
which ranks first in wealth, first in population, first in representation among 
her sister States of our Union. Of sixty, our county is seventh in population 
and wealth, and in the fifth rank in State representation. * » • Chil- 
dren of the soil, adopted sons and daughters of old Onondaga, is this noble 
heritage of our fathers, this free and equal government given to us to enjoy 
by the brave, good, and wise men of an hundred years ago, worth preserv- 
ing another hundred years? No human being I now address will witness 



7i8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

the scenes at that celebration ; the voice of him who now addresses joii 
will be silent in the grave ; the beating hearts and active limbs of this vast 
multitude will have gone to their last quiet mortal sleep forever. The men 
of the Revolution gave lis and our children this day at the cost of suffering 
and tears, wounds and death. Where are they ? The last surviving war- 
rior and statesman who stood on the battlements of freedom's citadel, and 
conquered for us the banded hordes of tyranny and oppression, has gone 
to join the hosts of heaven's freemen in another and a better world. Can 
we not take their finished work and keep and preserve it untarnished, un- 
broken, beautiful, enlarged, and more glorious and endearing, for our chil- 
dren's children ? • * • Let us to this end, from this day, practice 
economy and industry, cultivate intelligence, make virtue the rule and guide 
of our private and public life. Triumphant armies inscribe their banners 
with the names of their victorious fields of battle. May we give as our 
legacy to the next great anniversarj' of our country's birth the stars of our 
nation's banner undimmed, its stripes untarnished, rightfully inscribing 
thereon as our faith, kept pure and unsullied, our motto — won by our acts 
— Religion, Education, Free Labor, the onlj' sure foundation on which to 
build for perpetuity Republican institutions." 



PART II, 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



HON. ClIAKl.ES ANDREWS, Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New 
York, was born in New York Mills. Whitestown, Oneida county, N. Y., on the 27th of May, 1827. 
After attending the common schools his education was finished at the Seminary of the Oneida Confer- 
ence at Cazenovia. Adopting the law for a profession he acquired its principles and familiarized 
himself with their application in the oftice of Sedgwick & Outwater, in Syracuse. He was admitted 
to the bar in January, 1S49, and began practice at Syracuse, where legal business was then rapidly 
extending. As the chief central position on the Erie canal and the terminus of the Oswego branch, 
and the center of rapidly growing manufactures, including the salt industry, the young city had re- 
ceived large accessions in population and wealth. The Onondaga County Bar had long been con- 
spicuous for its talent and at the time under consideration contained many distinguished lawyers. 
In 1851, Mr. Andrews entered into partnership with Charles li. Sedgwick, under the firm name of 
Sedgwick iV Andrews. In 1S53, he was elected District Attorney of the county for a period of three 
years. In 1S55, George M. Kennedy was admitted to partnership with Messrs. Sedgwick & Andrews, 
and the firm thus existed until the elevation of Mr. Andrews to the Bench of the Court of Appeals 
in 1870. In 1861, he was elected Mayor of Syracuse and re-elected in the following year ; and again 
in 1868 he was elected to that responsible office. Mr. Andrews, with other prominent citizens, lent 
their influence and aid to secure the location of Syracuse University in the city, and Mr. Andrews 
was appointed one of the five Trustees representing Syracuse ; his official connection with this insti- 
tution still continues. In 1S67, he was elected as delegate at large to the Constitutional Convention 
of this State. He was elected Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals May 17, 1870, and began 
his term on the 1st of July of that year. \Yhen Chief Judge Kolger retired in 1881, to accept the 
Secretaryship of the Treasury, Judge .\ndrews was appointed his successor by Governor Cornell. 
At the polls of the next year his name was ofTered on the Republican ticket for election to this high- 
est judicial office of the State ; but he was defeated by his opponent, William C. Ruger, esq. In 
1884, Judge Andrews was re-elected Associate Judge of the Court for a second term of fourteen 
years, having been nominated with the late Judge Rapallo by both political parties. The honorary 
degree of LL.D. has been conferred upon Judge Andrews by Hamilton and Columbia Colleges. 

In 1855, Judge Andrews was married to the daughter of the late Judge Shankland, of Cortland. 
They have two children. 



GEORGE BARNES has been President of the State Bank of Syracuse, President Trust and De- 
posit Company of Onondaga, President the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Company until 
compelled in 18S7, by failing health, to resign them. He was born in the municipal borough of 
Tcnterdcn. county of Kent, England, October i, 1827. He came to America in April, 1S44, and 
in July of that year began studying law with Wilkinson & Bagg, then the leading lawyers of Syra- 
cuse. Mr. Wilkinson, at that time, was the President of the Syracuse and Utica railroad, and Mr. 
Barnes early became identified with the management of the same. He began his services as junior 
A 



ME^rnklAr. History of Syracuse. 



book-keeper, from which he rose through the several stages to the position of Superintendent. This 
advancement was fairly earned by the e.xercise of those qualities which have since enabled him to 
reach a degree of success in life to which few attain. It early became evident that the interests of 
the roads east of Syracuse required a shorter route between Syracuse and Rochester than existed in 
1848 via. Auburn. Mr. Barnes joined in the preliminary surveys along what was known as the 
"canal route to Rochester" and found a more level road twenty-two miles shorter, .•\fter some op- 
position the three companies were united .is the Rochester and Syracuse Company in 1850. This 
was the lirst step in the grand consolidation of the seven roads between Albany and Buffalo into the 
New York Central Railroad Company which was effected in 1S53. 

Mr. Barnes had been drawn into a closer relation with Mr. Wilkinson's family than that result- 
ing from their official connection. Mr. Wilkinson was the uncle of Miss Rebecca S. Heerm aans, 
daughter of Thomas B. Heermans, of the noted hardware firm of Corning, Rathbone &: Heermans, 
of Albany. Losing her parents in her infancy, she was brought up in the family of Mr. Wilkinson, 
where Mr. Barnes made her acquaintance, and they were married in 1849. 

The first money accumulated by Mr. Barnes was wisely invested in a lot on James Street Hill. 
This locality had attracted his eye, and gratified his love of the beautiful in nature on many a stroll 
over the sightly eminence, and prompted him to make the purchase of the land, whereupon he after- 
wards erected the first house on James street, into which he moved in 1853. It long stood alone on 
what is now the magnificent James .Street Hill, and was illustrated in the first directory of Syracuse 
in 1853. 

On the consolidation of the railroads Mr. Barnes embraced the opportunity for a respite from 
labor, and visited his childhood home in England. After his return he became proprietor of the 
Syracuse Evening Chronicle, which had originally been published as The Free Democrat, in 1852. 
Mr. Barnes adopted the principles of the new Republican party and made the Chronicle the first 
Republican daily published in the State, outside of New York city. In 1855 he sold the paper to 
.Samuel H. Clark, and in the ne.\t year removed to Cincinnati and accepted the general superinten- 
dency of the newly opened Marietta and Cincinnati railroad. This road shared the fate of many 
other western enterprises of that time in the financial collapse of 1S57, and the following year Mr. 
Barnes returned to Syracuse and began his career as a banker, which he has ever since pursued and 
in which he has attained the highest positions. 

In iS6(), he formed the acquaintance of William A. Sweet, who had in 1S5S commenced the 
manufacture of knives for mowers and reapers on a small scale, and at which time there was but one 
other establishment of the kind in the United States. In 1864, the corporation of Sweet, Barnes it 
Co. was formed for carrying on this business in connection with the manufacture of steel. The 
business grew so rapidly as lo demand the whole attention of Mr. Barnes, and in 1868 the steel 
works were sold to Mr. Sweet, and that manuf.icture has since been conducted by the Sweet Manu- 
facturing Company. The corporate name of Sweet, Barnes & Co. continued until 1S73 when an 
order was procured from the Supreme Court changing it to that of (leorge Barnes iV Co. Mean- 
while large factories had been erected in the Fifth ward, to which additions have been made from 
time to time until they now present an unbroken frontage of 253 feet of brick structure on .Marcellus 
street, and 175 feet on Wyoming street and three stories high, including in addition to the vast man- 
ufacturing plant, the finest and most commodious offices in the city. Under the management of 
Mr. Barnes the business quadrupled between the years of 1868 and 1S77 and an arrangement was 
effected in that year by which the works at Syracuse were consolidated with similar factories at 
other points and the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Company became the successors of (ieorge 
Barnes & Co. , of Syracuse. The capital of the new company, of which Mr. Barnes was elected 
president, was $400,000, but by subsequent increments it now stands at lf;2, 000,000. This union of 
the skill, e.vpericnce and capital of the manufacturers has enabled them to increase the production and 
improve the quality of their product without advancing the price The entire control of the business, 
which soon grew to an industry of great importance, is now in the hands of this corporation, which 
employs in all its branches more than 1,000 men. C)f this great corporation Mr. Barnes still remains 
president. 



BlOC.RAl'HirAI, 



In appreciation of Mr. Barnes's financial capacity, and the lofty principles of integrity which have 
always governed his business acts, his fellow citizens have called upon him to accept many trusts, 
private and public, to all of which he has given the same faithful fidelity accorded to his own personal 
matters. He was one of the original incorporators of the Onondaga County Savings Hank, chartered 
in 1S55. Kailing health and the pressure of other business caused him to resign his trusteeship in 
the year 1876. In 1869. he joined with other prominent citizens in the formation of the Trust and 
Deposit Company of Onondaga with a paid up capital of ^100.000 which received a special charter 
authorizing it to make investments for persons at home or abroad, and to act as agent, assignee or 
trustee either by power of attornev or appointment of Court. Mr. Barnes was for many years \icc- 
I'resiilent of this institution and has been President since the year 1876. Under his wise and prudent 
management this institution has gained the entire confidence and liberal patronage of the community. 

In 1S73, Mr. Barnes and his associates organized the State Bank of Syracuse with a paid up 
capital of |loo,ooo of which he has been President since 1876. This bank shares the same degree of 
success that has been attained by other institutions which have come under his direct control. 

Mr. Barnes was one of the originators of the Syracuse Chilled Plow Company, but failing 
health compelled him to abandon that enterprise. 

For nianv vears Mr. Barnes was the Treasurer and Financial Manager of the Onondaga County 
Orphan .Asylum and other similar positions have been filled by him to the entire satisfaction of those 
most interested. Year after year Mr. Barnes took great delight in having all the orphans from the 
Onondaga Count\- Orphan Asylum on his lawn to spend a gay afternoon and evening. On these oc- 
casions ever)- orphan received a suitable gift and a bountiful supper, — not exactly in accordance with 
those usually bestowed upon orphans. Maurer's Band was always in attendance and the march 
around the grounds to the supper table, headed by the band, was a very pleasing sight. Following 
up Mr. Barnes's love of fun and entertainment, he and Mr. James Barnes organized a Punch and 
)udy show with which they alwa\s entertained the orphans anil many children of larger growth who 
were not orphans. 

During Mr. Barnes's life in Syracuse he has watched its growth from a small village to a proud 
and beautiful citv. In all of its affairs he has shown the interests of the representative citizen of 
broad and intellectual views. In the business community he has long been a conspicuous and hon- 
ored figure. Socially he is one whom it is always a pleasure to meet and his home is the often visited 
Mecca of a large circle of friends. The failure of his health in a somewhat alarming degree took 
him to Europe for several months of the year 1886 to seek council of the world's most eminent phy- 
sicians. Though now an invalid, he still maintains his interest in all the various affairs that have for 
so long occupied his attention. 



HON. NAI HAN FITCH CR.WES, President of the New \ork State Banking Company, of 
Syracuse, was born in Oneida county, N. V., F'ebruary 17, 1813. The Graves family of this 
country and England are descended from a physician who was brought over from Normandy by Wil- 
liam the Conquerer as his attendant at the time of the conquest. Many of the descendants, following 
the ancient practice of transmitting a father's occupation or profession to his son, became physicians 
and during the early reigns were often court physicians. The principal seat of the family was Mick- 
leton, county Cdoucester. (^ne of the members was elevated to the peerage under the title of Baron 
(Jraves, and if he hati lived in our own day and land he could apparently have had no higher regard 
for the bird that figures on our national escutcheon, for his coat of arms dispLayed an eagle ducally 
crowned, with a cross consisting of an eagle and circled round the body and below the wings by a 
ducal coronet, and for supporters, two eagles with wings expanded and inverted. Among the more 
recent of those bearing the name who have risen to eminence in England are John Craves, a divine 
and antiquary, who died in 1729; Richard Graves, a poet and novelist, born in 1715, who died in 
1804; Admiral Graves, who commanded the British fleet in Boston harbor at the commencement of 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



the revolutionary war; Kichard (jraves, Dean of Ardagh, Ireland, who died in 1S29; Charles Graves, 
Bishop of Limerick, who died in 1866; Robert Graves, a line engraver, born 1798, who died in 1873, 
and whose father of the same name, was a noted connoisseur of rare prints; and Samuel Robert 
Graves, a politician, was born in iSiS. The emigrants to this countrv' were Rosweli Graves. Sterling 
Graves, and Benjamin Graves. Benjamin settled in the town of Lyme, New London county. Conn. 
The family took an active part in the revolutionary struggle. At the battle of Bunker Hill, Admiral 
Graves, the British naval commander, trained his guns on the American works, while a brother of 
his, an American officer, was assisting in repelling an assault of the troops. Benjamin Graves, the 
great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was one of the defenders of Fort Griswold, in New 
London harbor, and was slain at the atrocious massacre by the British on taking the fort. The next 
day Elijah Graves, son of Benjamin and grandfather of our subject, enlisted for the remainder of the 
war. He was in several battles and often acted as the aid of General Washington. His son Benja- 
min, born at Lyme, married Molly Stark, also of Lyme, named after the wife of General Stark by the 
General himself, the hero of Bennington, — a name rendered imperishable by Stark's battle cry: 
"Now, my boys, we must beat them, or Molly Stark is a widow to-night." These were the parents 
of Nathan F. Graves, whose father became a prosperous farmer of Oneida county, and gave to his 
children, after their common school education, as thorough a training as the academies of the 
county afforded. Nathan was an apt and forward scholar and at the age of si.vteen years was com- 
petent to teach others. Desirous of further knowledge, he passed several years alternating between 
teaching and study. Choosing the law for a profession, he studied for a year in the office of J. 
Whipple Jenkins, at Vernon, in Oneida county, and for two years with Hon. Joshua A. Spencer, at 
Utica. Admitted to the bar in 1840, he formed a co-partnership with Timothy Jenkins, an estab- 
lished and prosperous lawyer of Oneida Castle, a village in the township of Vernon, near the old 
council grounds of the Oneida Indians. Here he made a favorable commencement of his legal career, 
and soon considered himself sufficiently established to contract marriage. His first wife was Helen 
P. Breese, daughter of S. Sidney Breese, Esq., a native of Shrewsbury, N. J., who studied law with 
the celebrated Elias Boudinet, and settled and practiced law in Cazenovia, Madison county, and was 
the first Clerk of the county, removing afterwards to Sconondoa, Oneida county. He was a member 
of the New York Assembly, and filled other important and influential positions. His father, Samuel 
Breese, who settled at Shrewsbury, was the son of Sidney Breese, an officer of the English navy. 
Mr. Graves and Miss Breese were married June 1st, 1842. She died in 1S44, and the same year he 
removed to New York and opened an office in Nassau street, which then had a distinctive character 
as the principal lawyer's street of the city. 

On the 23d of November, 1S45, he married Miss Catherine 11. Breese, a sister of his first wife. 
Although he succeeded in building up an extensive practive in New York, he concluded on account 
of ill health to abandon it and in 1849 he returned to Central New York and formed a legal partner- 
ship in SjTacuse with Daniel 1'. Wood, then a rising young lawyer admitted to the bar three years 
before, and since well known as a member of the Assembly and Senate of this State, and still residing 
in Syracuse. The association of the two continued for about fifteen years, though in the meantime 
Mr. Graves had entered upon the financial career which drew upon the most valuable portion of his 
time. The Burnet Bank was organized in Syracuse in 1852 and he became its President. The 
Teller was John J. Knox, afterwards Comptroller of the Currency at Washington, who was at that 
time highly esteemed for his financial ability and knowledge of the banking business. As a State 
Bank it ceased to exist after the passage of the National Act, but was reorganized as the Fourth Na- 
tional Bank. The State system being preferred by the directors and stockholders, the National char- 
ter was relinquished in 1872, and the institution has since been known as the New York State Bank- 
ing Company. During all these changes Mr. Graves has continued to guide its fortunes, and it has 
maintained its character as a safe, prosperous and well-managed institution. After so long and ard- 
uous business course he needed rcla.\ation for his health and in 1872 visited, with his wife, the Pa- 
cific coast and made a tour around the world, contributing valuable letters to the Knu York Obsenier, 
the Syracttse Courier and the Northern Chrtstiaji Advocate, From his correspondence it appears 
that he journeyed more than twenty-thousand miles with very little discomfort, without missing a 



Biographical. 



connection or encountering a serious stonn. He visited the beautiful temples of Japan, and China, and 
saw the principle idols ; the inland seas of Japan, with their many islands and teeminjj population ; the 
stalciv mansions on the Hiind at Shanghai ; the white walls and arched windows of Hong Kong ; 
the busy mart of Singapore ; Ceylon and its groves of palms ; the mighty Ganges and thousands 
vainlv trying to wash away the sins of their souls in its sacred waters ; the holy city of Renares ; the 
government train of one-hundred elephants, and the I-'ortressof l.ucknow ; the peerless Taj of Agra ; 
the mosques, palaces, and ruins of Delhi ; the great caves of India ; the Red Sea and the Nile canals 
and groves of palms. He visited also the most important missionary stations in the countries 
through which he passed and bore testimony to their laborious and useful services and the respect in 
which they were held for their character and learning. Government officials often spoke of the good 
they were accomplishing and in many places he noted that they were selected for important trusts by 
different governments. On returning from his travels, Mr. Graves was. in 1S74, elected Mayor of 
Syracuse. He has always been a public-spirited citizen and taken an especial interest in educational 
improvement, having acted for several years as School Commissioner and President of the Board of 
Kducation. He is an intelligent writer and has one of the best private hbraries in the State, com- 
prising more than ten-thousand volumes collected by himself, and embracing Audubon's Birds and 
many other rare and costly works. He has every diplomatic publication issued since the government 
was founded. His library is visited by scholars from distant points, who avail themselves of its 
treasures. He sustained a lectureship on Missions at the Seminary at New Brunswick, the last 
course having been delivered by Rev. John Hall, D.D. Mr. Graves is also a liberal patron of the 
tine arts. 

Although now far past the years said to be allotted to man, Mr. Graves continues to act as Pres- 
ident of the New York State Banking Company, having been continuously President of a bank longer 
than any other person in the city, and down to ()uite recent years has to some extent pursued the 
practice of his profession. In the bank he has a most efficient coadjutor in the person of Mr. R. A. 
Bonta, who has been cashier since 1864, having first entered the Burnet Hank as a clerk in 1856. 
Mr. Graves has also been a Trustee for many years of the Syracuse Savings Bank, the foremost insti- 
tution of that character in the city. He is and has been for many years one of the Trustees of the 
State Idiot Asylum, located in SyTacuse. 

His sympathy with all measures looking to public improvement is illustrated by his uniting in 
1S82 with several others from among the most distinguished citizens of the city to form the Civil 
Service Reform Association, of which he was made President. 

Mr. Graves invested largely in real estate in Syracuse and has erected a great number of dwell- 
ings which now form a portion of his estate and demand from him considerable attention. Although 
now far advanced in years, these various interests still retain him in the ranks of busy men. A 
neighbor and life-long friend has described his genial social disposition as making his home one of 
attraction and enjoyment, while his culture and liberal hospitality have drawn around him the most 
refined and cultivated. The same authority has borne testimony to the simple and pure Christianity 
which is the soul of his integrity and fidelity to business trusts, and v^hich early linked him closely to 
the spiritual interests of the church, while his liberality, though without ostentation, has made him 
the friend of charitable and benevolent societies. 

In his declining years, Mr. Clraves may look back upon a long life that has been crowned with 
much more than common success in a material sense, and made him the center of a large circle of 
those who hold him in high esteem as a friend and as a man. 



WILLIAM BROWN SMITH, son of Job C. Smith and Esther Brown, was born March 2d, 
1815, in Brighton, Monroe county, N. Y., although his progenitors were English, coming to 
this country in 1630, and locating in New London, Conn., the original farm being now owned and 
occupied by lineal descendants of the foundtr of the family in this country, Rev. Nehemiah Smith. 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



His mother died at the time of his birth, and he was placed in the care of Mrs. Jeremiah Maples, 
of West \Valworth, Wayne county, N. Y., where he lived until he was thirteen years old — for the 
most of this period under the impression that these kind people were his parents, — his father having 
married again when he was still a young child, and moved to the then distant State of Ohio. 

When thirteen years of age, his foster father, Mr. Maples, died suddenly, his foster mother hav- 
ing died some si.\ years previous, and then being left without friends in the east, he m.'ide arrange- 
ments with Joshua Hicks, of Walworth, whereby he was to learn the cabinet trade, and here he 
worked until he was eighteen years old. the larger portion of his time being spent on Mr. Hicks' 
farm and in liis cabinet shop. 

About this time, Mr. Hicks having died, he hired out to his son, Levi J. Hicks, also a cabinet 
maker, agreeing to work for two years, the first year for $4 per month and the second for ^7 per 
month, with the understanding that he was privileged to work outside when he pleased, but was to 
make up the time, so that he was to work for .Mr. Hicks a full two years, under the contract. Inas- 
much as he spent considerable time during the hay and harvest season in working for the farmers, 
and in going to school in the winter, it took him three years to fill this contract, at which time he 
had reached his majority, had learned his trade, was the possessor of a good set of tools, good cloth- 
ing, and ^100 in money. 

Hoping to better himself, he made a trip by canal as far as liuffalo, visiting the various cabinet 
shops on the way; but finding no place to his liking, he at once returned and hired to James Jenner, 
cabinet maker, of I'almyra, \. V. After a few weeks he was made foreman of one of Mr. Jenner's 
shops, where he remained for four years, at the end of which time he had laid up $1,000. 

At this time he married Lucy, the daughter of (lilbert Yeomans, of Walworth, and about the 
same time he entered into a co-partnership with his brother-in-law, 'P. ('.. Yeomans, in the mercantile 
business at Walworth. 

His wife lived but a few months. He afterwards married Augusta M. Boardman, daughter of 
Silas Boardman, of Westerlo, Albany county, N. V. .After four years of mercantile life, findmg it 
did not agree with his health, he came to Syracuse, and bought a half interest in a small nursery, 
with Mr. Alanson Thorp, under the tirm name of Thorp & Smith, the nursery comprising four or 
five acres, situated on West Genesee street, near the present residence of W. Brown Smith, for which 
he paid f;2,ooo. This nursery was increased from time to time, until it occupied several hundred acres. 
The firm name was changed at various times by the addition or retirement of other partners, until Mr. 
Smith became the sole proprietor of the business. In 1868, Mr. Edward A. Towell married his only 
daughter, Lucy C, and became a partner in the business, which was soon after extended by the ad- 
dition of the live stock interests, from wdiich was developed the celebrated "Lakeside Stock Farm," 
which is noticed elsewhere in this work. 

In 1879, the firm was again changed by the admission into partnership of his sons. Wing R. and 
W. ludson Smith, under the firm name of Smiths & Powell, and in 1885, Mr. Anthony Lamb was 
admitted as a partner, the firm name becoming Smiths, Powell & Lamb, which is still retained. 

Karly in life Mr. Smith adopted the motto, "Never put off until to-morrow what you can do to- 
day," and the rule of his life has been never to deviate from this, and to his remembrance he has 
never forfeited a contract, or failed to meet an obligation. In business, energetic, honorable and 
trustworthv. In religion, through early associations, he became a member of the Baptist Church, 
but later in life he became interested in the Unitarian Society and since his residence in Syracuse has 
been identified with that church, and has been one of its sustaining members and for many \ears 
one of its Trustees. In politics a Republican, having voted with the Whig party for William 11. 
Harrison, and although always interested in the political welfare of his city and country, he has never 
sought any office, but was elected for several terms School Commissioner in his district, and served 
for one term as President of that Board. 

He h.is been largely identified with the development of the city, having been connected with 
many of the leading public and business enterprises, and at present holds several positions of trust 
and honor, among which may be mentioned the following ; President of OakwcM)d Cemetery, \'ice- 
President of the Syracuse Savings Bank, Director of the Salt Springs National Bank, Director of the 
Syracuse Water Company, and Counselor of the Old Ladies' Home. 




% 







,;~:^^^!-.--l>C.je--c::C'C^ 



RlOGRArillCAL. 



Outside of his regular business interests, Mr. Smith has for many years been a large investor in 
real estate in S\Tacuse or its vicinity. He made it a governing principle that money invested in real 
estate near at hand which would nearly or quite pay the interest on its cost was well invested. Re- 
sults have justilicil his judjjnient and now Mr. Smith and the tirm of which he is a member own 
about 1,200 acres of land, a large part of which is his personal property and much of which is very 
valuable. 

Mr. .Smith has ahvavs been an earnest advocate of temperance and morality, and has both by 
precept and example entleavored to impress these principles on the minds of those with whom he 
came in contact, and he makes with pride the statement that he never touched, tasted or handled in- 
toxicants of anv kind, or tobacco, nor offered them to others. 



LUCIVS GI.EASON, the subject of this brief sketch, was born in the village of Liverpool, Onon- 
daga county, N. Y., December 8, iSig. His father was Am (de.ison, who came fr<im Middle- 
field, Ma.ss., and settled in Liverpool in 1S12, where he engaged in farming and boating. His 
mother's maiden name was Mary Hint. Lucius Gleason was the oldest child of this marriage. He 
obtained a good education in the district school of the village, which he attended quite regularly un- 
til he was eighteen years of age. During the three preceding summers, however, he spent most of 
his time in boating on the canal, adding thereby to his pocket money. At eighteen he began work 
as clerk in the general store at Liverpool, kept by John and Henry Paddock, where he remained two 
years. At this time the natural taste which he possessed for civil engineering developed itself and he 
gave up his clerkship and went to the neighboring village of Lodi, intending to study the science un- 
der Professor Koot. Lacking means to procure the necessary instruments for prosecuting his studies 
he was forced to abandon his design and returned to Liverpool ; there he accepted an engagement in 
the store of Aiken \ Sons, receiving for his services the munificent sum of ^200 and his board. 
This was then considered a good salary for a beginner. During this period he gave up nnich of his 
leisure to study ; but his bright outlook in mercantile pursuits causetl him to abandon his intention of 
becoming a surveyor or civil engineer. In the latter part of 1842, he bought out the lirm of Aiken 
& Sons, mostly on credit and thus when only twenty-three years of age was fully launched in trade. 
He continued the business until 1864, during which long period he invested portions of his increas- 
ing capital in various other enterprises. One of these was the salt business, then the leading industry 
of Syracuse, in which he was largely engaged from 1842 to 1S56, and to a lesser e.xtent in later years. 
His method of operating for a number of years was to buy the «dt in Liverpool and ship it to western 
markets. In 1857, he joined with a number of other men in the formation of a company for more 
extensive operations in this product, but owing to the terrible financial stringency of that time and 
the restricted demand for salt, the enterprise was not successful. Mr. CUeason, as well as his asso- 
ciates, lost heavily ; but his native courage and hopefulness enabled him to rise above misfortune, and 
alone he put forth his best efforts during the next few years, buying, selling and manufacturing salt 
exclusively and with the most satisfactory results. A second attempt was made to organize the salt 
manufacturers into a large company in i860, and the agreement bound its members for ten years. 
This great organization embraced about all of the salt manufacturers on the State Reservation and 
practically controlled the business. In this organization Mr. Gleason was a power ; he was, of 
course, a large shareholder and during the ten years of the company's existence was a member of its 
executive committee and general traveling agent. This company was an unciualilied success from the 
beginning, and remarkable prosperity attended its operations, particularly during the war period, 
when foreign salt was partially excluded from our markets. Prices ruled high and the prolits were 
large. Notwithstanding the discovery of large quantities of salt about the beginning of the war, at 
Saginaw, Mich., and later in Canada, the volume of the staple made at Syracuse steadily increased, 
averaging from 1867 to 1S71 more than eight and a half million bushels per year. In 1870, the com- 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



pany was reorganized for another like period, Mr. Gleason still retaining his interest in it. Besides 
this he had established in connection with the mercantile business in which he succeeded Aiken & 
Sons, a large cooperage industry, which was very successful ; and he was also largely interested in 
the lumber trade. In 1S63, he became interested with the late James P. Haskins in a coal mining 
enterprise at Hlossburg, Pa. ; this developed so e.\tensively that Mr. Gleason sold out his store in 
1864 and gave his attention to the mining enterprise for one year. 

In 1S63, upon the organization of the Third National Bank of Syracuse. Mr. CJleason was 
elected a member of the Board of Directors. This staunch financial institution began business on 
the 1st of January, 1864, with a capital of $150,000, which was increased before the end of that year 
to $300,000. The first President of the bank was James Munroe. He was succeeded by Allen 
Munroe, and in January, 1871, Mr. Gleason was elected President. The bank then had a surplus of 
$43,000. In the panic of 1873, it suffered some heavy losses, but under the w^ise and prudent man- 
agement of Mr. Gleason it quickly recovered and has become one of the most prosperous and suc- 
cessful institutions in the city of Syracuse, as it is also the largest, and now has a surplus of $60,000. 
It was formerly located in the White .Memorial Building, but with its accumulated resources it built 
the splendid structure on the corner of North Salina and James streets in the year 18S7 and now oc- 
cupies the whole of the first floor. 

Although giving much of his time to the welfare of the bank, Mr. (Reason still retains an inter- 
est in salt manufacturing, and during the present season, (1890) when that business has become un- 
profitable to many, he has operated five blocks. He is also the owner of a farm of two-hundred and 
fifty acres in the town of Salina and another of seven-hundred and liftv acres in the town of (.lay. .\ 
large portion of both of these farms is devoted to the cultivation of willows for baskets, the manufac- 
ture of which constitutes a large industry in that vicinity. 

Mr. Gleason has resisted all temptations to remove to Syracuse, and still clings to the village 
where almost his entire life has been passed. There he occupies a handsome residence in his declin- 
ing years. Mr. Gleason's career presents a bright example of what a man possessed of perseverance, 
industry and sobriety, with at least a fair share of business ability, natural or acquired, may accom- 
plish. He is a man of capacity and broad views, sound judgment and good common sense. These 
several excellent qualities are what have carried him from the smallest beginning to his present him- 
orable station ; qualities that have been severely tested on various occasions, notably in the terrible 
financial revulsion of 1S57, which swept away the entire fortune he had so laboriously accumulated. 
But instead of acknowledging defeat, he turned his face to the front and by his determination and bus- 
iness ability, soon recovered his losses and was on the high road to renewed success. In 1873, also, 
his prudent foresight and business sagacity were sufficient to carry the banking institution of which 
he was the head safely through a period of great stringency which swept away many fortunes. Since 
that time, under his thorough management, the bank has steadily progressed to its present high sta- 
tion. Such an institution is an honorable monument to any man who can lake to himself a large 
share of the credit for its success. 

Mr. Gleason holds a high place in the general esteem of the community in which he has lived so 
long. He h.-is always been identified with the growth and prosperity of the city of Syracuse and in 
all public enterprises has distinguished himself by the many valuable qualities we have noted. .So- 
cially Mr. Gleason is a man whom it is a pleasure to meet. Courtesy, forbearance, kindliness and 
gentlemanly demeanor are awarded alike to the highest and the humblest who enjoy intercourse with 
him. 

Mr. Gleason's claim to that honorable title, a self-made man, is indisputable ; and his rise from 
the obscure and humble position of a canal boatman, to the high station he now occupies as a pre- 
siding officer of a representative banking institution and an honored member of the business com- 
munity of Syracuse, extensively engaged in various large enterprises, and the possessor of wealth, 
social prestige and influence, affords an example which should serve to encourage struggling Ameri- 
can manhood everywhere. 



Biographical. 



CHARI.es parsons CLARK, President of the Syracuse Savings Bank, was born at West 
Hampton, Hampshire county, M.iss., on the 26th day of November, 1S22. His ancestors were 
n( the sturdy New Kngland stock, his father being l.nther Chrk and his mother Sarah Par«ons, 
both natives of M.issachusetts, where they followed the hard but honorable occupation of tilling the 
soil. In this toil the boy Charles sh.ired from the time when he was first able to make himself of any 
use, especially in the summer time, while he attended the district school winters. This is a disci- 
pline so often repeated as to become a worn-out story among the sons of New I'.ngland who have 
become conspicuous in some direction in after years. When twelve years old the lad was sent from 
home to live with his maternal uncle, Chester Parsons, at Skaneateles, where he was to remain until 
he reached his majority. Mr. Parsons was a farmer and the boy was to work for him, going to 
school in the winter, for which he was to be boarded , clothed, and when he reached twenty-one 
years of age receive f 100. The prospect thus confronting the twelve-year-old boy when he reached 
his new home was nine years of arduous labor, with little to lighten its dull routine except the goal 
at the end ; and that was not so splendid as falls to the lot of many, and neither was it so gloomy a 
prospect as often loomed up before boys of that period. The boy did his best. He worked faith. 
fully, studied persistently in school (getting one year in the .Academy at Skaneateles), and bent 
his energies to fitting himself for the active and honorable career which he had marked out for him- 
■ielf. When the young man's time was up he grasped the first opportunity that opened anil hired 
out on a neighboring farm for eight months .at $10 a month, and in the succeeding winter chopped 
sixty cords of wood for three shillings a cord, thus adding a little to his small capital. In the follow- 
ing summer (when he had reacheil the age of twenty-three) he resolved to seek the broader field 
which had always formed a part of his plans, and located at .Syracuse, where he found employment 
with Philo M. Rust, the well known landlord. His chief duty was caring for Mr. Rust's garden, 
which was situated near the corner of South Onondaga and West Onondaga streets. Mr. Clark's 
w.iges during the three years of his service for Mr. Rust were $15 a month .and board. The end of 
this term of work brings the record down to 1S47, when Mr. Clark found a better situation. He en- 
g.aged himself to the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad Company to work in their freight house, hand- 
ling freight, at a salary of ^28 a month. So well did he do his duty in this capacity that at the end 
of the first year he was given a clerkship in the freight office. This station he filled two years, 
working with the unflinching determination and loyalty to his employers that has characterized his 
whole life, and to make himself a master of the business. Of course he succeeded, and when the 
grand railroad consolidation was effected, in 1S53, Mr. Clark was given the control of the freighting 
department of Syracuse. From that time to the year 1SS9, a period of forty years, Mr. Clark faith- 
fully, successfully, and honorably directed the rapidly growing freight business of his department of 
the great railroad. He saw the insignificant roads growing into a part of one of the greatest systems 
of the country, and the work under his own control increased from what could be done by three or 
four men to a volume demanding the labor of si.xty or more. Such a persistent, straightforward 
business career as that needs very little comment. 

In 184S Mr. Clark married Miss Aurelia L. Nolton, daughter of Robert W. Xolton, then of 
Syracuse, and occupied the substantial home he purchased in the following year in South Salina 
street, where he has ever since lived. 

Although Mr. Clark's chosen calling drew him almost wholly from public view, and <lemanded 
his incessant and unremitting attention, yet his fellow citizens found him out and called on him for 
the e.vercise of his unusual executive ability in the management of public affairs. He was elected by 
the Republicans Alderman of the Sixth ward, under the .Mayoralty of E. W. Leavenworth, in 1859; 
he was re-elected in i860, under .Amos Westcott, and was again elected under Charles .Andrews in 
1862. In 1869 he was brought forward as candidate for Mayor and was elected to that high office, 
and re-elected for a second term in the following year. In 1871 he was elected Police Commissioner 
and served as President of the Hoard from 1871 lo 1S74 inclusive. In these various public positions 
Mr. Clark h.is .always been found on the side of straightforward, prudent, honest, and conservative 
government. On few i|uestions of public importance has his judgment and foresight been at fault. 
Many other positions of honor and responsibility h.ave been tendered to .Mr. Clark outside of the 
political field. He was elected a trustee of the Syracuse Savings Bank in 1S72, and filled the vacancy 



lo Memorial History of Syracuse. 

caused by the death of E. B. Wicks; was elected director of the Bank of Syracuse at its organiza- 
tion and is still in that office; and in the year l88g was elected a director of the Syracuse Klectric 
Light and Power Company ; trustee of Oakwood Cemetery ; trustee of the Onondaga County 
Orphan Asylum ; and finally, on the 14th of January, of the same year, was made President of the 
Syracuse Savings Bank, one of the most honorable and responsible financial positions in the city. 

Mr. Clark has been a member of the First Presbyterian church since the year 1886, and since 
1SS7 he has been and now is a trustee of that church. In the business community of Syracuse no 
man bears a clearer and more honorable reputation than Mr. Clark. Me has earned it. lie has 
attained his conspicuous station from the lowest step of the ladder and may properly cherish a degree 
of pride in this fact. A man prompt of speech and action in business, he is yet one of the readiest 
to meet the approach of either the common laborer or the millionaire. His hand is often given to 
aid in lifting the struggling toiler on his hard road, and charily finds him a willing giver to the best 
of his ability. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have one son, Dr. (laylord P. Clark, a rising young physician 
of Syracuse. 



HENRY DARWIN DIDAM A, M.D., LL.D., was born in rerr>'ville, Madison county, N. Y., June 
17, 1823. Ilis father, John Didama, and grandf.ather, Simon Uidama, were both physicians. 
They came with the Holland Company from Delft in the latter part of the last century, when John 
was but thirteen years of age. and located at Trenton, N. Y. His mother, Lucinda, was of the New- 
England Gaylord stock, so that the subject of this sketch is fortunate enough to have the best ances- 
tral combination possible: Holland Dutch and Connecticut Yankee. He does not remember, as he 
himself has stated, any exhibitions of remarkable precocity, although he has been assured that he 
was an excellent silent listener in early life, speaking only two words till he reached the mature age 
of four years. He declares that, as at that time there were no State hospitals for feeble-minded 
children, he was tenderly but despairingly cared for under the parental roof. He was sent to the 
village district school, where the kind mental ministrations and physical administrations of patient 
teachers enabled him to master the English alphabet at seven, and to make "straight marks" (most 
woeful and wabbling) in his writing book at nine. In the common and select schools, and at the ex- 
cellent Cazenovia Seminary (which he attended for three years), he became somewhat acquainted 
with the rudiments of an ordinary education. That these rudiments were fixed in a fairly retentive 
memory was due, he thinks, to his two winters" experience as a school teacher in the years of 1840 
and 1841. 

Young Didama entered the office of his accomplished friend. Dr. David A. Moore, now residing 
in Syracuse, as a medical student in 1842, finishing his studies with Dr. Nelson C. Powers (of whom 
a biographical sketch is printed elsewhere in this volume), attending in the meantime one course of 
lectures at the Geneva Medical College and two courses at Albany, at which latter place he was 
graduated in 1S46. Locating at Romulus, Seneca county, he had abundant leisure during his five 
years' residence there to continue his medical studies, as the large majority of the good people in that 
quiet and healthful locality enjoyeil almost uninterrupted immunity from illness, while the sick mi- 
nority chose the attentions of a venerable and experienced professional neighbor, whose friends actu- 
ally boasted that he had not looked into a medical book in thirty years. 

Before leaving Romulus and coming to Syracuse, Dr. Didama married Sarah, daughter of Hon. 
Sherman .Miller, of Tompkins county, N. Y. To her good judgment and faithful devotion he attrib- 
utes in no small measure whatever of success in practice he may have achieved. She has been the 
mother of three children, one of whom, Mrs. Amelia D. Niven, M. D., with her husband, William 
II. Niren, still remains the joy and consolation of the united home. 

During his forty years' residence in Syracuse Dr. Didama has had a fairly extensive medical practice. 
He has been or is at present a member of several medical societies and a-ssociations. Among these 
are the Syracuse Medical Association, Onondaga Medical Society, New York Central Medical Associa- 



Biographical. ii 



tion. New York State Medical Society, New York State Medical Association (in each one of which 
he has served as rrc^ijent), American Medical Association, American Academy of Medicine, Amer- 
ican Cliinitological Association, and British Medical Association. lie has been one of the physicians 
of St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse since its institution, and is at present chief of its staff. lie has 
been Professor of the .Science and Art of Medicine in the College of Medicine of Syracuse Uni- 
versity since its organization in 1S72, and he is now its Dean. Two years ngo he received the degree 
of Doctor of Laws from .Syr.icuse University, lie is an officer in the First Presbyterian chnrch of 
Syracuse. In politics he has been a Republican ever since the organization of that party. 

Pr. Didama has been earnestly in favor of a high standard of medical education. In his address 
at Albany, while President of the State Medical Society, in iSSo, he urged that without delay an en- 
trance examination should be required by each medical college in the State; that this examination 
should be equal to that e.\.acted by the best universities; and that after four years from the new de- 
parture each candid.ite for admission must possess the degree of A.l!. In the same address he ad- 
vocated the substitution of a sensible, prolonged three years' gr.aded course of instruction for the 
prevailing, unnatural, short two winters' course, the second winter being but a repetition of the first. 
In his aililress in New Vork, as President of the New York .State Medical Association, in 1884, he 
reaMirmed his convictions and amplified his arguments regarding entrance examinations and a graded 
course. Two years ago the Legislatureof the State en.actcd that all candidates for .admission to a medical 
college should be subjected to a .specified mild and elementary examination, and also to a final examin- 
ation for license to practice by an independent board to be appointed by the Regents of the State 
University. It is remembered with some pleasure that the College of Medicine of the Syracuse Uni- 
versity had in full force sixteen years prior to the compulsory legislative enactment, and still has, all 
and more than all the requirements of the new law. 

Dr. Didama is the author of medical essays which, in .iddition to public addresses, have been 
published in medical journals at home and reviewed abroad. Over the signature of "Amos Cottle" 
he has also for many years written for the daily press articles of current interest and letters 
of travel in foreign lands. His skill and research are dedicated to his fellow men; and he still finds 
his highest pleasure in the profession to which his long and active life has assiduously been devoted. 



H.\MlLrO\ WIIITK was born in the town of Homer, Cortland county, N. Y., on thefith day 
of May, 1S07, and died at Syracuse on the 22d day of September, 1S65. His parents, Asa and 
Clarissa Keep White, had settled in Homer in 1798. His education was confined to the common 
schools of the pl.ace, but he improved these advantages so well and was so diligent in reading that he 
was able, at the age of sixteen, to take charge of a school on the terms then usual of nine dollars a 
month and board. Deciding on mercantile pursuits .as the occupation of his life he entered into the 
employment of the Messrs. Randall, merchants of Cortlandville, .and by his industry and fidelity 
made his services of great value to his principals. He continued in clerkship for about ten years, in 
which, by his frugal habits and close study of the details of business, he laid the foundation of 
his success in life. At the age of twenty-nine years, having accumulated sufficient means from his earn- 
ings to conduct business on his o\vn account, he took up his residence at Lockport, in Niagara 
county. Here, during the next three years, he largely increased his capital by various investments, 
small at first, but fostered by wise and careful attention. In 1839 he removed to Syracuse, where 
his elder brother, Horace White, had preceded him the year before, and was appointed cashier of the 
Onondaga County Hank, of which Captain Oliver Teall was the President. The two were associ- 
ated in the same office, and .as stockholders and directors in this as well as other institutions until 
the expiration of the charter in 1864. It was a period in which banking capital could be employed 
both profitably and to the great .advantage of the public. liolh of the executive officers were men of 
high morals and conscientiously endeavored to aid the deserving. It was a period free from com- 
mercial revulsions, and almost every year of it marked by new and substantial enterprises. At its 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



commencement the effects of the panic of 1837 had nearly passed away. The Auburn and Syracuse 
and the Syr.icuse and Utica R.iilroads h.id just been completed. New firms and individu.ils were 
bringing capit.il into the production of the great staple, salt. The duties levied by the State which 
had been reduced from twelve and one-half cents to si.\ cents a bushel in the year 1834, were 
still further reduced in the year 1846 to one cent a bushel, imparting a strong stimubnt to the 
production. Other manufactures were added or grew up from previous beginnings, including 
m.-ichinery, steam engines, farm implements, stoves, woolen goods, leather, etc. The residences 
and business structures were vastly improved and increased, and many capacious and well known 
mercantile edifices for immediate and prospective use were erected. The population of the pl.nce 
increased from 6,500 in 1840 to 25,000 in 1S55, counting the village of Salina, which came into the 
city with its incorporation in 1848. Hamilton White promoted this general prosperity, and shared in 
its benefits. The field of his action and of his investments was gradually extended. In l84() he 
was one of the incorporators, with Oliver Teall and three others, of the Syracuse City Water Works 
Company. ~ Captain Teall had been the originator of the first water works many years before, but 
more extensive and complete arrangements were now necessary. Plans were made for the new water 
supply and cirried out in a manner to give satisfaction to the community, as detailed elsewhere in 
these pages. With his brother Horace, and Robert Cere, Hamilton White engaged in the formation 
of the Geddes Coarse Salt Company and in other industries. He took a large share in the develop- 
ment of the railway interests centering in Syracuse. While unobtrusive in his demeanor, and sel- 
dom volunteering advice, his counsel was sought by his associates as that of a man who deliberately 
formed his own opinions, though carefully weighing the opinions of others. In his conscientious- 
ness he was careful not to mislead by any advice dictated by mere self-interest or given crudely on 
the spur of the moment. His judgment was, therefore, always respected and generally confirmed by 
experience. His railroad connections extended until he w.-is a director in all the companies on the 
line between .\lbany and Chic.igo, except the Cleveland and Toledo. On the closing of the Onon- 
da"a County Bank, in 1S54, .Mr. While wa> its natural successor, continuing business as a private 
banker, ever ready to encourage public enterprise and .aid deserving merit. The local institutions 
of the citv and county received the benefit of his means and counsel. Through the exertions and 
pecuniary aid of himself and his associates in donating the grounds to the New York State ,\sylum for 
Idiots that institution, founded at Albany in 1S51, was removed to Syracuse in 1S55. Mr. Wliiic 
continued to take a deep interest in the success of the asylum, the design of which is to furnish means 
of education or training to the idiots of the State of a teach.ible age and condition. Kor many years 
his services as treasurer were given to the Onondaga County Orphan Asylum, and the Home for Old 
I.adies received his sympathy and aid, and both of these institutions were remembered in his will. 
His own church and the churches of other denominations in Syracuse and elsewhere shared his liber- 
ality. Unostentatious, he never proclaimed his charitable acts and often gave with an unseen hand. 
In 1856 he assisted in the foundation of the Onondaga County Agricultural Society, and 1859 in 
that of the As.sociation of Oakwood Cemetery, of wliich he was made treasurer. After the breaking 
out of the Rebellion .Mr. White was active in measures for raising troops for the llnion armies, and 
freely contributed both time and money. In 1S62 he was called to the presidency of the Syr.icuse 
National Hank, made vacant by the <leath of John Wilkinson, but his health was imp.aired and the 
next year he was obliged to resign and seek recuper.ation in foreign travel. He visiteil the principal 
countries of Europe and the East and returned with a fund of information and anecdote, pleasant ami 
profit.ible to his friends, but without permanent restoration to health, and the following year his wife 
and eldest son .iccompanied him on a visit to the West Indies, returning in June, 1S65. All reme- 
dies were unavailing, and he died on the 22d of September of that year. Besides the beautiful monu- 
ment that marks his resting place in the cemetery which he did so much to create his children and 
those of his brother Horace have erected a m.agnificent .Memorial Building on the spot where their 
fathers did business so many years. But the most desirable monument is reared to the two brothers 
in the gratitude and esteem of the many hearts whose cares were alleviated or removed by the sym- 
pathy, the charily, .and the business aid of these Christian bankers and philanthropists. 

Hamilton White was married in 1841 to Sarah Randolph Rich, daughter of C.aius 11. Rich, of 
Buffalo, N. Y. She survived liim but a short time and died on the 29th of March, iSCy. The Syra- 



Biographical. 13 



cii^e Journal very fairly representeil the public estimate of her worth: "For years her home was 
the center of elej^ant hospitality. She was quoted as an e.xample, she was studied as a model. More 
than this, she was a Christian lady. If her hospitality to her equals was marked her kindness to infe- 
riors was still more signally exhibited. The many poor never went from her door empty handed or 
without encouraging words. Suffering ever found in her a sympathetic friend, a ready helper. She 
early became prominently identified with the charity work and the charitable institutions of the city. 
Her charities were as unostentatious as they were free, for they sprang from genuine benevolence ; a 
Iwnevolence which vaunted not itself, but found its noblest reward in its own impulses. Few women 
have ever departed from our miilst whose loss was so generally deplored. Her memory is, however, 
a beautiful one, and its fragrance will long linger in many hearts both of high and low degree." 

The living children are Jane .Vntoinette, now Mrs. .Vntoinette \V. Sherman ; Clara Keep, now 
Mrs. Robert L. S. Hall, of New Vork ; and Hamilton Salisbury White ami Howard Ganson 
White, both of Syracuse. A son, I'larretl Uich White, and a daughter, Sarah Aphia White, are de- 
ceased. 



HOR.VCF WIIITF, w.as born in the village of Homer, Cortland county, N. Y., on the iqth of 
.\pril, 1S02. His father was Asa White, who was born in the towti of Monson, Mass., in the 
vear 1774. removed to Homer in i7gS, and there in 1800 married ('larissa Keep, d.iughtcr of Caleb 
Keep, who settled in Homer at the same time. Horace White was placed in the store of Horace 
Hill at Auburn, N. Y., at the early age of fourteen years, and two years later in a store in Albany 
in which his father was interested. Returning to Homer he entered the store of Jedediah liarber, 
who was for many years a leading merchant in Cortland county, and remained there for ten years, 
acquiring during that period a reputation for integrity, energy, and excellent business capacity. His 
health, however, was not robust, and he decided to engage in more .active employment, and for that 
purpose spent two or three years on a farm, thus regaining to a large extent his former health. In 
1.S31 he married Clara Dickson, daughter of Andrew Dickson, a native of Massachusetts, whose wife 
was Ruth Hall, of Connecticut In 1S35 Mr. White accepted the doctrines of the Episcopal church 
and united with Calvary church in Homer. In 1S3S he removed to .Syracuse, where he joined St. 
Raul's church and remained with it until his death, acting as vestryman and warden. Mr. White's 
life after his removal to Syracuse was marked with great activity and unusual success. Under the 
general banking law of 1838 the Hank of Syracuse was organized in the following year, principally 
through the efforts of Mr. White and John Wilkinson. Mr. W'ilkinson became president of the 
bank and Mr. White cashier. The capital was $200,000, and the bank was for a number of years 
the leading financial institution of Syracuse. During a later period Hamilton White was president 
of the bank, and still later the Hon. Andrew 1). White filled the position, thus identifying the insti- 
tution in a special manner with his family. Both Mr. White and Mr. Wilkinson were also directors 
in the Onond.aga County Hank, of which Hamilton White was a director and the cashier. In con- 
nection with these institutions Mr. White gained a high reputation as a judicial and prudent financier, 
who, while carefully protecting the interests of the banks, was still ready at all times to use their in- 
fluence and means for the welfare of the community. The association of Horace White and John 
Wilkinson extended beyond the sphere of banking. The latter did much towards establishing the 
early railroads of the State, and was one of the commissioners appointed by the act incorporating 
the .\uburn and Syracuse Railroad in 1S34 ; the road was finished in 1839. In the same year the 
Syracuse and Utica Railro.ad w.as opened under the presidency of Mr. Wilkinson. Ten years later 
the demands of travel ami transportation cau.sed the construction of the direct ro.ad between Syracuse 
and Rochester, thi: company being organized in 1S49, and in the following year the two other com- 
panies and the new one were consolidated under the name of the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad 
Company, all of which prepared the way for the general consolidation in 1S53 of all the roads be- 
tiveen Albany and liuflalo. In these various plans and enterprises Mr. White was directly interested 
and took an active interest in their consummation. Under the general railway act of 1850 the 



14 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Syracuse and Hinghaniton Railroad was undertaken in 1S51. Mr. White was made treasurer of the 
company, and his financial ability was conspicuously displayed in the building of that road, which 
was opened in 1854. When the great consolidation wasefTectcd which created the New York Central 
Railroad (Company Mr. White was promptly c.illcd into the I'.oard of Directors, under the lead of 
Erastus Corning, then one of the most prominent railroad men in the country. The success of the 
consolidation was a foregone conclusion and .Mr. White contributed not a little to the prosperity of 
tlio llien great organization. Prominent among the several local manufacturing industries in which 
Mr. White was interested w.as the founding of the Ceddes Co.arse Salt Company, in which he was 
associated with his brother Hamilton and the late Robert Gere. Ilis declining health compelled 
him to withdraw from the banking connections in 1S56, and to curtail his other business operations ; 
but he still felt a deep interest in public affairs and in that year aided in organizing the Onondaga 
County Agricultural Society, and was a delegate to the .State Agricultural Society at .\lbany. Mr. 
White was a man with broad, benevolent principles. His gifts for the support of missions and other 
church interests, his endowment of a professorship and of prizes at Hobait College, an<l his gifts to 
various institutions connected with his denomination, were munificent, while his unseen and unknown 
charities were numberless. His memory is revered by all who knew' him. He died on the 5th of 
September, iSfio. His widow died on the 23d of August, 1SS2. Mr. White had two sons — the 
Hon. Andrew Dickson White, late President of Cornell University, .State Senator from 1S64 to 1867, 
and late Minister of the U. S. to Germany ; and Horace Keep White, the well known capitalist of 
Syracuse. The splendid White Memorial Building in Syracuse was erected by these sons to the 
memorv of their father. 



JAMES L. BAGG, a veteran member of the Onondaga County ISar. was born in the town of 
Lanesboro, Berkshire county, Mass., on the 27th of September. 1815. He retained his residence 
on his father's farm, sharing to the best of his ability in its arduous labors, until the year 1S3S, when 
he took up his residence in Syracuse and has ever since remained here. During his boyhood on the 
farm he attended the district school, and was also happily favored with si.v months' tuition in Latin 
by the pastor of the Congregational church. During his fourteenth and fifteenth years he was eni- 
ployetl as clerk in a grocery store conducteil by his cousin in the city of Albany. At tlie age of six- 
teen he began regular study at the academy at Leno-t, Mass., and remained there three years, fitting 
himself for college. He then entered Union College at Schenectady. N. Y., as a Sophomore, and 
graduated with credit in 1837. At that time he had relatives residing in Syracuse and it was upon 
their advice that he determined upon it as his future home. Coming westward to Ulica by railroad 
he took a stage at that place (there being no railroad between Syracuse and Utica) and reached Syra- 
cuse in April, 1838. He had decided upon adopting the law as a profession and immediately entered 
the office of H. & T. T. Davis, where he remained until July of that year, when he changed to the 
law office of Wilkinson .\: Outwater (John Wilkinson and I'eter Outwater, Jr.). John Wilkinson was 
then postmaster of the village and one of its foremost citizens. Mr. li.agg remained in that office 
until he w.is admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court in May. 1S41. .Soon afterward (ami on the 
retirement of Mr. Outwater from the firm) Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Bagg formed a copartnership 
which continued until 1843, when John Kleming, then of Manlius, was admitted to the firm. Mr. 
Fleming died in 1844 and Mr. Wilkinson retired from the firm shortly afterwards. Thereafter Mr. 
Bagg continued to practice alone until 1868, when he formed a copartnership with W. G. Tracy, 
which firm w.is dissolved in the year 1869. In the year 1874 Mr. Bagg formed a copartnership with 
Jacob A. Nottingham, which firm continued until 1887, when D. A. I'ierce w.as admitted. The firm 
of Bagg, Nottingham & Pierce is still in existence. 

This is a brief chronicle of a long and very busy career. In his early professional labors Mr. 
Bagg gave his attention to the various br.anches of practice, both in and out of the courts, but the 
spirited contests and great uncertainties as to results were not to his taste. His preference has al- 



Biographical. 15 



ways been for the quieter walks of the profession, in which he has now, anil always has had, a large 
business, llis acknowleiiged ability ami integrity have led to the placing in his charge of numerous 
estates and trusts demanding the exercise of those qualilications combined with skill as a financier. 

While a student at law Mr. Hagg devoted a portion of his time to duties in the postolTice, for 
which he received his board in Mr. Wilkinson's family and sullicient compensation to cover his living 
expenses. Syracuse was then a village of about 8,000 population, and Mr. liagg calls to mind the 
fact that one clerk at a salary of |6oo, together with himself, who gave to the work about three hours 
a day, did all of the business of the office; while at the present time the postollice requires the entire 
time of forty or fifty clerks and other employees. 

It may be said in simple justice to .Mr. Hagg that the most important and useful work of his life 
was his untiring service in connection with the Onondaga County Savings Hank. Mr. Hagg early 
formed a high opinion of the usefulness and importance of savings banks ; and although one such 
bank had been in existence here for six years, and although it then had a deposit of less than .^iioo,- 
000, still Mr. Hagg believed that there was room for another such institution in Syracuse, and that 
the business and convenience of the public demanded it. 

With the plan well formed Mr. Hagg in 1855 drew up the charter and circulated through the 
city a petition to the Legislature for its enactment, and jointly with others advocated its passage 
before the Legislative Committee. The room in which the bank commenced its business was pro- 
vided by him. He was made vice-president and attorney. These positions he held for twenty-two 
years, resigning them iii 1S77. During this period he gave unstintedly of his time and energies to 
the welfare of the institution. The results of that labor, with that of his associates, are well known 
to the community. 

Mr. Hagg has never sought political office, and never held any but that of Alderman of the 
Eighth ward of Syracuse in 1855. lie has always interested himself largely in various reforms, par- 
ticularly that of temperance, and in many charities and in public affairs geneially. To all worthy 
objects he has been a liberal giver commensurate with his means. He has filled the oftice of Presi- 
dent of the State Temperance Society and of several local societies. Originally a Democrat in poli- 
tics, he united with the Republican party upon its organization and has acted with it ever since. 
.Mr. Hagg merits the honorable title of a public spirited citizen with lofty principles of business and 
social conduct. He is a member of the I'nitarian church. 

Mr. Hagg was married in 1S44 to Mary H. Redfield, second daughter of the late Lewis H. Red- 
field, the eminent printer and journalist of Syracuse. They have had two children: one daughter 
who died at the age of twelve years, and a second daughter, now Mrs. E. li. Merrell. 



HON. ELIZUR CL.\RK. The Clark family of whom the subject of this sketch is a member 
dates back to the early settlement of the New England States, and is descemled ironi John Clark, 
who immigrated to America about the year 1644 and settled first in the State of Rhode Island. The 
ancestors of Flizur Clark were noted for longevity, his grandfather's family consisting of four sons 
and four daughters ; all lived to upwards of eighty-three years, the youngest living to the advanced 
age of ninety-three years. His father was Heamont Clark, born July 25lh, lyf)?, and lived to the 
age of ninety years, and was a native of Saybrook, Conn., as was also the grandfather. 

Elizur Clark was born in the town of .Saybrook, Middlesex county. Conn., October 5th. 1807. 
His father came with that part of the family which had not preceded him, and settled in the town of 
Cicero, Onondaga county, in the summer of 1823. He was a farmer by occupation and aided very 
much in the early settlement of that town, until 1837, when he removed to .Michigan, where he died 
in the year of 1S57. His mother, whose maiden name was Nabbe Spencer, lived to seventy-three 
years of age, and died in Michigan. She was born January 14, 1770. 

The subject of this record was only fifteen years of age when he came to Onondaga county with 
his father, and was next to the youngest in a family of eleven children,— eight sons and three daughters. 



i6 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



— all of whom except himself are dead. Mr. Clark's early opportunities for obtaining an education 
were limited. On reaching Syracuse he embarked in business for himself, and his subsequent suc- 
cessful career has abundantly proved that a practical education is more the result of capacity, energy, 
and self application than of book study lie spent his time until the year 1834 in such various 
kinds of business as came to his hand, lie leased the Salina mill property of Henry Seymour, and 
larried on the lumber business until 1S37, when Mr. Seymour died and .Mr. Clark purchased a half in- 
te est in the property, the other half interest being owned by ex-Governor Horatio Seymour. He 
carried on this business until iS^f), when he purchased the other half of the property and sold the 
same to Hon. Thomas G. Alvord, and in partnership they carried on the lumber business until 1863. 
when Mr. Clark retired from the firm and (with the exception of an .igency connected with a party 
to whom he leased the mill property, continuing until 1870) retired from the active duties of life. 
Mr. Clark, also in 1S46, became connected with the salt industry, both coarse and fine, and a little 
later was largely interested in the manufacture of coarse salt. He was one of the originators of the 
Salina Coarse Salt Company and now controls $93,000 of the $150,000 of its stock. He was for 
many years a director in the S.alt Springs Hank after the year 1S6S, and until his removal from the 
city, and was also a trustee in the Syracuse Savings Hank. 

Unlike his father and grandfather, who were closely allied to the Federal party and afterwards to 
ihe Whigs, Mr. Clark cast his first vote for General Jackson, and has been an unswerving and con- 
sistent member of the Democratic party ever since. He can boast of having voted for fifty years 
without a single interruption, lie has never been an active politician, and has looked rather to prin- 
ciples than to party interests, lie has been identified with the public offices of trust and resonsi- 
l>ility in the history of Salina and Syracuse, in many instances, and was one of the first Aldermen 
elected after the organization of the city, representing the First ward. In 1 856 he was Supervisor 
for the same ward, and in the year 1863 represented his district in the State Legislature. All these 
public positions have been filled with that integrity of purpose and honest action which have char.ac- 
tcrized his whole life. 

Mr. Clark is a plain, unassuming man. having the full confidence of his fellows, and now at the 
great age of eighty-four years retains his faculties almost wholly unimpaired, and acts with the same 
calm judgment and prudence that governed his transactions many years ago. 

In the year 1S25, November 13, Mr. Clark married Miss Jerusha N. Spencer, of Onondaga 
county. To them were born ten children, of whom Harriet E., wife of Augustus Avery, John Sey- 
mour, and Mary D., widow of Edward Manning, are still living, and all reside in Syracuse. Ills 
wife died in 1S65, and he married, in November, iS6g, Miss Augusta M. I'eck, daughter of Charles 
L. I'eck, a n.ative of Lyme, Conn., and a descendant of Deacon William I'eck, born in England in 
1601, anil came to .\merica in i(>38, settling in New Haven, Conn. In iS-S Mr. Clark took up his 
residence in Lyme, Conn., though much of his time is passed in Syiacuse. 



WILLIAM PREYOST fiOODELLE was born in the town of Tully, Onondaga county, N. Y.. 
on the 25th day of May, 1S3S. His father w.as .\aron I!. Goodelle, a successful farmer ; and 
his mother was Eleanor A. Prevost. After preliminary studies at the common school the subject 
of this sketch spent one year in Homer Academy, and then entered Cazenovia Seminary .as one of 
the only two to take a five years' course, the period being from 1854 to i8f)0. In the spring of iSf.i 
he entered Dartmouth College as a .Sophomore, and graduated in the class of 1863 wilh high honors. 
He w.as one of those selected to deliver an oration at Commencement. 

Returning from college Mr. Goodelle was requested to accept the principalship of Moravia 
Academy, which he did for one year, and then, as he believed, began his continuous life work by 
the study of the law in the oftice of L. H. & F. Hiscock, in Syr.acuse. I!ut after a few months of 
study he was earnestly solicited to go out to Onondaga Valley and assume charge of the academy, 
which was then in sore need of re-organization an<l improvement. Mr. Gooilelle accepted the charge 
and remained there two years, but supplemented his labors by law study as far as he was able during 
the period. He gave up leaching at the close of the year I Sfib, resumed the study of law in the 



r^ry"^ 




BlOGRArillCAL. 17 



same office where he began, and in October, 1868, was admitted to the Bar and immediately began 
practice, remaininu with the Messrs. Hiscock for one year thereafter. He then actively engaged in 
independent practice for three years, and in the fall of 1871 had reached a position at the Bar and a 
degree of conlulence with his fellow citizens which resulted in his election as District Attorney of 
Onondaga county. At the expiration of his term of oftice, three years later, Mr. Coodelle devoted 
himself wholly and enthusiastically to his profession in which he has attained such an exalted posi- 
tion, particularly as a criminal lawyer. Immediately after the expiration of his term as District 
Attorney he was retained by the New \'ork Central railroad company and has ever since re- 
mained in its service, his field of labor extending from Buffalo to .\lbany. At the time un- 
der consideration and for several years previous, crimes of various descriptions against the 
great railroad company had been alarmingly on the increase, such crimes ranging from wreck- 
ing of trains and destroying human life, down to the robbing of cars. Mr. UoodcUe's career 
as District Attorney was a notable one; and this may be stated without disparagement of 
any other incumbent of that office. He was, and is, peculiarly adapted by nature, and especially 
so by study an<l experience, to deal with the criminal class. It delights him to get one of 
its notorious members in his grip ; and when he does, as a rule his victim's doom is sealed and he 
speedily finds his proper abiding place in prison. To-day it stands to .Mr. Goodelle's high credit, 
that he has convicted and sent to prison at least four hundred criminals ; and the railroad authori- 
ties, basing their action largely upon his record in the District Attorney's ofiice, were wise in their 
selection of an attorney who has shown himself so well fitted to, and competent for, the position. 
In that connection Mr. Goodelle has come in contact with all shades of crime and all sorts of 
criminal characters, as well as with many of the best lawyers in the State acting in their defence. 
There is scarcely a county in the State of New York, and certainly none along the line of the Cen- 
tral railroad, where he is not quite well known as a lawyer and where his eloquence has not been 
heard in behalf of peace and of safety from crime. So effective has his work in this direction been 
that it is now a well known and acknowledged fact that crimes against the railroad company within 
Mr. Goodelle's jurisdiction have diminished almost to disappearance. 

While in the District Attorney's office, it was Mr. t^oodelle's good fortune, if it can be called 
such, to conduct the prosecution of many notable cases, among which were several of a capital 
character. The most prominent of these was, perhaps, that of Owen Lindsay, who was charged 
with the murder of Francis Colvin, and whose trial began in Syracuse on the 26th of January, 1874. 
The proceedings in this remarkable case are published in book form and the details cannot, of course, 
he alluded to here ; but it involved the most persistent work, untiring research, patient investigation, 
and ability of a high order to bring it to a successful issue. The perplexing question of distinguish- 
ing human from animal blood stains was prominent in the case and under peculiarly harassing con- 
ditions; and was by Mr. Goodelle, for the first time in this State, introduced into its criminal jurispru- 
dence. It is an evidence of his thoroughness in his professional work that he spent two weeks in 
Philadelphia with eminent experts in making himself familiar with the subject. In the defence of 
Lindsay such eminent counsel as Charles li. Sedgwick, Frank Hiscock, and others were employed. 
Lindsay was hung. Mr. Goodelle received the most enthusiastic congratulations from his brethren 
of the Bar and from the public press, for his masterly work in this case. In alluding to the close of 
the trial a local paper said : 

" Mr. Goodelle's address to the jury was a most fitting close of his untiring labors as a public 
officer of Onondaga county. During the delivery, not only the jury, but the entire audience gave 
that attention which demonstrated the power of the learned counsel's eloquence and the strength of 
his argument. Mr. (loodelle often rose to the height of impassioned eloquence. He forgot his 
associates ; he forgot the audience hanging upon his words ; he forgot all but his case and the jury. 
His presentation of the people's evidence was perfect. * * Taken altogether, the effort of Mr. 
Goodelle, in its plain statement of the work the people had to perform, in its minute tracing of the 
testimony, in its final welding of the circumstantial and direct evidence into an unbroken chain and 
fastening the same about the prisoner, formed one of the most masterly forensic efforts ever made at 
the bar of this county. " 

Another paper said, in alluding to the importance of the question of detecting blood stains in the 
case; "This blood test was the great battle field of the trial, and when Messrs. Goodelle and Sedg- 
wick crossed swords on this point, there was a display of forensic eloquence and ability rarely seen." 
C 



1 8 Mkmuriai. History of Syracuse. 



Another case of great importance was that of Mary J. Holmes, who was charged with poison- 
ing her husband, in which Mr. Goodelle defended the prisoner. This trial lasted six weeks and at- 
tracted wide-spread attention both from the public and from the attorneys of Onondaga and surround- 
ing counties. Before the trial the general belief in the public mind was that the woman was guilty. 
This was largely changed by the proceedings of the trial, in which Mr. Goodelle secured the acquit- 
tal of the prisoner. A local newspaper on the last day of the trial, printed the following, which in- 
dicates the public interest in the trial and pays Mr. (Joodellc a deserved compHment : 

" The last tick of the parting day was almost simultaneous with the tinal words of an argument 
for the prisoner which had consumed seven mortal hours. The Counselor's face bore the plain evi- 
dences of the mental and physical strain to which he had put himself. * * A masterly effort had 
been e.Kpected from Mr. Ooodellc. whose acumen and learning are a source of pride to the bar of 
this county. Never in the criminal history of Onondaga county was a more comprehensi\'e defence 
made of a human life. Mr. llcodclle's impassioned style of oratory put into graceful language his 
logical deductions from an investigation of the case as viewed from the side of the defence. Every 
point was covered one by one. but at no time was there a break in the continuity of the argument. 
It was probably the longest argument ever offered in a court of justice in Syracuse." 

The celebrated Oreenlield case, also, was another which acquired almost a national reputation, 
especially for the persistency with which the defence clung to every straw which would postpone the 
end or possibly acquit the prisoner. This case was before the various courts six years and was tried 
three times. Mr. Goodelle was engaged in Greenfield's defence, with Judge .S. C. Huntington, of 
Oswego county, and at a critical time in the case the latter broke down, leaving the whole burden of 
the latter part of the trial in Mr. Goodelle's charge. His address occupied nearly four hours, and it 
need not be added that he acquitted himself with great credit and honor. We cannot in this place g" 
further into the details of the numerous important cases, success in which has given -Mr. Goodelle 
his high reputation both as a civil and criminal lawyer. He has had the conduct ol some twenty 
capital cases and the same high degree of efliciency and ability has marked his efforts in them all. 
His reputation has necessarily anil without effort on his part, extended over a wide extent of territory. 
He is at the present time called in as coimscl by the best attorneys in many of the counties of this 
Slate, when cases of importance, both civil and criminal, are to be tried. So common are such 
occurrences now that one-half or more of Mr. Goodelle's practice is outside of his own county; 
and, though still in the prime of life, his whole practice is one of the largest in this section and of 
an exceptionally important general character. 

.\lr. Goodelle is a Republican in politics, though not an ardent partisan, and had he chosen to 
accept the political ])rospects that have been held up before him to induce him to divide his energies 
between public work and his profession, he might have tilled some of the higher oftices in the .State ; 
but he has adhered to the principle that there is sufficient fame, as well as material return, for those 
who can and will advance to the foremost rank at the Bar. Mr. Goodelle was recently chosen Pres- 
ident of the Onondaga County liar Association, an honor conferred which shows the esteem in which 
he is held by his fellow members of the Bar. .Some time after his retirement from the District At- 
torney's olTice, .Mr. Goodelle associated with himself William Nottingham (firm of (loodelle & Not- 
tingham ) which firm still continues. Mr. Goodelle is one of the incorporators of the Commercial 
Bank recently established in this city. 

Mr. Goodelle was married -September 8, 1869, to Miss Marion H. Averill, of Haldwinsvillc. N. 
Y., and they have one child, Una Mae, who was born October 28, 1S77. In social circles in Syracuse 
Mr. and .Mrs. Gix)delle are always welcomed, and at their beautiful home on James street hospitality 
reigns with open hand. 



GEN. El. IAS WARNER LEAVENWORTH was born ;it Canaan, Columbia county. N. Y., 
December 20, 1803. His father removed from Canaan to Cireat Barringlon, Mass., when Elias 
was three years old, where his early years were spent among the beautiful hills and valleys of Berk- 
shire. He developed in his youth an eager thirst for knowledge, and was placed in the year l8iy 
in the Hudson .\cadeniy, then under the charge of Rev. Daniel Parker, father of Judge Amasa 



BiooRAnncAL. 19 



I'arker. He also pursued his preparatory studies in pari iiiulir Eraslus C Bennelt, at Great Har- 
rington, who was in 1S73 State Senator from New York city. In the fall of iSso he entered Wil- 
liams College as a Sophomore well prepared and remained there one year, anil then entered \ale as a 
Siipliomore; was elected a member of the Phi lieta Kappa society in 1S23; was jjradnateil in 1824 
and look a second degree in 1S27. 

On the 20th of September, 1S24, lie bc>;an the study of law with WiUiani ( ullcn liryant, thin 
practicinj; at fireat Harrinjcton, anil on the i6th of May, KS25, entered the law school at I.itchlicid, 
Conn. In laniiary, 1S27, he was admitted to practice in all the courts of Connecticut. 

On Monclav, the I2tli of November, 1S27, he left Crcat Harrington for Syracuse, arriving at 
sunset on the following .Saturday. He was .idmitted in the Common I'le.ns as an Attorney and 
Counselor at the February term, 1828, on the motion of Clen. James R. Lawrence; and in the 
Supreme Court nearly two years later at Albany, at the October term, 1821), as an Attorney, and as 
Counselor in 1833. 

On reaching Syracuse he studied and practiced with .Alfred Northam until I'ebruary, 1S29, when 
he formed a partnership with the late H. Davis Noxon, which continued with various members of the 
familv until 1S50, when he abandoned his profession entirely on account of ill health. In the great 
political campaign of 1S40 lie had contracted bronchitis by constant public speaking to large 
audiences. In 1S50 his conilition became .somewhat critical, and althnugh then enjoying the largest 
and most lucrative practice in the central part of the .Stale, he felt coiistrained to retire from his pro- 
fession and turn his attention to other pursuits. 

Rest and care for two or three years and abstaining from public -.peaking fully restored his 
health, and other pursuits having in the meantime engaged his attcntirin, he never returned to the 
practice of law. 

In lanuarv. 1S32, he was appointed a Lieutenant of ,\rtilleiy in the 147th regiment of infantry, 
and in the same year w.is appointed Captain of .\rtillery in the same regiment. In 1834 he was ap- 
pointed Lieut. -Colonel of the 2()th regiment of .\rlillery, and the following year was appointed Colonel 
of the same regiment. In the fall of 1835 he was nominated at the Whig county convention as one of 
four Members of .Assembly from Onondaga county. Hut the county was hopelessly Democratic, or 
he would have declined the candidacy. In 1836 he was appointed Hrigadier-C.eneral of the 7th 
Hrigade of .Artillery. In 1837 he was elected a Trustee of the village of Syracuse and during the 
years 1S38, 1839, and 1840 was President of the village. In 1839 he was electeil Supervisor of the 
old town of Salina. This was the first election at which the Democrats had been beaten in more than 
ten years, and General Leavenworth was re-elected in 1S40. In 1846 and 1847 he was again chosen 
President of the village. During the period in which he was at the head of the village government, 
Gen. Leavenworth carried out many improvements the benefits of which are still, and always will be, 
felt by every resident ol the place. Among these were the measures which gave to the city \ander- 
bilt S<|uare, Fayette Park, the rows of trees along both sides of Washington street, and he pushed 
the opening of streets and other general improvements with his accustomed vigor and foresight. 

In the spring of JS49 Mr. Leavenworth was elected Mayor of the city, and his .administration 
was characterized by the same advanced and beneficent methods and plans that always occupied his 
attention in connection with city affairs. In that year .Armory Park was laid out and became city 
property. In the fall of the same year (1849) he was elected a Member of the Legislature, where he 
was on several important committees, notably on the Manufacture of Salt and on Railroads. In 
1S49-50, General Leavenworth was one of a building committee of the First Presbyterian society, 
and it was largely due to his action that the site of the church was covered with the beautiful brown 
stone gothic edifice, instead of a plainer brick church. In the fall of 1851 he lacked only six or 
eight votes of the nomination for Secretary of State, at the Whig State convention. In the fall of 
1853 he was nominateil for Secretary of State, almost without opposition, and was elected. During 
his term in this office he was awake to public interests throughout the Slate, and by his efforts 
the State Asylum for Idiots was removed from near .Albany to Syracuse. In 1S55 he was elected a 
Corresponding Member of the American Historical and Geographical Society of the city of New- 
York, .-md also, in the same vear, of the New England Illslorical and Genealogical Society of Boston. 



20 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



In the fall of 1856 General Leavenworth was again elected to the Legislature ; he was Chairman 
of the Committee on Canals, of the Committee on Banks, and of the Select Committee of one from 
each Judicial District on the Equalization of the State Tax. As chairman of the latter committee he 
drew the bill which established the Board of State Assessors, and other acts of importance in State 
legislation. 

One of the wisest and most beneficent services ever rendered to the city of Syracuse was Gen- 
eral Leavenworth's labors in connection with the organization of the Oakwood Cemetery Associa- 
tion in 185S-9, in which work he was intimately associated with Hamilton White. As long as the 
city stands that beautiful burial ground will e.\ist as a monument to the memory of those men. 

In the spring of 1859 General Leavenworth was again elected Mayor of the city, the govern- 
ment of which was then beginning to demand business capacity, prudence and judgment of a high 
order. In the fall of the same year he was again nominated for Secretary of State, but was defeat- 
ed by between 1,000 and 1.500 votes in a total of 600,000, mainly through the efforts of the Know 
Nothing party. In the winter of 1S60 he was appointed by the Legislature as one of the I!oard of 
Quarantine Commissioners, and was chosen president at its organization ; and in the summer of the 
same year he was president of the Republican State Convention which assembled in .Syracuse to 
select delegates to the National Convention at Chicago. 

On the 5th of February, 1S61, General Leavenworth was chosen one of the Regents of the 
University, and in 1872 was appointed by the Governor and the Senate, one of the Commissioners 
to amend the State Constitution. In the fall of 1874 he was elected a member of the 44th Congress, 
in which body he attained a high position ; he declined a re-election. 

Besides these numerous public stations which General Leavenworth was called to fill, in every 
one of which he distinguished himself for his broad and intelligent grasp of important subjects, his 
wisdom in dealing with them, and his ability to impress his views upon others, he held a long list of 
positions of a more private character, but involving responsibility and the entire confidence of his 
fellow citizens. Among these was president of the .Syracuse Savings Bank, which he resigned in 
1883 ; president of the Syracuse Water Works Company, which he held from 1864 until his death ; 
president of the Syracuse (■aslight Company, which he held from 1872 ; president of Oakwood Ceme- 
tery .\ssociation ; president of the Historical Society of Central New York ; and trustee or director in 
half a score of other institutions, companies or societies. 

From the foregoing brief sketch it will be seen that General Leavenworth's life was a busy one, 
and that his eminent qualities of mind and heart brought to him numerous rewards and honors from 
his fellow citizens. As a citizen of Syracuse he was always foremost in the advocacy and labor 
attending all improvements, and his judgment of how and when to carry such improvements to con- 
summation was seldom at fault. In the fall of 1S87 his powers felt the natural failure attendant 
upon old age and on the 25lh of November he passed from earth. 

General Leavenworth married first -Mary Elizabeth Forman, daughter of Judge Joshua Forman, 
the founder of Syracuse ; she died on the iSth of April, 1880. He married for his second wife .Mrs. 
Harriet Townlev I'all, of F.lizabelh, .\. |., who still survives him. 



DR. JOHN M. \\ 1 Ell .\<; was idcnlified with the growth of Syracuse from the year 183710 
the time of his death. In that early year he came as a youth to make his home in what was 
then the village of Syracuse. He was born in the town of Springfield, Otsego county, N. Y., on 
the 8th of February, 1817. His grandfather, John C. Wieting, was a native of Stendal, Prussia, 
and came to America in his youth and was actively engaged in the Revolutionary war. He was an 
accomplished linguist and was a teacher during the early part of his career. Afterwards he became 
the pastor of the First Lutheran church established in this country, continuing in the pastorate twenty- 
two years. He died in 1817. The father of John M. was IVler Wieting, who was born October 
30th, 1790, in Montgomery county, N. Y. During the latter part of his life he resided in Syracuse, 
where he died in 1S56. The mother of John M. was Mary Elizabeth Manchester and was a descend- 




^ 




Biographical. 21 



ant of a family of that name who came from Manchester, England, and settled in Rhode Island. 
She was born in April, 1792, in Washington county, N. Y., and died in May, 1S72. 

At the early agfe of fourteen years John M. Wieting started to make his own way in life, eng.-ig- 
ing as te.-icher in the public school at Deerlield, Oneida county. He continued in this capacity very 
successfully for four years, teaching in winters and attending school at the Clinton Liberal Institute 
in summers, where he had a free scholarship, but boarded himself. 

At the age of eighteen he assisted in the survey of the New York and Erie railroad, and at the 
age of twenty he engaged as civil engineer in the construction of the Syracuse and Utica railroad, 
which position he held for about si.x years. He also surveyed Rose Hill Cemetery and graded many 
of the streets of the village of Syracuse, lluring all of this time he was the chief support of his 
father's family, his father, (who was at one time a successful merchant and possessed of a handsome 
competency) having become through financial disaster and ill health, dependent on him. Nobly did 
he fulfill these duties ; and during the latter years of his parents' lives when success had crowned his 
efforts, they were surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries that wealth could give. He was a de- 
voted and tireless student and his thirst for knowledge seemed boundless. Mathematics and the 
natural sciences seemed to possess a wonderful charm for him. All his leisure hours were devoted 
to study ; and many hours of the night, when his fellow workmen were buried in sleep, by the dim 
light of a candle, this young man pored over his books ; alone and unaided solved many knotty 
problems and made himself familiar with the natural laws governing the world and man. 

Gradually the idea of himself becoming an expounder of these laws dawned upon him and he 
began the study of medicine with Dr. Hiram Hoyt. of Syracuse. While still a student. Dr. Austin 
Klint, late of New York city, delivered a course of lectures in Syracuse on I'hysiology. illustrated 
with a manikin. John M. Wieting became deeply interested in the subject and made him an offer 
for the lecturing apparatus, which was accepted, borrowing the money with which to purchase the 
outfit. He resolved to enter the lecture field himself, commencing work in the spring of 1843, by 
giving lectures in the smaller towns and villages in his own State. His lectures were confined to 
physiologv- and the laws of life and health. About this time he received a diploma as a physician, 
and for over twenty years his career as a public lecturer was one continued scene of unparalleled 
success. 

From the smaller towns he pushed his way into larger ones, adding occasionally, as his means 
allowed, to his apparatus by purchases until he possessed the largest and most complete outfit for 
lecturing on these subjects ever owned in this country. He may properly be called the pioneer lec- 
turer in this country on physiology and the laws of life and health, as he was the first to present the 
subject in a way to render it attractive and agreeable to the masses. 

In the interesting book entitled, " From a Forest to a City," by M. C. Hand, we find the follow- 
ing relating to Dr. Wieting : " It is to such men as Dr. Wieting that Syracuse is indebted for much 
of its thrift. He made his money to build his first block by lecturing in other cities. I think I 
heard the last lecture he ever delivered in his own hall, in which he gave a short history of the strug- 
gles and trials of his early life ; how he overcame them all and continued to lecture until he had 
tamed one hundred thousand dollars, and as he was speaking he stepped forward upon the platform 
of Wieting Hall, and raising his voice, with much feeling said, 'and I have .spent the hundred 
thousand right here.'" 

The hall alluded to above was the old historic Wieting Hall, famous as the scene of many im- 
portant political gatherings of State and nation. This h^ill constituted the upper portion of the 
Wieting Block, on the corner of Salina and Water streets, which was purchased by Dr. Wieting 
in 1850. This block was twice destroyed by fire and twice rebuilt. The first fire occcurred Janu- 
uary 7, 1856, at which time the Doctor was lecturing in Boston. The dispatch containing the news 
of the destruction of his block was handed him ju.st before the time for opening his lecture. He 
walked calmly upon the platform and delivered his lecture, showing thus his admirable self-control, 
and it was his boast that in twenty years of his public life he never disappointed an audience or kept 
one waiting. His block was rebuilt in one hundred days, on an enlarged and improved scale, con- 
taining another public hall which was known by the more pretentious name of Wieting Opera 



22 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



House. This building was destioyed hy fire on the night of July 19, 1S81, and though now with 
impaired health and staggering under the weight of this second blow, his indomitable courage and 
energy enabled him once more to rear a splendid structure in his beloved city. The block and 
opera house, as rebuilt, are now separate structures, the opera house ranking among the finest in this 
country. 

In the year 1S75, accompanied by his wife, he left home for a tour around the world. They 
sailed from San Francisco across the Pacific to Japan ; thence visiting China, the islands of Singa- 
pore and Ceylon, India, Egypt, the principal countries of Europe, and returned to this country by 
way of the Atlantic ocean, thus completing the circle around the globe. During his lengthy absence 
he acquired a vast fund of practical knowledge, as he was a close and intelligent observer. Subse- 
quently, in the summer of 1887, with the hope of benefitting his now failing health, I>r. Wieting 
and his wife made another P^uropean tour, from which they returned in the following November. 
Krom that time up to the date of his death (about three months), Hr. Wieting was a great sufferer 
from asthmatic and bronchial difficulties. An apparently slight cold which he had contracted devel- 
oped almost immediately into pneumonia, and in the short space of one week the struggle for life, 
which had been so bravely borne, was ended. He was buried in the massive mausoleum which he 
had caused to be erected in Oakwood cemetery. His death occurred February 13, 1888. 

Dr. Wieting was a man of great force of character. His industry, energy and perseverance were 
unbounded, and his brain power was exceptional. While not tolerant of the opinions and theories 
of others, his good common sense generally placed him right on important issues, and to his settled 
beliefs he adhered unflinchingly. He was a clear reader of human nature, and himself related an 
incident which shows in vivid colors this characteristic. Kriefly, it is as follows : One evening at 
the Tremont Temple, Boston, the Doctor noticed in one of the front seats a tall, lank, awkward 
looking young man with a pair of earnest eyes, intently listening to the lecture. The Doctor went 
thence to I'hiladelphia, and on the first night of his lecture in that city, in a front seat, sat the same 
awkward, earnest-looking youth ; and so, night after night, the Doctor noticeil him, and his interest 
was awakened. At last, one night after the lecture was over, the young man presented himself, say- 
ing, " I am a stranger to you, but I have listened to you many nights with much interest. Now I 
have mustered up courage to ask a great favor of you. I want to go to California. I ha\e no 
money. I have not a relative in the world who can help me, and I wish you would let me have one 
thousand dollars, and I solemnly promise not only to return it to you, but also to give you an equal 
share in whatever I may have the fortune to make. I feel that I can accomplish something, if I can 
only reach the country and make a beginning." The gold fever then was at its height, which to 
some extent accounted for his unwonted enthusiasm and assurance. The Doctor looked at him as he 
made this strange request, and finally said to him, " I am very tired to-night and cannot talk on the 
subject ; but you come around to my rooms to-morrow and we will talk it over." 

When the young man appeared ne.\t day somethirg seemed to tell the Doctor to grant his re- 
quest. T he Doctor was a practical man, and that he himself should be impressed to do so uncom- 
mon and apparently risky a thing, seemed all the more strange ; but he did. He drew his check for 
the amount and handing it to the young man, said ; "1 his monty represents so much mental toil on 
my part. I began poor, but I have achieved success. I can spare this money now. Vou are a stran- 
ger to me, and I leave the matter between you and your Maker. I can lose it, but I should legrcl 
to lose mv faith in you." The young man, with tears in his eyes, took the check and said, " \ ou 
shall never regret this act, if God spares my life." The two parted. 

Not many months afterwards Dr. Wieting received a letter from the young man, stating that he 
was making progress, and that he would shortly hear from him again. A few months later the Doctor 
received a check for one thousand dollars. At various times after that he received other amounts 
until the sum grew to ten thousand dollars. He then wrote to the young man that he was unwilling 
to accept more, as the obligation had been trebly discharged. But he received in reply a letter stat- 
ing that the writer considered it his duty to discharge this obligation according to the terms of the 
contract between them, and felt that the blessing of God would be withdrawn if he violated his 
word. He then wrote the Doctor asking the further loan of twenty thousand dollars, as he wished 



BlOGRArillCAI.. 



to engage in a larger field of operation. Dr. Wieting's mother said to him, " th.it is a scheme to 
get back all he has given you," and his brothers also tried to dissuade him from granting the request ; 
but there seemed a bond between tlie two men that could not be appreciated by others, and the 
doctor determined to advance the large sum, and did so. No tidings came for some months and he 
began to get an.xious ; but at last news came and money began to pour in on the Doctor until he was 
the recipient of at least fifty thousand dollars. Later on another letter came stating that the Doctor 
would hear from the writer again, but no tidings were ever after received of that faithful soul. 

It is doubtful if a parallel case, or one even approaching it, in dramatic and human interest ever 
occurred.- 

L"pon Dr. Wieting's decease the press of the State and far beyond its boundaries, paid high 
tribute to his character and career. The following brief extracts are from local papers : 

" It may be safely said that Dr. J. M. Wieting, whose death occurred in this city yesterday, has 
been one of the most conspicuous figures in the life of Syracuse for the past twxnty-five years. He 
was known of all men. at least by sight, anil when he walked abroad was everywhere pointed out as 
one of the residents of the city, the mention of whose name would suggest to a stranger an interest 
in his personality." • * * * 

" Dr. Wieting certainly took a wholesome pride in the city of .Syracuse. The buildings which 
have borne his name have always been monuments to this sentin)ent, and the activity of his interest 
in all questions of public import, left no doubt that he was watching the growth of the city with 
vigilant care. It was at his hands that Syracuse had its first theater and later its first opera house. 
* * * * 

" Dr. Wieting's keen intellect, his unique individuality, his sturdy physique made him a force 
in this community, a noted character wherever he traveled and seemed to insure length of days and 
continued active participation in public aflfairs. • * All that he achieved he owed to his own tire- 
less energy, wisely e.\erted to useful and successful ends." 



LEWIS H.VMII.TON RKDKIKI.D. the pioneer printer and publisher of Onondaga Valley, and 
later of Syracuse, was born at I-'armington, Conn., November 26, 1792. He died at his resi- 
dence in Syracuse July 14, 18S2. His father was Peleg Redfield. a soldier in Washington's revolu- 
tionary army. From Karmington he removed to Suffield, in the infancy of his son Lewis, and lived 
there about si.\ years, when, in 171)9 he joined the tide of emigration westward and settled near Clif- 
ton Springs, Ontario county, N. V. At that time there was only a solitary log cabin at that point. 
During the period necessary for clearing up the farm the Redfields suffered all the vicissitudes 
incident to pioneer life. Their first tenement was without a floor and the door was a blanket. In 
his youth Lewis shared in the labors on the farm, and attended such transient schools as were opened 
in the neighborhood, but he was his own chief instructor and read every book within his reach. The 
arduous farm labor proved too much for the slender frame of the lad and in gratification of his own 
inclination his parents apprenticed him as a printer to James D. Hemis, publisher of the Onlario Re- 
posilor\\ at Canandaigua. At the end of si.\ years young Redfield had thoroughly mastered the 
trade and gained a large fund of gener.il information. His quest of a place for a business opening 
ended in his selection of Onondaga Valley, (or Hollow, as it was then called.) .Vmong the residents 
ol the little villages in the Valley and on the Hill were at that time many eminent men who gave the 
young printer the utmost encouragement and, with the aid of his former employer, Mr. Bemis. he be- 
gan the publication of the Onoiiilaga Hegisler avi the 17th of September, 1S14. The printing office 
was purchased of, or through, Mr. Bemis, at a cost of I1400, and such was the industry, persever- 
ance under difiiculties, and rigid economy practiced by Mr. Redfield and his faithful apprentice, 
that at the end of the lirst year the otVice was free from debt. The Ke,!;iste> was an e.vponent of Jef- 
fersonian Democracy and being ably edited and successful in supplying news of the war, it reached 
what was then a large circulation. 



24 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

On the return of peace Mr. Redfield found a still more interesting topic for discussion in his 
columns in the projected canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson River. In favor of this great under- 
taking Judge Forman, then living at the Valley and one of the earliest and most powerful advocates 
of the canal, wrote a series of articles for Mr. Kedfield's paper in its favor, and at the same time the 
editor's pen was eloquent in its behalf. It is, perhaps, not too much to say that the Register was for 
a number of years nearly at the head of the country newspapers of the State in character and 
influence. 

In submission to the wonderful changes produced in Onondaga county by the opening of the canal 
and the springing into existence of the Village of Syracuse, (incorporated in 1825,) and subsequent 
removal from the Hill of the county seat, Mr. Redfield transferred his newspaper to Syracuse and 
consolidated it with the Syracuse Gazette, begun in 1823 by John Durnford. The journal now bore 
the name of the Onondaga Register and Syracuse Gazette and for its accommodation Mr. Redtield 
erected a four-story building on the site of the present Onondaga County Savings Bank, where he also 
carried on a book store. The condition of his health obliged him to dispose of his newspaper 
property in 1832, but he continued the book business twelve years longer, when he retired with a 
competency. At intervals thereafter his attention was occupied with various enteipiises and prolit- 
able real estate operations. 

In 1834, he was honored with the Presidency of the Village and in many ways his inllucnce was 
devoted to its adornment and improvement. The possession of Forman I'ark by the city must be 
largely credited to him. For thirty jears he was a director of the old liank of Salina and later in life 
was a director of the Salt Springs National Hank. In 1S72, at the age of eighty years, he was com- 
plimented by the Democratic vote of the State for Presidential elector, but he seldom permitted the 
use of his name for public office. 

Mr. Redfield never ceased to take pride in the fact that he was a practical printer, aside from 
the intimaie connection of that art with journalism. In the busy printing offices of the village and 
city he always felt at home and was always welcome. He was an ardent lover of nature and to his 
latest years held to the faith that there were few fairer spots than the beautiful valley wherein he 
passed most of his life. The last eight years of his life were passed at the residence of his daughter 
and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. James L. Bagg. and his remains rest in Oakwood cemetery beneath a 
shaft bearing the following inscription prepared by himself: " Lewis H. Kedtield. printer — a worn 
and battered form gone to be recast more beautiful and perfect." 

Mr. Redfield left two sons and four daughters. The sons, G. Davis Redfield, whoilied in Min- 
neapolis, leaving one daughter, Mary E., and two sons, Lewis R. and Charles Treadwell. Lewis 
H., who resides in .Syracuse; and the youngest, Charles, resides at (Jlen Haven and .Syracuse al- 
ternately and has one son, Robert Longstreet. The daughters of Mr. Redfield are Mrs. C. T. 
I.ongstreet, Mrs. J. L. Bagg, and Mrs. William H. H. Smith, who live in Syracuse, and Miss Jane 
L., who lives at Clifton Springs. Mrs. Longstreet has one daughter, Mrs. Cornelia Tyler Poor, re- 
siding in Skaneateles, X. V. Mrs. Bagg one daughter, Mrs. Ina Merrill, residing in Syracuse. 



WILLIAM CRAWFORD RUGER, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New 
York, was born at Bridgewater, Oneida county, N. Y., on the 30th of January, 1824. His 
father, John Ruger, was a prominent lawyer of Bridgewater, where he successfully practiced his 
profession until 1S47, when he removed to Syracuse, and continued practice until his death in 1S55. 
The son enjoyed the advantages of a classical education obtained in the Bridgewater Academy, a 
very excellent institution. At the close of his studies he entered the law office of his father and 
gave himself wholly to study, until 1845, when he was admitted to the Bar under the old Supreme 
Court at Utica, in July of that year. He opened an office in Bridgewater and practiced there until 
1853, when he followed his father to Syracuse and joined in partnership with him under the firm 



Biographical. 25 



name of J. and William C. Kuger. From the time of his father's death until his elevation to his 
present high office. Judge Ruger was in constant active practice in .Syracuse, having been a mem- 
ber at various periods of the firms of Kuger & Lester, Kuger & Jenney, Kuger. Wallace & Jenney, 
Ruger. Jenney, Urooks A: French, and Kuger. Jenney, ISrooks A: Marshall. l>uring this long 
period of practice Judge Kuger was called to the conduct of many cases of great importance, and 
as each one passed through his hands he constantly acquired a higher reputation and gained the 
confidence of the community, by the masterly and generally successful efforts in his profession. 
Judge Ruger is and alwas has been a Democrat in politics and has been frequently called upon to 
represent his party in its high councils. He was a delegate in the famous Hunker Convention of 
1849: also at the first State Judicial Convention in 1870; the National Convention of 1872, and the 
State Convention of 1877. He has also twice been the candidate of his party for member of Con- 
gress, in 1S63 and 1865. but of course, in his strong Rupublican district with no expectation of an 
election. His bearing under these honors was such as to still further raise his character and extend 
the knowledge of his ability in the general mind of his constituency. In his own profession he has 
also received evidences of appreciation and confidence. Upon the organization of the Onondaga 
Bar Association, in 1S75, he was made its first president and continued in the office three years, when 
he was succeeded by Judge Daniel Pratt. He was also elected President of the first State Bar Asso- 
ciation, held at .\lbany in 1S76, and was afterwards its president in 18S2. 

In 1882 Judge Ruger received the nomination of his party for the exalted ofKce of Chief Judge 
of the Court of Appeals of the State of New Vork, his opponent being Judge Charles Andrews, 
who was, perhaps, as strong a candidate as could have been found in the Republican ranks. It is 
more than probable that no other candidate who might have been named by the Democrats could 
have been elected ; but the high qualifications of Judge Ruger for the office, qualifications that were 
as freely acknowledged by his political opponents as by his friends, gave him the requisite majority, 
and he has since that time filled the high judicial office with dignity, ability and uprightness. Judge 
Kuger is endowed with natural abilities of a high order, and is possessed of an acute and logical 
mind, supplemented by extensive learning in the law. His forensic efforts when in practice were 
always able and effective, as much, perhaps, through their remarkable clearness of expression and 
directness of reasoning, as from their eloquence. His arguments were always based upon the real 
merits of his causes and were never infused to the slightest degree by any appearance of trickery of 
words or show of mere bald assertion, unsupported by facts. His professional life was always con- 
spicuous for its uniform fairness and courtesy. In his present high station he has still further gained 
the esteem and respect of the profession, while his judicial labors have been of such a character as to 
sustain his reputation as an able and a just Judge. 

Judge Kuger was married on the 2d of May, i860, to Harriet, eldest daughter of Hon. Erastus 
S. Prosser, of Buffalo, N. Y., and they have one son, Crawford Prosser Ruger, now^ practicing law 
in Syracuse. 



WII.LI.AM Kl RRI'.VTKICK was born in the town of Ainwell, Huntingdon county, New 
Jersey, November 7, 1769, of Scottish ancestry, who came to this country early in the last 
ccntur)-. He was the son of the Rev. William Kirkpatrick, a Presbyterian minister, who was gradu- 
ated from Princeton College in the first class after the college was removed from Elizabeth to 
Princeton, 1758, and was pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Trenton, N. J., a chaplain of 
the Colonial forces of New Jersey during the French war, a trustee of Princeton College and Mod- 
erator of the Syncd of \ew \'ork and Philadelphia. The son was a graduate of Princeton College, 
17S3, and studied medicine with Dr. Benjamin Bush, of Philadelphia, and at the University of 
Pennsylvania. He commenced the practice of medicine at Whitestown in 1795 and continued there 
ten years. In 1805 he was appointed Superintendent of the .*^alt Springs and located at Salina, 
which office he held for twenty-two years. 
D 



26 MKMdklAI, IIlSTOKY OK SYRACUSE. 



Although it was jjenerally understood when Dr. Kirkpatrick began the practice of medicine in 
the county of Oneida, that his professional education was of the highest order, and that nothing 
stood in the way of his attaining a commanding position as one of the most scientific and skillful 
physicians of the age in whicli he lived, if he had devoted himself to the practice with that assiduity 
and enthusiasm which are so essential to success in any of the learned professions, yet it was unfor- 
tunately true that his nervous temperament was of such a peculiar and sensitive character as to unfit 
him in a great degree for the practical duties of a physician. Although he had pursued the study of 
medicine with great diligence and effect and had attained in the closet all the knowledge that could 
be acquired by reading and thought; yet, when he was called upon, standing by the sick bed, to 
apply his skill and learning to cases of actual suffering and disease, he soon discovered that his feel- 
ings of sympathy for the afflicted patient were so acute as in many cases to materially affect that 
self-possession and calm observation of the symptoms so vitally essential in determining as well the 
true nature of the disease itself as the mode to be adopted for its cure or alleviation. The effect of 
this peculiarity of temperament was (as might have been expected), to cause in the mind of Dr. 
Kirkpatrick at an early period of his medical practice, a dislike of the profession, which not only 
continued through the remainder of his life, but after a few years led to its total abandonment. 

The society at Utica and Whitesboro during the period in which Dr. Kirkpatrick resided there, 
although small, was in many instances of a refined, intellectual, and literary character; and he was 
never more happy than in those days when, in the company of his intelligent friends and neighbors, 
he had an opportunity to converse on the literary topics of the day and to impart and receive that 
intellectual instruction in w-hich he so greatly delighted. Although he still continued to practice as 
a physician, yet he rather declined than sought an increase of business and gradually withdrew from 
the active business of his profession, except in cases of a few private friends and families who would 
not consent to surrender their claims upon his skill as occasion required, and for whom he continued 
to prescribe so long as he remained in that county. 

Dr. Kirkpatrick commenced life and continued until his death a Republican (afterwards termed 
a Democrat) in politics. As he possessed a very active mind and ardent temperament, he soon em- 
barked in the political controversies of the day and ever afterward took a deep interest in such 
matters. While Hving in Oneida county he was elected a member of the loth Congress (i8oS-q) tor 
the Eleventh District, the last two years of President Jefferson's administration. Although he made 
no pretensions to parliamentary speaking, and did not, therefore, assume a prominent position before 
the public, yet he was generally respected at Washington as an intelligent, educated and high- 
minded man and during that period formed an intimate acquaintance and friendship with many of 
the most distinguished men of the day who then occupied places in the national councils, and with 
.some of whom he continued to correspond for many years afterwards. As an illustration of this, a 
little reminiscence may be given. When in Congress, Dr. Kirkpatrick became the intimate personal 
and political friend of \Vm. H. Crawford, of Georgia, then a Senator from that State, and afterwards 
Secretary or the Treasury under President Munroe, and a prominent candidate for the presidency in 
1824. While Mr. Crawford was Secretary an application was made by many of the prominent citi- 
zens of this State for the establishment of a branch of the United States Bank at Albany and among 
other names appearing on the application was that of Dr. Kirkpatrick. This paper was transmitted 
in the first instance to the Secretar\' of the Treasury at Washington with the request that he should 
send it forward to the directors of the parent bank at Philadelphia. Mr. Crawford, in doing so, 
wrote upon the application: "Among the many names to this application I find that of Dr. William 
Kirkpatrick. I can say with great pleasure that I know him well, and a more honorable, high- 
minded and intelligent gentleman I am not ac<|uainted with." 

It w.is at this tiime that he, with others, elected the " Canal Ticket " in Onondaga county, which 
was the first political action taken in regard to the construction of the Erie canal. Joshua l-'orman, 
a Federal, and John McWhorter, a Democrat, were elected on the Canal ticket. In January, iSoy, 
he, in company with Judge Forman, called on President Jefferson at the executive mansion. The 
President had in his last message recommended that the surplus monies of the treasury be appropri- 
ated to the great national objects of opening canals and making turnpike roads. They informed 



Biographical. 27 



him that in view of his message the State of New York had explored the route of a canal from the 
Hudson river to lake Krie. That the canal would enhance the value of land and settle the frontier, 
open a channel of commerce for the western country to our own seaports, a military way in time of 
war, and form a bond of union to the States. Mr. Jefferson replied that it was a very fine project 
and might be executed a century hence. "Why, sirs," said he, "here is a proposed canal of 350 
miles through the wilderness. It is little short of madness to think of it at this day." They in- 
formed him that the State of New York, having conceived the idea, ascertained its practic.-ibility, and 
in some measure appreciating its importance, would never rest until its accomplishment. Mr. Jef- 
ferson lived to see the canal completed and to realize its importance. He afterwards acknowledged 
his mistake and regretted that he had not associated his name and his administration with this great 
public work. 

He closed his Congressional term in 1809 and was reappointed Superintendent of the Salt 
Springs in iSii and held the office until 1831. Upon his reappointment he removed to Salina, 
where he continued to reside until his death in 1S32. 

The few adventurers who up to this period had dared the inhalation of the pestilential miasma 
of the marsh, and were willing to wade through its mud and water, in attempting to earn a scanty 
pittance for themselves and families, had usually but little pretension to that intelligence or refine- 
ment of intellect and manners which so peculiarly distinguished the individual who had been chosen 
to protect the public interest and collect the revenue to be derived from this invaluable fountain. .-Xs 
it respects Dr. Kirkpatrick, it might well be supposed that the singular and strongly marked transition 
which had occurred in his life, from the polished and intellectual society in which he had previously 
moved, to the cheerless and almost semi-barbarous condition of things then existing at .Salina, would 
have had the effect of producing disgust and despondency on his part. But this was not so; he 
entered upon the discharge of his new duties with alacrity of spitits and kind feelings. He lost no 
time in making himself actiuainted, not only with the then present state of the manufacturing opera- 
tions, but also with the persons employed in the business and he took early measures to increase the 
State revenue by judicious improvements, while he was disposed in every way in his power to aid the 
worthy and industrious manufacturers. 

During the whole life of Dr. Kirkpatrick, after his removal to Salina, he continued to cultivate 
his literary taste by an intimate reading of all the standard works of the day, and particularly of the 
English and Scotch reviews; indeed to works of this character he devoted a large portion of his leisure 
time. He was of a joyous and pleasant temperament and delighted to sit down with friends of his 
own habits of thought and reading and converse upon the current topics of the day. He continued 
also through his life to bean ardent politician of unswerving fidelity to party obligations and denounced 
the least violation of party faith as a crime of almost unpardonable magnitude. He was in mind, 
thought and feelings a gentleman. In his manner he had an easy, dignified and graceful address, 
by which the most casual observer would have distinguished him in a crowd as a man who. from 
habits and association, had always moved in refined society ; and still he was free from haughtiness 
and pride and as accessible at all times to the most humble laborer, as to the highest dignitary of the 
land. 

.-Vs one of the remarkable traits in the character of Dr. Kirkpatrick. it may be added that, with the 
renowned Dr. Johnson, he had a morbid and awful horror of death. He frequently remarked that 
the thought of dying and of death — of passing from this sublunary state to the mysterious world be- 
yond the grave— of the body instinct with warmth and life, and all its beautiful and complicated 
machinery becoming cold and inanimate — filled his soul with dismay and terror. 

In the summer of 1.S32, and with only a few hours of premonition, the dread king of terrors, by 
his most terrible vicegerent, the cholera, approached his bedside anil beckuned him .aw.iy. He looked 
upon the face of the pale specter with composure and apparent fearlessness and seemed to have 
summoned in the last ho4r a fortitude of mind which he did not before know he possessed. When 
he became assured of the presence of the pestilence in his own person and that he could not live but 
a few hours, he summoned his beloved wife to his bedside, and with the composure of one about to 
enjoy a peaceful sleep for a time, or take a short journey, gave her a brief history of a few matters of 



28 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



business and a few words of affectionate condolence, and then resigned himself to his fate with ap- 
parent submission. He died on the 2d day of September, 1832, in the 63d year of his age. 

Such is a very brief notice of a good and worthy man. He had no enemies ; it was impossible 
he should have had any ; for he never entertained an unkind wish in respect to any human being. 

He married Miss Nancy Dunscomb, of Salina, and left two sons — William Kirkpatrick, who is a 
resident of this city, and Donald Kirkpatrick, who died here September ig, 1889.* 



NATHAN COBB. The subject of this sketch, one of the best known and most respected of the 
earlier citizens of Syracuse, died December 15, l88g. He had been a resident since 1S45, 
when Syracuse was but a village, and had been in various ways identified with its interests and its 
progress. Mr. Cobb was born in Stonington, Conn., September 17, 1805, and had thus passed his 
eighty-fourth year at the time of his death. He was the son of Henry S. and Mary B. Cobb, and 
was but a mere boy when the English fleet attacked his native town, in the successful defense of 
which his father distinguished himself. The early education of Mr. Cobb was considered complete 
and suflicient after a course at the Stonington academy, before he was fourteen years of age. He 
then went to Philadelphia by sloop, with a small allowance in his pocket, to make his way in the 
world. He began his career as clerk for an elder brother, who was in business in that city. After a 
time, the brother, Alfred Cobb, was appointed United States Consul to Peru and remained in South 
America si.xteen years , engaging largely in mining operations and acquiring a substantial competency. 
Meantime Nathan Cobb had removed to Chittenango, N. Y., and afterwards to Syracuse, in 1845, 
w here he became variously engaged, first in the wholesale grocery business, and afterwards in the 
coal trade, in which he was a leading operator for a number of years. He brought the first boat 
load of anthracite coal by canal into Syracuse, having two yards, one on Water street, for conven- 
ience to the canal, and the other in connection with what is now the D. L. cS: W. railroad to Bing- 
hamton. Later, when the death of two brothers, Henry and Alfred, made it necessary, he assumed 
the care of the Phcenx Foundry, operated by them, and in 1S64 organized the firm of Cobb, ller- 
rick & Co., for general machine work, foundry work and boiler making. This establishment re- 
ceived Mr. Cobb's best business efforts, and they were of a high order of efficiency, and it prospered 
from the first. The head of the firm possessed the entire confidence of all from whom he drew his 
custom, and the knowledge was general that every contract entered into by the firm and piece of work 
undertaken, would be executed upon a basis of the strictest integrity. The business was several 
times enlarged and the manufacture of steam engines was added, which gained an extended reputa- 
tion for excellence. Mr. Cobb continued with this firm until 1881, when he retired from active busi- 
ness, and from that date until his death he lived in the quiet of his home in the enjoyment of the 
good will and friendship of all with whom he had been associated. It was written of him at his 
death, in relation to his business habits, that "he was careful and conservative and strict integrity 
marked every transaction. His kind and considerate treatment of his employees secured their hearty 
esteem and good will, and all his business acquaintances bear testimony to his uniform urbanity, as 
well as to the uprightness of his transactions." The position he held in the estimation of his fellow 
members of the board of trustees of the Syracuse Savings Bank is indicated in a testimonial which 
was prepared after his death and published. From it may be made the following extracts: "His 
business career was characterized by probity, excellent judgment and honest work, and was crowned 
with substantial success. Mr. Cobb was elected a trustee of this bank in 1865 and continued in the 
office to the time of his death. During all that period his personal character has substantially con- 
tributed to the credit and good name of this institution. He was judiciously conservative, yet he 
readily adapted his views to the changes wrought by the marvellous growth of our city and the cor- 
responding growth of and demands upon this bank. He was a safe and wise counselor, and his care- 



♦Prepared from a sketch by the late Hon. John G. Forbes, an intimate friend of Dr. Kirkpatrick. 





^:iL^ 



i 



Biographical. 



29 



fully considered judgment will be seriously missed by those so long associated with him. It was his 
h.ippy fortune to live out the full measure of years alloted to man ; to pass the period of old age in 
calm and serenity ; to be cheered and comforted to the last by domestic relations of the sweetest 
character ; to walk among his fellow citizens, who well knew his life among them, honoied and be- 
loved, and to possess down to his dying day. the unclouded mental vision, the clear judgment, and 
the unimpaired manhood of his mind." 

Mr. Cobb united early with the Reformed Dutch Church at Chittenango, and on coming to Syra- 
cuse joined the Kirst Presbyterian Church, of which he continued an active and esteemed member for 
more than forty years. lie served in the office of Elder and of Clerk of the Session for nearly the 
same period, and was perhaps best known for his active interest in all religious work, in which he was 
most useful and most beloved. 

In early life Mr. Cobb was a Democrat in politics, but in the first days of the history of the Re- 
publican party he joined its ranks as a Republican of pronounced anti-slavery principles, and remained 
with it to the end. He was several times a successful candidate for political office. 

Mr. Cobb was married in 1854 to Miss Frances E. ."Vvery, who survives him. They had two 
children, of whom one only is living, the wife of Dr. F. H. Stevenson. 



IRVING GOODWIN VANN was born Januar)- 3, 1S42, in the tow^n of Ulysses, Tompkins 
county, New York, on the west shore of Cayuga lake. His earliest known ancestor on the pa- 
ternal side was Samuel Vann. his great-grandfather, who was a native of New Jersey, and a lieutenant 
in the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, also named Samuel Vann. died in iS-8, aged 106 years. 
His father, Samuel R. Vann, was a well-to-do farmer who, although born in New Jersey, spent the 
most of his life on his farm in Ulysses, where he died in 1872. 

On his mother's side he derived his descent from Richard Goodwin, his great-grandfather, who 
was born in New England and whose son, Richard Goodwin, a native of Pennsylvania, located 
early in the present century at Goodwin's Point, near Taughannock Falls, on (?a)-uga lake. His 
son, Joseph Goodwin, a soldier in the war of 1812, was the father of Catherine H. Goodwin, who 
married Samuel R. Vann; and their son Irving, the subject of this sketch, an only child, spent his 
earliest years upon his father's farm, engaged alternately at work and study. He received careful 
instruction from his mother, but did not attend school until he began to prepare for college at Tru- 
mansburg Academy, about four miles from the residence of his father. Hoarding at home in the 
spring and fall, he used to walk back and forth morning and evening, but had the privilege of riding 
when the horses were not needed on the farm. In the winter he boarded at Trumansburg. He at- 
tended for one year the academy at Ithaca, where he completed his preparation for college. In Sep- 
tember, 1859, he entered the freshman class of Vale College, and was graduated from that institu- 
tion in 1S63. During the next year he was principal of the Pleasant Valley High School, near 
Owensboro, Kentucky; and although successful as a teacher and urged to continue, he resigned I he 
position and began the study of law in the office of Boardman & Finch, at Ithaca, and in the fall of 
1864 entered the Albany I.aw School, where he graduated in the spring of 1865. A few months 
were next spent in Washington, as a clerk in the Treasury Department, but resigning in October, 

1865, he came to Syracuse and became a clerk in the law office of Raynor & Butler. In March, 

1866, he began to practice law, and subsequently became a member of the law firms of Vann .S: 
Fiske, Raynor ..V Vann, Fuller & Vann, and Vann, McLennan & Dillaye. His success at first was 
moderate, but his practice finally became large and profitable. Having associated himself with 
partners who were expert in the trial of causes before a jury, he preferred to conduct them after the 
facts had been setlled, by arguing the questions of law in the appellate courts. He heard and de- 
cided many cases as referee, until his practice became so large that he was obliged to confine him- 
self to the business of his own office. 



30 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Ue was one of tlic founders of the Onondaga Bar Associalion, and became successively second 
and first vice-president, and finally ils president. He was also one of the founders of the State Bar 
Association. 

In politics he has always been a Republican, but was identified with its liberal wing and sup- 
ported Horace Greeley for president in 1872. He engaged actively in several political campaigns, 
and made speeches throughout the county, and to some e.xtent elsewhere, but was not a candidate 
for office until the winter of 1S79, when, without effort on his part, he was unanimously nominated 
as the Republican candidate for Mayor of Syracuse. After a spirited and exciting contest, with 
three candidates in the field, he was elected by a plurality of nearly one thousand. His administra- 
tion as Mayor was characterized by the lowest taxes that the city had known for many years, and 
lower than it has ever known since. He retired from office with every debt contracted by his 
administration fully paid, and left a handsome balance in the treasury. He declined a renominationp 
because the duties of the office, as performed by him, were so exacting as to req 're nearlv all his 
time and prevent him from practicing his profession. 

In iSSi he was nominated with substantial unanimity by the judicial convmtion of his party as 
Its candidate for Justice of the Supreme Court, and at the ensuing election this selection was ratified 
by a majority of over eleven thousand. He assumed the duties of that office January i, 1882, and 
continued to discharge them until in January, 1888, when he became by the designation of the 
Governor, a Judge of the Court of Appeals, Second Division, and he is still a member of that court. 

Although devoted to his profession and to the discharge of his judicial duties, he has been some- 
what active in benevolent, charitable, and social afTairs. He organized Woodlawn Cemetery and 
has been its only president, and has also been the president of the Onondaga Red Cross Society fropi 
its inception. He was one of the founders and has for several years been the president of the Cen- 
tury Club of Syracuse. In 18S2 Hamilton College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of 
Laws. 

In 1870 he was married to Florence, only daughter of the late Henry A. Dillaye, an old resident 
of this city. They have two children, Florence Dillaye. born July 31, 1S71, and Irving Dillaye, 
born September 17, 1S75. Domestic in tastes, he finds the highest enjovment in his family circle. 
He is fond of books and has a choice library of several thousand volumes, many of which are rare 
and valuable. He is also fond of fishing, and spends his vacations in the most inaccessable parts of 
the Adirondack wilderness, casting the fly for trout with such success as to have become somewhat 
noted for his skill. 

His life has been uneventful, but not without benefit to the communitv in which he lives. 



CORNELIUS TYLER I.ONGSTREFT. The subject of this sketch was born in Onondaga 
Valley April 19. 1814, and died at his residence in Syracuse July 4, 1881. His ancestors were 
from Holland, the founders of the family in this country being three brothers who settled in New 
Jersey. They emigrated in the seventeenth century and one of them subsequently removed to Penn- 
sylvania and one to Georgia. Among members of these families who were contemporaneous with 
the subject of this notice may be mentioned Judge Longstreet, of the Georgia branch, who was 
president of Columbia College in South Carolina at the breaking out of the civil war ; and that brave 
and distinguished southern soldier. General James Longstreet, who is still living. 

Cornelius Longstreet, father of the subject of this sketch, was of the New Jersey branch of the 
family, and a native of that State. In 1801 or 1802 he removed to Onondaga Hill, a little hamlet, 
which was soon to become a thriving village and business point and the county seat of Onondaga 
county. There Mr. Longstreet opened a store for the sale of general goods and was one of the 
earlier merchants of the county. In 1805 he married Deborah Tyler, daughter of Comfort Tyler, 
the pioneer of Onondaga county and companion of Asa Danforlh in making the first settlement in 



Biographical. 31 

the beaiiliful Valley. Comfort Tyler's first wife was a Wemplc and half-sister of General I terkimcr. 
The rcidcr of this volume has already learned something of Comfort Tyler's distinguished services, 
in and near this locality, in earlier pages. Cornelius T. was the youngest son in a family of live 
children, and his father died when he was less than one year old. The widow and children were 
left with what in those times was considered a substantial property, but through mismanagement of 
those who had it in charge, and other causes, the family received but little benelit from the estate. 
Mrs. Longstreet lived about twelve years after her husband's death, and died in tSafi. She was an 
estimable woman in all respects and gave her best unselfish ellorts to the proper education and train 
ing of her children. 

Young Cornelius attended school until 1S27, when he began as apprentice to a tailor in the then 
small village of Syracuse, and rem.iined faithful at his post for three years. During the next year he 
worked at his trade in Geddes, and at the age of seventeen the enterprising young man opened a shop 
of his own at that place and secured a profitable business, purchasing his cloths and some ready- 
made clothing in New York city. But Syracuse at that time was outstripping her rival villages, in 
the Valley, on the Hill, and at Salina and Geddes, and Mr. Longstreet saw the necessity of joining 
with the tide flowing towards the more promising business center at Syracuse, which he did after 
three years of trade in Geddes. For a short period after beginning business in Syr?cusc Mr. Long- 
street was associated in trade with Henry .Agnew, then the leading tailor of the village. Mr. Long- 
street's business career was successful from the first. He was personally well litted to secure the re- 
ward of successful mercantile operations ; a skillful, practical workman, possessed of excellent taste 
and judgment, invariably polite and gentlemanly to all with whom he came in contact, his establish- 
ment soon became widely and popularly known. Kor a period of ten years it was probably the largest 
and most piosperous of its kind in the State west of New York city. But although meeting with so large 
a measure of success, yir. Longstreet's ambition carried his business ideas beyond what he could hope 
to .attain in the then small village of Syracuse. In the course of his business he had secured a thorough 
knowledge of the clothing trade in New York city, and became convinced that there was more than 
ordinary encouragement for an enterprising person to open an establishment in that city devoted 
chiefly to supplying dealers in the northern and western parts of the State. Acting upon this belief 
he removed to New York in 1846 and founded a wholesale clothing house. This venture attested his 
excellent business judgment, for it proved immediately successful, and for six years he conducted it with 
his characteristic energy .and with large profits. He was the first person to ship ready-made clothing 
to Califjrnia and other western points. 

In 1S52, having amassed a fortune, he returned to Syracuse and spent the greater portion of 
three years in the erection of the splendid residence known .as "Renwick Castle." In the autumn of 
1855 he returned to New York to assist in establishing his eldest son, Charles \. Longstreet, in the 
wholesale clothing business, and was associated with him for several years as a silent partner. During 
this period he spent a large portion of his time in the metropolis, but still maintained his home in 
Syracuse. In the latter part of 1862 the condition of his health compelled him to abandon active 
pursuits, and he returned to his native county. 

In 1S63 Mr. Longstreet was made one of the Directors of the First National Bank of Syracuse, 
the second of its kind organiwd in the United States, its first President being the distinguished fin.in- 
cier, E. B ludson, who still occupies the same position in the same institution. Mr. Longstreet con- 
tinued in the Board of Directors of this bank until his death. He was also one of the original incor- 
porators ot the .Mechanics Bank of Syracuse, organized in August, 1851, and a Director of it for 
nearly thirty years. In politics Mr. Longstreet was a steadfast Republican from the foundation of 
that party, though he never sought or desired public office. 

Mr. Longstreet was naturally of a charitable disposition and gave liberally of his means to the 
founding and support of St. Joseph's Hospital, the Old Ladies' Home, and other beneficent charities 
of Syracuse. In private life he won friends from all circles in which he moved. His life was ex- 
emplary in its every phase, and he gained and retained until the last the esteem of his fellow citizens. 
Mr. Longstreet died after a lingering illness at his home in Syracuse on the 4th of July, 1881. 
Resolutions of respect were passed by the various corporate bodies with which he had been connected, 
and his death was a source of deep sorrow to the many of his fellow citizens who had admired his 
sterling integrity and profited by his wise counsel. 



32 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

Mr. Longstreet left surviving him Mrs. C. T. Longstreet, eldest daughter of Lewis II Redtield ; 
she is now residing in Syracuse. One daughter, .Mrs. Cornelia T. Poor, of Skaneateles, who is the 
mother of three children, Charles Longstreet. Mattie Lindsay, and .Vnita Tyler. Two sons, the 
eldest Charles A., who died in (California and left three sons, C. lyler, Jarvis Dennis, and Ciuy. 
Eilward \V. died some years since in Syracuse. 



LUCIEN BARNES is descended from good old New England stock. Iwing a lineal descendant 
of his father's branch (Orson Barnes, esq.) of Major Simon Willard, who emigrated from 
Eorsmonden, England, and arrived at Boston, Mass., in May, 1634. and who. by his three marri- 
ages, became the father of eight daughters and nine sons, and from whom most of the Willards in 
this country may trace their ancestry. By his third marriage, to Mary Ilunster, supposed to have 
taken place at Concord, Mass., his twelfth child, John Willard, was born. February 12, 1656 or 1657. 
He married Marj' Hayward, October 31, ifigS, and their son, Jonathan, born April 2S, 1701 , and his 
wife, Abigail Wilco.x, settled in Great Barrington, Mass. , and were the parents of David Willard, born 
July 17, 1741. The latter married Martha Sherlock, at Great Barrington, where their eldest daugh- 
ter, Sarah, was born September 17, 1769. She married, October 12, 1794, at Otsego, N. Y., William 
Barnes, who settled in Pompey, Onondaga county, N. Y., near the village of Oran. They had two 
daughters at the time, viz.: Phebe, born January 26, 1796, who married Luther Buell, December 6, 
1815; and Myra, born July 20. 1797, who married, May 22, 1S15, Hon. Nehemiah P. Stanton. Both 
families settled in Pompey, Onondaga county, and Mr. Buell founded the place known as lUiellville. 

Orson Barnes, the only son and third child of William Barnes, was born at Pompey, March 26, 
1802, and married, February 20, 1S23, Eli/a Phelps, who was born August 27, 1S03. They had four 
sons and one daughter, of whom three survive, namely: Hon. William, of .\lbany, N. Y., who 
organized the State Insurance Department, and held the position of Superintendent of Insurance for 
ten years; Sarah Eliza; and Lucien. born in Baldwinsville, Onondaga county, N. Y., December 2(>, 
1835. Orson Barnes was a talented man, became prominent in educational affairs in Onondaga 
county, and was Superintendent of Schools in 1843. He died August 6, 1S52, when Lucien was 
about si.xteen years of age. The mother, possessing great energy and perseverance inherited Irom 
her New England ancestry, devoted her life to the welfare of her surviving children, and now (July, 
1891) has attained the age of nearly eighty-eight years. She was the daughter of Capt. Horace 
Phelps, of Springfield, Mass., where he died. William Barnes, the father of Orson, born December 
26, 1771, was the si.xth son and child of Phineas Barnes and Phebe Bement, of West Stockbridge, 
Mass., who had twelve children, the first seven being sons and the others daughters. 

There is much of interest relating to the family of Major Simon Willard, and the trying scenes 
during King Phillip's War, to be found in the " Willard Memoirs," by Joseph W'illard, pp. 333-3f'5. 
Phillips, Sampson & Co., Boston, 1858. In Vol. IV., of " American Ancestry," 1889, published by 
Joel .Vlunsell's Sons, Albany, p. 3, there is a notice of the ancestry of our subject, as follows ; 

"Orson Barnes, the father of Lucien Barnes, born at Pompey, Onond.'iga county, N. V., March 
26, 1802; Superintendent of Schools of Onondaga county, 1S43 ; married, February 20, 1823, F.liza 
Phelps, of Sullield, Conn. Son of William Barnes, born December 26, 1771, at West Stockbridge. 
.Mass.; married, October 12, 1794, Sarah Willanl. of Great Barrington, .Mass.. descendant of Major 
Simon Willard ; distinguished in campaign against King Phillip, 1675; commander of lirst company 
or train band in Southington parish in Farmington, Conn., 1762 ; lieutenant, 1760; captain, 1767 ; 
removed to Stockbridge before 1771 ; four of his sons were pioneer settlers of Pompey, N. Y., 1793 ; 
married Phebe Bement, born January 22, 1734, at Weathersfield, Conn. .Son of Thomas Barnes, 
born June 21, 1703 ; estate inventoried April 12, 1744 ; married. May 19. 172O, Hannah, daughter 
of Thom.is and Hannah Nelson Day. Son of Deacon Ebenezer, of Waterbury, Conn. ; married 
first, Deborah Orvis, born .April 17, ■ 6S1, daughter of .Samuel and Deborah < )rvis ; married, second, 
Mehitable .Miller. Son of Thomas Barnes, a soldier in the Pequoit battle of 1637, in which 6ix) .sav- 
ages were killed by ninety colonists. He was of Sentinel Hill, Hartford, 1639 ; joined church Jan- 
uary 30, 1652 ; admitted freeman 1G69 ; was probably the first of the family in America. Name de- 
rived from the Norse 'Bijourne' — a warrior." 



BlOGKAl'llICAL. 33 



I.ucien Barnes, the yoiinj^est child and son of Orson and Mrs. Eliza (Phelps) IJarnes, was born 
in Baldwinsville. N. Y , December 26, 1S35. He was educated in the public schools of those times, 
and when fifteen years of age accepteil a clerkship in the general store of Glass & Williams, at Bald- 
winsville, under a contract he himself made for three years, at a yearly salary of $30, IjO and ^80, 
respectively. After completing that period the country village was not of enough interest to him, 
and he then made an engagement in the larger store of Arnold, Woodward & Son of Syracuse, where 
he remained till 185S, when he accepted an offer to become manager of the dry goods house of 
Sherwood i\; Oakley, of Cleveland, Ohio, where he lived till July, 1S61. His brother. Hon. William 
Barnes, of .\lbany. N. V., having been appointed Superintendent of the Insurance Department of 
the State, offered him the position of chief clerk and cashier of the Depariment, a position which 
I.ucien accepted, and at once removed to .Mbany and entered upon the duties of the office. This 
high position of trust he filled to the satisf.iction of all, being in charge of the large deposits made by 
the insurance companies, — both .Vmerican and foreign, — and having the "keys" to "several 
millions " in his pockets for some ten years ; at the end of each fiscal year, on the 30lh of September, 
the cash account always balanced and was found correct. He was also notary public for the Depart- 
ment. He was very active in the militia at .Vlbany, being a Lieutenant in Company A, Tenth Reg- 
iment. .Mbany Zouave Cadets, N. G. S. N. Y., and resigning his commission in 1S70. He was on 
duty with his regiment at the funeral obsequies in Albany of the lamented President Abraham Lin- 
coln, in .Vpril, 1S65. 

In November, i86g, Mr. Barnes resigned his position in the Insurance Department, and began 
the erection of an opera house in South Pearl street, .Mbany, which he completed and opened in 
fifty days, and which created quite a sensation at the time. The feat has never been equalled since. 
It is a large brick structure, perfect in all its appointments, and is still used as an opera house. The 
building was named " Trimble Opera House" in honor of his father-in-law. He continued as a 
theatrical manager until 18S3, and in 1SS4 began to use his natural gifts as an inventor, producing, 
in company with his nephew, Charles O. Barnes, their first car coupler. They kept on making inven- 
tions, producing two other patents on car couplers, the last one, patented in 1SS6, being adopted by 
the Yanderbilt and manv of the largest railroads in the United States, and has yielded a profit in five 
years of a quarter of a million dollars. Mr. Barnes is constantly working on something new. having 
patents in several mechanical branches other than railway inventions, and each year in several issues 
of the Patent Office Gazette are found patents granted to him, as well as having several foreign pat- 
ents. He was a delegate from New York State to the Inventors' Convention held in Washington, 
D. C, April 10, i8gi, in honor of the centennial of the Patent Office, and was in the group of inven- 
tors photographed standing on the steps of that building, and also at Mount Vernon. Pa. He is now 
a valued and respected citizen of the Central City. 

May 26. iS6g, Mr. Barnes was married at the Delevan House, .\lbany, to .Augusta Georgia 
Trimble, who was born in New York city, December 30, 1840, the eldest daughter of the late John 
Montague Trimble, the well-known architect and builder of that city. Her grandfather, the father 
of John Montague Trimble, was an officer in the United States navy, sailing from Norfolk. Va. 
The family name " Montague ' h^s descended from Lord .Montague of England. .\ very large book 
containing the biography of Lord Montague, the family coat of arms, etc., is in the po.S-session of 
Mrs. Lucien Barnes, having been handed down to her by her father. This book is carefully pre- 
served and will in time be handed down to her son, Lucien Barnes, jr. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have 
five children, as follows ; Lulu Augusta, born April 4, 1S70 ; Edith Minnie, born January 6, 1872 ; 
Mary Trimble, born July 7, 1874 : Lucien. jr., bom July 30, 1877 : and Florence, born June 21, 
18S1. All except Florence were born in .Mbany. She was born in New York city. 

Mr. Barnes is a man of refined tastes, and known in business as very energetic, sober, reliable, 
and strictly honest. His word is never broken. He is a staunch friend, a good neighbor, and the 
kindest of fathers. 



34 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

BAUSTIX AVERY was born at Ledyard, Conn., on the 15th of July, 1S14. His father was 
1 Anson Avery, a respectable farmer, and his mother was Eunice Avery. His early life, like 
that of almost all farmers' boys of that early period, was chiefly devoted to arduous labor at home, 
interspersed with attendance at the district school, chiefly in winters. In Mr. Avery's cise, how- 
ever, he was fortunate enough to secure an attendance of a few terms at the Colchester Academy. 
His faculties were naturally bright and his brain power exceptional, as was amply attested in after 
life, and he therefore gained a better education from his restricted opportunities than others might 
with more liberal privileges. He was thus fitted to teach school, which honorable occupation he 
followed winters for a number of years, working on the home farm in the summers. These occupa- 
tions occupied his attention until he was twenty-four years old, when he came to Syracuse, in the 
year 1S38. He promptly came to the conclusion that the then active \'illage was destined to become 
an important commercial and manufacturing center, and that he would make it, or its immediate 
vicinity, his future home. He spent two years in Syracuse engaged chiefly in laying the founda- 
tions of a fine salt manufacturing business, in which he invested the eight hundred dollars which 
constituted his entire fortune when he arrived here. At the end of the two ye.irs he returned to his 
native place, where he married Miss Mary A. Avery, and returned at once to Syracuse. From that 
time on till the day of his death he engaged energetically and actively in the v.-irious industries which 
at different times claimed his attention, all the time e.stending his operations and adding to his 
material means; and what was still more important, steadily gaining in the respect of the community 
and in their esteem as a man of capacity and usefulness. Soon after his second arrival in Syracuse 
Mr. Avery purchased fifty acres of land on the plank road near the toll-gate, and began the long 
period of at least partial devotion to agricultural matters which ended only with his death. From 
that small beginning his homestead grew by other purchases to a splendid farm of two hundred and 
fifteen acres, and under his intelligent and watchful care became, perhaps, one of the very best farms 
in the county of Onondaga It is now owned by the Skiff brothers. Mr. .Avery's chief attention, 
as far as his farm was concerned, was devoted to the production of milk, a business which he reduced 
almost to a science. He purchased and bred the best of cows, investigated thoroughly into the best 
methods of feeding, provided extensive and comfortable b.irns, and was in every way a representa- 
tive farmer of the front rank. Outside of his farm interests Mr. .\very turned his hand to many 
undertakings, and it can be said that no one of them failed to feel the influence of his vigorous and 
wise action, and reach a fair measure of success. He manufactured brick largely on his own farm, 
and many of the prominent buildings of Syracuse are from the brick of his make. In the war perioil 
he filled many contracts for the general government in purchasing horses, etc., a business which was 
conducted with the same integrity which governed all his operations. He. with James Noxon, was 
responsible for the organization of the company which built the first street railway in the city. — ihat 
running to the First ward, — and he w.is for a number of years its General Manager. l!ut the crown- 
ing work, perhaps, of Mr. .Vvery's life was the founding of the Onondaga County Milk Association, 
an institution that has not only been a benefit to its members and the farmers generally, but has 
proved of inestimable advantage to the city of Syracuse. The company, or association, was organ- 
ized in January, 1872, with Mr. .Vvery as President, an office which he held to the time of his death ; 
I>. F Scott, Vice-President; and Cyrus D. Avery, Secretary and Treasurer. The capital stock was 
$50,000, which was increased in 1875 to |iioo,ooo, when the building of the association was erected. 
Mr. Avery's belief was. and it was supported by after experience, that the cost of selling milk couhl 
be greatly reduced by such an organization ; that the community could at the same time obtain milk 
at a price as low or lower than it had done, with an almost absolute guarantee that it would be pure. 
All this has proven to be the result of his wisdom and foresight, and the .association is to-day a com- 
plete success in every sense. Mr. Avery was a liberal contributor to the stock of the association, 
but never accepted any compensation for his services as its head officer. In politics Mr. .\very was 
a Republican after the election of President Lincoln, but he never sought oflRce and often declined it 
when tendered him. 

Mr. Avery met with a sudden and accidental death. On the fifth of January, 1SS2. while 
driving his horse and cutter in .Syracuse, he collided with Ihcslcilsof a party of coasiers and was 



BlOGRArillCAL. 35 



thrown violently to the ground. He suffered a severe concussion of the brain and other injuries 
which caused his death on the I2th of that month. The calamity was a shock to the whole com- 
munity and the feeling of great loss was general. At a memorial meeting after his death the Milk 
.Association adopted a testimonial to the memory of the deceased from which it is fitting to make the 
following extract: " In the decease of our brother this Association loses the influence and zeal of 
one of the first to originate, sustain and defend it through long years of trial. Honest in principle, 
generous in purpose, with good business tact, he ever commanded esteem and such assistance as will 
usually render long enterprise successful." Personally Mr. Avery was one of the most genial of men. 
His heart was warm and filled with good impulses. No person ever entered his employ in whatever 
capacity who was not placed under deep obligation to him. His friendships were loyal and kindness 
untiring. Mr. Avery left no childrcii. 



EARL B. .\I,VORD was born in the town of Steuben, Oneida county, N. Y., October 7, 1822. 
His father's name was .\nson .\lvord, and his mother was .Abigail Clark, and both were origi- 
nally from New England. There were three sons and two daughters in the family. Earl B. being 
the youngest. In March, iS2g, the family moved to Onondaga \alley. The subject of this sketch 
was only six years of age when the family came to Onondaga county, and from that time until 1S41 
he remained at home, working for neighbors or attending the district school, where he acquired his 
entire education. In 1841 he engaged in the lime business with his brothers, Clark Alvord and 
Henry G. Alvord, at Onondaga Valley. He soon afterward purchased his brothers' interest in the 
business and continued it as one of his several interests until his death. In 1849 >Ir. Alvord moved to 
Syracuse and soon afterward built a lime mill on the comer of Lock and Canal streets, it being now- 
occupied by the Mowry & Barnes packing house. His business prospered under his prudent and 
energetic management and in 1S69 he invested largely in limestone quarries at Jamesville, N. Y., and 
established branches at that place and at Binghamton, N. Y., the same business being now conducted 
under the style of E. B. Alvord & Co. In 1S7S he engaged largely in the coal business at Syracuse, 
and in iSSo opened a branch at Cleveland, Ohio. He continued in the coal business until his death 
in 1SS3. Mr. Alvord was the pioneer in making the McAdam pavement in Syracuse, Warren street 
being the first covered with that kind of roadway in the city. These were the more important of the 
many business enterprises which engaged Mr. Alvord's energies. He was a bitter opponent of 
monopolies and sacrificed many thousands of dollars in making the price of coal and other commodities 
cheaper for the people of Syracuse. With that end in view he enlarged his mill property on Lock 
street and converted it into an abbattoir which was the means of reducing the price of pork product 
in Syracuse. He was a man of unusually broad business views and possessed the capacity for grasp- 
ing large undertakings and pushing them to a profitable consummation. 

Mr. Alvord was always liberal in his politicial views, never identifying himsell closely with any 
party. He was frequently tendered the nomination for Mayoralty and other prominent municipal 
offices, but always declined. He was a firm believer in the future prosperity and growth of Syracuse 
and at favorable opportunities invested largely in real estate, of which he was large owner at the time 
of his death. He possessed a generous nature and often aided others in times of need. In all busi- 
ness connections he was a wise counselor and by his strict integrity and liberal business principles, 
gained a high position in the esteem of the community. 

Mr. Alvord was married in 1S49 to Miss Helen Hickok, of Onondaga \'alley, who still survives 
him. Thev had two sons, Anson E. and Edgar Alvord, both of whom are residents of Syracuse. 



36 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

JAMES BYRON BROOKS was bom at Rockingham, Windham county, \'t., on the 27th of |unc, 
1839. "'* father was Nathaniel Brooks and his mother was Emily Cutler, both of whom were 
from Massachusetts. The mother died in 1S47. and the father went to California in 1853 and died 
in that State. He was a farmer and the subject of this sketch passed his boyhood on the Vermont 
farm and at the district school. In the spring of 1858 he attended one term at the academy in Spring- 
field, Vt., and in the fall of that year entered Newbury Seminary, at Newbury, Vt., where he con- 
tinued his studies, with some interruptions, until the breaking out of the war in the spring of 1861. 
He enlisted at once in the three months' service under the first call for 75,000 volunteers, in the Brad- 
ford Guards, formed at Bradford, \'t., which became a part of the First \'olunteer Infantry of the 
State. The company was mustered into the U. S. ser\ice on the gth day of May, 1861. The regi- 
ment was stationed at Fortress Monroe most of its term, but saw a little active service at the battle of 
Big Bethel. Returning home Mr. Brooks re-enlisted in Co. H, of the Fourth \'ermont regiment, 
and on September 12, 1S61, was commissioned Second Lieutenant of his company. This regiment 
formed a part of the \'ermont brigade, which was connected with the Si.xth corps of the Army of the 
Potomac until the close of the war. Lieutenant Brooks was detailed for duty in the U. S. Signal 
Corps, by order of General Hancock, on the 2Sth of December, iSOi. He was promoted to First 
Lieutenant of Co. I, of his regiment, on the 19th of January, 1862. He remained at the Signal Camp 
of Instruction in Georgetown, I). C, until the 7th of March following, when he was assigned to field 
duty as a Signal officer. From this time Lieutenant Brooks served in the field with the Army of the 
Potomac and took part in all of the principal battles in which that army was engaged, except the 
battles of the Peninsula, at which time he was serving with General McDowell's command, and sub- 
sequently was under that of General Pope. He served continually in the field in ihe Signal Corps 
until August 31st, 1863, when at his own urgent recjuest. Lieutenant Brooks was permitted to return 
to service in his own regiment. In the campaign which led up to the battle of the Wilderness, the 
regiment served with distinction, and in that memor.ible engagement on the 0th of May, 1864, Cap- 
tain Brooks received agunshot wound. His Captain's commission is dated May 5th, 1864. He was 
taken to Seminary hospital at lleorgetown, and later to the hospital at Annapolis, Md., and on the 
5th of August, 1864, was honorably discharged from the service on account of disability from wounds 
received in action. 

After reaching home Captain Brooks immediately entered Newbury Seminary to complete his 
studies. In the fall of the same year he entered Dartmouth College and graduated in June, 1869. 
Having decided upon adopting the law as a profession, Mr. Brooks began his studies with Col. Ros- 
well Farnham, lately Governor of the State of Vermont, who was then in practice at Bradford. This 
period of study was supplemented by a course in the Albany Law School, from which he graduated 
in 1871. He was at once admitted to the Bar in this State and commenced practice in Syracuse 
Februsry ist, 1872. The second year of his practice he was a member of the firm of Fuller, Vann 
& Brooks, and in July, 1874, became a member of the firm of Ruger, Jenney, Brooks & French. He 
continued in this law firm and its successors until May Ist, tSSy, when the firm dissolved, Mr. Brooks 
retiring. Since that time Mr. Brooks has practiced alone. 

In Syracuse Mr. Brooks has received several evidences of the confidence and esteem of his fellow 
citizens. He was Alderman of the Eighth ward in 1884-5, School Commissioner in 1S86-7, and on 
June 21, 1888, wasappointed one of the Board of Commissioners toe.\amine into the sources of water 
supply for the city. After subsequent legislation, based upon the report of that Board, Mr. Brooks 
was made one of the Board of Water Commissioners of the city, which is now in existence and en- 
gaged in the preliminary work of building water works which will give Syracuse an ample supply of 
water from Skaneateles lake. He is a trustee of the Syracuse University, since 1885, and President 
of the Voung Men's Christian Association since 1886. He is a member of the Methodist church. 

Mr. Brooks was married on the 7lh day of September, 1873, at East Orange, Vt., to Miss Caro- 
line L. Jewell. 



Biographical. 



37 



THADDEUS M. WOOD was born the gth of March, 1772, at Lenox, Massachusetts. He was a 
graduate of Dartmouth College, with the class of 1790. He entered upon the pursuit of his 
legal studies, with Thomas R. Gold, Esq., and closed them in the office of Joseph Kirkland, Esq., 
of Utica, immediately after which, in 1794, he came to Onondaga Hollow, and opened a law ofi'ce, 




being the first lawyer who established himself in the county. He soon became distinguished for his 
legal capacity, and during his life exercised a prominent influence throughout the county. 

He became widely known as a military man ; was Lieutenant Colonel Commandant, in 1809, in 
which capacity he was extremely active and useful during the war of 1812. He w.-is elevated to the 
rank of Brigadier-General in 1818, and to the rank of a Major-General in 1820. 

General Wood was a gentlemen of marked and well defined characteristics, both of mind and 
manners, and no one could be much in his society without understanding many traits of his character, 
while others were not so readily disclosed to the public gaze. In his manners he was often abrupt. 



The aboTe plate is u fac Biutilc of an old print. 



38 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

sometimes even blunt and perhaps rough, but his thoughts flowed with great rapidity and power, 
while he often gave to them a sudden and impulsive expression. 

As a lawyer, it is perhaps suflicient to say. that in the early part of the present century, when 
Kellogg, and Korman, and Sabin, were in the height of their practice and the zenilh of their 
powers, the Onondaga Bar had no man superior to Gen. Wood, and perhaps not his equal, in all 
things. If the laws of real property and ihe action of ejectment, (which then embraced the most im- 
portant suits tried in the county,) were better understood by Fornian and Kellogg, Gen. Wood fully 
equaled them in his general .icquaintance with the common law, in the investigation and preparation 
of his causes, and especially in the sagacity and astuteness which he brought into exercise on the trial 
of his suits. He omitted to present no favorable view of his client's case, no point which fortified 
his action or his defense. And on the other hand, he watched his opponent with an eagle eye. never 
failing to discover the weak points in his case, or to make every needful objection in the progress of 
the cause. His client's rights were safe, not in his learning and abilities only, but also in his remark- 
able care and unwearied devotion. He looked upon his clients as his wards, and extended his guar- 
dianship to the protection of all their rights. At about the age of fifty. Gen. Wood's large real estate, 
and the necessary cares of increasing property and other pursuits, began rapidly to withdraw him from 
his profession, and he gave but little attention to its duties, except so far as was necessary to his own 
business. For twenty years and more, during most of which time he was in company with the late 
Hon. George Hall, Gen. Wood had a very extensive practice. The firms of Wood 6>: Hall, who 
were Democrats, and Forman & Sabin, who were Federalists, doing the most business by far, of any 
then in the county, unless their practice may have been equaled by that of Daniel Kellogg, at Skane- 
atcles. The Hon. Samson Mason, the Hon. I'hilo Gridley, and the Hon. Asher Tyler, are some of 
the many students who laid the foundation of their legal learning under his instructions. 

During the war of 1S12, he was a Colonel, and within twenty-four hours after notice of the 
threatened descent of the British at Oswego, he was on his way to the scene of danger, with most of 
the regiment under his command. .-Vnd again, when the alarm of an invasion at Sackett's Harbor 
was given soon after, Gen. Wood, at a moment's warning, dispatched messengers throughout the 
county, aroused the slumbering warriors of the Onondaga nation, and with his regiment and Indian 
allies, at once repaired to the north. .\s an officer, he was in appearance remarkably fine looking, 
active and energetic, and had an opportunity presented, those who knew him will not doubt but his 
conduct would have commanded the approbation of the public, and theadmiralionof his friends. As 
a politician. Gen. Wood was ardent, active, untiring and honest. He embraced the principlesof the 
Democratic party in early life, and supported them with ability and vigor. When the Democratic 
party was divided, he became a Clintonian, and continued such until the death of Mr. Clinton, and 
with most of the leaders of that party, supported Gen. Jackson in 1828 ; and left him in 1S32, or be- 
fore. He took an active interest in public affairs until the close of his life, and at all times judged 
and spoke of public men and public affairs with all the acuteness and discrimination for which he 
was remarkable. Gen. Wood was celebrated throughout the State for the pungency of his wit, and 
quickness and severity of his retort. He was never at a loss for a reply, either at the bar or in pri- 
vate ctmversation, and the opponent who escaped from his wit and his satire uninjured, was fortunate 
indeed. Onondaga was almost as well known in the State by the wit of Gen. Wood, as by the sar- 
casms of Gen. Root, or the enterprise and foresight of Forman and tleddes. As a neighbor. Gen. 
Wood was kind and obliging, ready at all times to grant those little daily kindnesses which good 
neighborhood so constantly require. As a father, no man was more indulgent or more affectionate. 
With something of a rough exterior and an austere manner, fountains of the warmest affection for 
his children ever flowed from his heart. In speaking of them at the age of half a century, he would 
often melt down to tears. Though some of ihem sometimes annoyed him by their indiscretions, and 
perhaps even irritated his rather impulsive nature, still, peihaps the most marked characteristic of 
Gen. Wood was his fondness for his children and his acute susceptibility to all that affected their 
happiness or their fame. Gen. Wood's fondness for real estate was quite a p,ission. He was ready 
to buy, but never to sell. He, at an early day, became a very large landholder in the county, at 
Manlius, Liverpool, Salina, Onondaga IJollow, and between the Hollow and Syracuse, and at various 



BiOGRArincAL. 39 



other places. This passion also may have led to, or sprung out of another, a ileciiied fondness for 
agriciillure, at least its theory and study, den. Wood was not a good practical farmer. His lands 
were far too e.ttensive, and his other pursuits were far too numerous and pressing. Hut he took a 
great interest in agricultural pursuits, the introduction of improved breeds of cattle, and in the meet- 
ings and discussions of Agricultural Societies. Gen. Wood w.as never idle. If not engaged in the 
active duties of life, with which he was generally overwhelmed, he was storing his mind with those 
funds of knowledge which, combined with his wit, and a happy and joyous disposition, made him a 
most agreeable, entertaining and instructive companion. He knew the history of Onondaga from 
its early settlements until his death, in all the minuteness of its details, had been himself a prominent 
actor in all its stages, and by the aid of a careful obser\ation, and in a most retentive memory, was 
furnished with an amount of knowletlge on this subject, not now possessed by any of his survivors. 
Thus, he was at all times ready and happy to impart, and whoever drew from that fountain would be 
pleased to repair to it again. (Jen. Wood was truthful in all his intercourse, moral in his habits, 
and possessed with a nice sense of honor. When severely pressed for money, and was anxious to 
raise it, and willing to give his own note, well endorsed, to obtain it, he has been known ro refuse to 
promise on his honor to meet the note when due, as that would compel him to pay it. Gen. Wood 
had his faults, as well as his virtues, and the truth of history requires that they shall not be passed 
over in silence. He was never popular. Lawyers are, from the nature of their profession, almost 
obliged to make enemies ; but General Wood had more than the usual number. There were many 
of them made no doubt in the ordinary course of legal proceedings, some perhaps by the pungency 
of his wit or the bitterness of his sarcasm, but more, probably, from other causes. His resolute de- 
termination not to sell his real estate added to a most deeply seated habit of procrastination, 
eventually very much embarrassed him in his affairs. He was at an early day sued more or less, and 
finally he paid a large amount of his debts in execution. These suits he often delayed by plea or de- 
murers. using the means which the courts then furnished to obtain time; sometimes perhaps by tech- 
nical objections to obtain a bill of costs, or defeat a just cause of action. This was one ground of 
complaint. Being pressed by his own debts, it is also said that he sometimes pressed his own debtors 
more severely than he should have done, and that his conduct was unkind and oppressive. This 
may have been so, but the state of his own private affairs must be his apology, not his justilication. 
He also had more or less litigation with his father, and perhaps with some other of his relatives, and 
with his former partners, particularly with George Hall and Benajah Byington. The suit with Hall 
was commenced about the year 1825, and was a bill filed by Hall for the settlement of their partner- 
ship accounts. This suit was more than twenty years in Court of Chancery, and was finally brought 
to a close by the executors of Hall on the one side and the surviving administrator of Wood on the 
other. The history of the Byington suit is very much the tame. lie was considered litigious in the 
community, but he did not bring needless suits, nor was he greatly in the habit of resorting to the 
law ; but being often sued himself by others, and defending many of the suits for delay or otherwise, 
he acquired a reputation in the popular mind which did not justly belong to him. Whatever may 
have been the respective merits of these various oontroversies, the effect no doubt was to make Gen. 
, Wood unpopular in the community, and to injure his reputation to a certain extent. But Ihey did 
not destroy the confidence of his friends in the native kindness of his heart, the goo<lness of his dis- 
position and the general integrity of his character. While they regretted his imperfections, as we all 
should and might more profitably our own, they admired him for his talents, his learning, and his 
wit, and they loved him for his many social virtues. And when the grave finally shut him from our 
view, few among us but felt that a great man had fallen, and that many kind, and generous, and noble 
qualities were buried in his tomb. He died at his residence at Onondaga Hollow, January loth, 
1836, aged sixty-four years.* 

In this connection it is fitting to devote a little space to the life of Mrs. Batty Danforth Wood. 
She was the first white child to settle in Onondaga county. Her father was the eminent pioneer, 

•This sketch of -Mr. Wood is taken largely from Clark's "Onondaga" and was written upon 
information furnished by Cien. Leavenworth. 



40 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Gen. Asa Danforth. of whom a sketch is given in the early pages of this work. Little Tatty was 
about four years old when her father settled in Onondaga Valley, in 1788, where she soon became a 
pet among the Indians, and early learned their language. She met with many adventures in her early 
life, with the relation of which she was able to entertain her friends in after years. 

When yet in her teens Patty Danforth was united in marriage to Thaddeus M. Wood, the rising 
young lawyer of Onondaga Valley, and they began housekeeping on a large farm on South Saltna 
street. In this home four sons and four daughters were born to them, each receiving through the 
generous means of their parents a liberal education. General Wood, after a brief illness, passed from 
earth. He was buried with military honors from the Presbyterian Church in the Valley, and his 
widow and eight children took up the extensive and unfinished affairs of his life. Mrs. Wood occu- 
pied the family homestead, attended by her faithful servant, (formerly a slave of the family,) and 
with the same hospitality of early days attracted her many friends around her, remaining ever the 
same true friend of the Indians, and always giving food and shelter when required. On Thanks- 
giving day of the year 1854 Mrs. Patty Danforth Wood passed away at the age of 74 years, her four 
daughters surviving her, the sons having gone before. Her funeral was held from the Presbyterian 
Church, of which she was a member, and was largely attended by friends and many of the brave Ind- 
ians, who solemnly gazed the last time upon the face of their friend and advisor. t)f this once large 
family, Mrs. Emily Wood Brackett, of San Antonia, alone survives. 



CHARLES A. H.\KKK was bornat Northampton, Mass., in the year 1799. His father was Deacon 
Erastus Baker, of the old Puritan stock, and came from the east to l.al'ayette, ( )nondaga county, 
N. v., in 1801, with his wife and little son. After that year eight children were .added tothe family. 
Charles A. left home at an early age for the western part of the State, there receiving an academic 
education. He taught school in that section for a time, after which he located at Onondaga Valley 
and began the study of the profession which had always been his goal, in the law office of General 
Thaddeus M. Wood, then one of the most prominent attorneys in this part of the State. Mr. Baker 
mastered the profession, was admitted to practice, and soon afterward, in November, 1827, he was 
married to Maria Wood, second (Laughter ol Thaddeus M. Wood, a woman possessed of brilliant 
mental qualities and gentle culture, and a graduate of seminaries in Clinton and Troy. The young 
couple soon began housekeeping at "Salt Point," now the First Ward of Syracuse. The village of 
Salina was then far in advance of Syracuse in population and business importance, and many men of 
prominence resided there. But the younger village was just beginning to feel the impulse that soon 
enabled it to outstrip its older rival. Mr. Baker soon followed the general tide of settlement after the 
completion of the Erie canal, and removed to Syracuse, occupying what was known in the later days 
of its e.xistence as the Lamed house, which stood on the site of the Florence, corner of South Salina 
street and Onondaga. While living there two sons and two daughters were born. Mr. Baker's am- 
bition and industry gave him a prominent position in the bar of the county, and though not, perhaps, 
so brilliant in the court room as many of his contemporaries, he secured and held the entire confidence 
of his clients, as well as of the community at 1,-irge. He w^as associated at one period with Oen. K. 
M. Richardson, and later with Col. A. W. Dwight, who lost his life in the service of his country in 
the late war. The care of estates entrusted to him, and especially that of General Wood, demanded 
most of his time in the later years of his life. He was a man of public spirit, and the growth and 
prosperity of the city was always prominent in his thoughts. By purchase and through his wife Mr. 
Baker became owner of a large tract of land in what is now the southern part of the cit<- (lately the 
beautiful village of Danforth). Between the years 1840 and 1845 he built the lai^.^ brick Gothic 
house on South Salina street, just in the outskirts of the city, where he resided many years. Through 
his lands, Mr. Baker gave about seventeen acres to public streets. The first one opened running 
east and west just south of his residence and by him named Castle street, it being at that time the 
nearest one to the Indian castle. On many of those streets he planted trees, which are now one of 




^', 



-^ 



^^z^^^ 



Biographical. 41 



the chief beauties of that section. On the front half of over twenty acres owned by Mr. Baker stood 
a beautiful grove of oak trees, and long before the final consummation of the undertaking he con- 
ceived the idea of appropriating that tract to a rural cemetery. In 1857 the proper influence was 
brought to be.-ir, in which he freely co-operated, which resulted in the dedication in 1859 of our 
beautiful Oakwood Cemetery, 

Mr. Baker's position in the community in which he passed his life was such that he was often 
called to stations of trust and responsibility in the village and city government, all of which he filled 
with fidelity and integrity. Earlier in his life he was prominent in the State militia and rose from a 
subordinate oflicial post to Major. In politics he was a Republican from the time of the birth of 
that party, and was previous to that time a Whig. Not an ardent politician, he nevertheless never 
hesitated to uphold his opinions on all proper occasions. 

Mr. and Mrs. Baker passed their lives in the village of Danforth after their removal thither. 
Their family circle was broken in 1855 by the death of their eldest daughter, Julia I,., and in 1S64 
by that of their youngest son, George Danforth. It was their rare fortune to dwell together fifty 
years, and on the anniversary of their marriage in October, 1877, they welcomed many friends to 
their golden wedding, where the ceremony was re-performed by Rev. Dr. Nelson Millard. Of the 
guests at their marriage four were still living, and two of them were present at the golden wedding. 

Mr. Baker's eldest son, Charles Wood Baker, died ten months after his father's decease, in 
Denver, Col., whither he had gone to recuperate his health, leaving a widow, one son, and a 
daughter. In the spring of 1884, Mr. Baker's widow, Maria Wood Baker, died at the age of Si 
years, retaining her faculties to the end, having lived the true Christian life through these years. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. liaker received the devoted care of their daughter, Cornelia A. Baker, who now 
alone survives of the immediate family. 



GEORGE NET. I. IS CKOUSE was born at Chittenango, Madison county, N. Y., on the 24th of 
November, 1S47. He is of German ancestry, and three centuries ago, in Sa.\ony, Jacob, George, 
and James were familiar names in the Crouse family of that time, as they ever since have been. 
James Crouse, father of George Nellis, was a son of Jacob Crouse and Catharine Nellis, in whose 
wedded life was a union of two families prominent in the business and social life of the Mohawk 
valley. James Crouse was a successful merchant at Chitlenango, N. Y., and in 1S55 removed to 
Syracuse, where he formed a partnership with his brother John, and the great wholesale grocery house 
of J . iS; J . Crouse was established. This is a department of trade in which the Crouse family has 
become pre-eminent, and as great and successful merchants, the Crouse name has a prominent place 
in business annals. Daniel Crouse, another brother, was at the head of a like enterprise at Utica, 
N. Y. The Crouse Bank at Syracuse was organized by the brothers, John and James, and under 
their management was very successful. James Crouse died in 1858, leaving a record of the strictest 
probity and an example as a citizen and business man worthy of all emulation. 

George Nellis Crouse received his education primarily at the Polytechnic School at Chittenango ; 
afterwards attending the seminary at Kinderhook, N. V., and still later the Walnut Hill School at 
Geneva, N. Y. He left school at the age of eighteen, and having determined to devote his life to 
active business pursuits, he made an extended trip through the western States with a view of possibly 
locating there ; but he returned to Syracuse and entered the employ of the wholesale grocery house of 
Enos Stimson & Co. During this connection he made himself familiar with the details of the busi- 
ness, in which afterwards he was himself highly successful. In 1869, Jacob Crouse, with George N. 
and James S. Crouse, formed the tirm of Jacob Crouse & Brothers, wholesale grocers. In 1S79 
James S. Crouse withdrew from the firm, and in 1884 Jacob Crouse also withdrew, and the firm style 
was changed to G. N. Crouse & Co., composed of George N. Crouse and Robert E. Bentley. Since 
Mr. Crouse became connected with this firm, it has had his personal attention and energies concen- 
trated in its management, and it long has ranked as the leading wholesale grocery house in Central 
New York. 
F 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Outside of his exacting business connections, Mr. Crouse has found time to take an active and 
useful part in public affairs. In 1S74 he was commissioned as Commissary of Subsistence in the 
National Guard of the Stale, holding rank as Lieutenant-Colonel on the staff of Brigadier-deneral 
D. P. Wood (from which office he gained the title by which his friends habitually address him). He 
has at all times shown himself to be a sturdy friend and promoter of military interests. He has long 
ranked among the most public-spirited of the citizens of the city of his residence. He is never spar- 
ing of his time and influence in promoting what he considers the best interests of the community. He 
devotes, in harmony with the inclination and nature of both himself and wife, active efforts in all be- 
nevolent and charitable enterprises, to which, indeed, they both give hearty co-operation and support. 
Mr. Crouse is a trustee and treasurer of the First Presbyterian church, and for many years has been 
continued in these relations. He is a director in several financial institutions; manager in philan- 
thropic organizations, and an active member of the Century and Citizens' Clubs and other public 
bodies. In politics a Republican, he always takes a warm interest in public affairs, and though he 
has never sought political office, yet he frequently has been honored with representative commissions 
and been tendered prominent places. He has put all offers of official station aside, but has practi- 
callv lived up to his conviction that it is every citizen's duty to uphold to the extent of his ability the 
principlesof good government. Mr. Crouse was Chairman of the Republican County Committee 
for two years, 1S72-3 ; a member of the State ("ommittee for several years, and of the Executive Com- 
mittee in 1877-78. He was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated President Hayes 
in 1S76 ; and in 188S he was a Presidential Elector. His vote was the greatest given to any Elector 
in the State of New York in that election. In i88g his name was proposed by the Republican papers 
of New York city for the office of State Treasurer. These honors came to him without his seeking, 
and were evidences of confidence in his fitness and worthiness. Prompt and quick in action and 
thought, and always knowing just what he wishes to convey, and the best way to express himself, 
with absolute fearlessness in argument, Mr. Crouse has shown himself able to encounter successfully 
men who have made politics the study of their lives. No listener ever mistakes his meaning on any 
topic he may discuss. 

Mr. Crouse has traveled extensively, and his study and observation have been profitable to him. 
Mis journeys include trips with his wife to San Francisco and through .Southern California, in 1876, 
and to England and the principal continental countries in 1889, besides a trip to Cuba for the benefit 
of his health in 1S87. In his earlier life he was a leader in social life in the city of his residence, and 
his home always has been a center of a refined social influence. 

Mr. Crouse was married October 5. 1S76, to Miss Florence Jennie Marlette, daughter of the 
ate Dr. Edwin R. Marlette, a distinguished oculist and aurist. Her mother was Frances .Anne 
Wright, daughter of the late Dr. Rial Wright, a prominent citizen of Syracuse, and one of the early 
Superintendents of the Onondaga Salt Springs. Mr. and Mrs. Crouse have four children: George 
Nellis, Ir., Florence Beecher, Marlette, and Laura Catherine. 



WILLIA.M B. COGSWELL, the distinguished engineer and general manager of the .Solvay 
Process Company and the Tully Pipe Line Company, of Syracuse, was born in Oswego, N. 
^'., September 22, 1834. His father was David Cogswell, who died in 1877. During the three 
years when William B. was from seven to ten years of age, he attended the Hamilton, Oneida county, 
academy. He afterwards attended a school of some note, kept by Joseph -Mien, in .Syracuse, and 
also a school kept by Prof. Orin Root, in Seneca Falls, N. Y. During the two years, 1848-q, Mr. 
Cogswell worked with an engineering party on the survey of the Syracuse and Oswego railroad and 
the Syracuse and Uticaroad. His natural tastes impelled him strongly towards engineering as a 
profession, and it is not, therefore, surprising that when his surveying experience ended, he should 
enter the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, N. Y., which he did on the ist of May, 1850, 
in the class of 1852. He remained with that excellent institution three years and left it with credit ; 
but owing to an e.\tension of the course no class was graduated in that year. In the year 1884 the 
degree of C. E. was conferred on him by thisinstitute. 



BlOGRAniirAL. 43 



Soon after leaving the school Mr. Cogswell began an apprenticeship in the Lawrence Machine 
Shop, under the superintendence of John C. Hoadley. He came out of that apprenticeship three 
years later with a theoretical and practical education in engineering, mechanics and physics, with 
their allied branches, not often secured in so short a time by so young a man. He had studied and 
worked with the ardent devotion born of a strong love for his chosen profession, and the result was 
what always follows such efforts when put forth by native ability under such circumstances. 

Returning to Syracuse in 1S56 he was selected by C.eorge Harnes of the same city to accompany 
him to the State of Ohio to take charge of the machinery of the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad at 
Chillicothe, of which road Mr. Barnes had been made superintendent. He remained in that position 
only three years, when the railroad became crippled in the financial panic of 1S57. The year 1859 
Mr. Cogswell spent as Superintendent of the Broadway Koundr)' in St. Louis, Mo., and in i860 re- 
turned to Syracuse, and in conjunction with William A. and A. Avery Sweet, started the works which 
were the inception of the present Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Company. Here the breaking 
out of the civil war found him, and in 1S61 he was appointed Civil I-:ngineer in the United States 
navy. In- this position he performed an enormous amount of labor in fitting up separate repair shops 
for live stations on the Atlantic seaboard and lived at one of them erected on shipboard at Port Royal, 
S. C. In 1S62 he was transferred to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and placed in charge of steam repairs 
in that then busy place, where he remained four years. The following two years he lived in New 
York city. In 1870 he was called to take charge of the completion of the Clifton Suspension Bridge 
at Niagara Falls, and at the same time gave his attention to the construction of two bl.ast furnaces 
at the Franklin Iron Works (Oneida county). 

This work brings the record of Mr. Cogswell's career down to 1S74 and it liad been a successful 
one in the broadest sense of the word. In no one of the responsible undertakings in which he had 
been engaged, or stations he had been called on to fill, had he failed of the most H.^ttering success. 

In 1S74 came what may in some sense be viewed as a turning point in Mr. Cogswell's career. In 
that year he was solicited to go to Mine La Motte, in Missouri, to assume charge of the lead mines 
of the same name at that point. This mine was then and still is owned by Mr. Rowland Hazzard, 
who brought all arguments in his power to induce Mr. Cogswell to take this step, which he finally 
did. He remained there five years until the spring of 1S79, when he decided to remove to Syracuse, 
though retainmg, as he still does, the management of the Mine La Motte lead mines. After return- 
ing to Syracuse, and while in quest of some kind of employment, Mr. Cogswell decided to go to Eu- 
rope to investigate the soda industry. Through a friend he made the acquaintance of Messrs. Sol- 
way and Co., of Brussels, Belgium, who are the most prominent manufacturers in that line in 
Europe. The result was, Mr. Cogswell was given a commission to inspect the various points in this 
country where a manufactory would be practicable, and report. After the receipt of the report steps 
were taken for the formation of a company for the manufacture of the various soda products. It 
was decided that Syracuse was the best point for the works and they were located heie, for it was 
believed by Mr. Cogswell that rock salt might be discovered in the vicinity. Several experimental 
borings were made in 18S1 and 1883, but without success ; but information was obtained which led 
to the experiments in Tully valley in 1888, and the discovery of two veins of rock salt, each about 
fifty feet thick, at a depth of 1,200 feet. The company now receive their entire supply, equal to 400 
tons of salt per day, from the Tully wells. The company also put in a plant of such capacity that 
a large quantity of saturated brine is sold to the salt manufacturers of Syracuse. The company was 
formed in 1881 with a capital of |30o,ooo, and the following incorporators: Rowland Hazzard, 
president ; Earl B. Alvord, William A. Sweet, George Dana ; W. B. Cogswell, treasurer and general 
manager. The capital has been increased from time to time as the business has increased, until now 
it is |;i, 500,000, with a total investment of |3.ooo,fxx). 

This great industry has led to the formation of the Tully I'ipe Line Company, for conveying 
brine from the wells to the works, with $300,000 capital, and the Split Rock Cable Road Company, 
with a capital of |ioo,ooo. The production of the works for the year 1892 will be 75,000 tons of 
soda ash, 20,000 tons of caustic soda, and 6,000 tons of bicarbonate of soda. 

Mr. Cogswell has received ample honors in his profession, as well as evidence of that confidence 
from business men which is a tribute to his judgment and his business qualifications. He isa member 



44 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

of the American Society of Civil Engineers ; a member of the American Society of Mining Engineers ; 
a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers ; a Fellow of the Geographical Society ; 
a member of the Society for the Advancement of Science ; a member of the Society of Chemical In- 
dustry, of England ; and president of the Warner's Portland Cement Company, organized in iSSg 
with a capital of ^250,000. 

Mr. Cogswell was married in 1856 to Miss Mary N. Johnson, a native of New Hampshire. She 
died in July, 1S77. There is one daughter 



HENRY LYMAN DUGUID was bom in the town of Pompey, December 25, 1832. His father 
was \Villiam Duguid, a son of a Scotchman, John Duguid, who, near the close of the last cen- 
tury, came to America from Aberdeen. William Duguid was among the many early settlers of Pom- 
pey whose industry, thrift, and sterling worth have contributed to give tothat town an enviable name. 
He married for his second wife, Eveline VanBuren, a sister of Harmon W. Vanl?uren, late of Syra- 
cuse. The boyhood of their son was passed in the wholesome atmosphere of a Christian home, and 
there were laid the foundations of a character which is worthy of emulation in every respect. He 
received his early education at the Pompey Academy, and in 1S52 entered Hamilton College, from 
which he was graduated with honor in 1856. Besides the work of his regular College course, he 
studied law during his junior and senior years, under Prof. Theodore W. Dwight. After his gradu- 
ation he entered the law office of the Hon. Daniel Gott, at Syracuse, later, that of Judge J. ^L Wool- 
worth, of Omaha, Neb., and was admitted to the bar at Council Bluffs in 1857. The following year 
he returned east and on the 5th of January, 1859, was married to Miss Harriet Eliza Wells, only 
daughter of John S. Wells, of Pompey. Immediately afterwards he settled permanently in Syracuse. 
Mr. Duguid never began the practice of law. but found business opportunities opening to him towards 
which his tastes turned and in which he achieved unusual success. The first saddlery hardware es- 
tablishment in Syracuse was that of Pope & Dawson in 1845. Under the management of different 
firms it attained a high reputation in business circles. Mr. Duguid became associated with Edward 
S. Dawson in this business in 1S58, and at a later date, after the retirement of Mr. Dawson, |acob 
Brown became a member of the firm. That business, like all others that came under the influence 
of Mr. Duguid 's tireless energy and activity, was remarkably successful. In iS68he was the principal 
owner and senior member of the firm of Duguid, Wells i: Co., his brother-in-law, J. E. Wells, having 
become a member of the Hrm. At the time of Mr. Duguid's death the firm was Duguid & Wells, 
and the business had grown to large proportions. His reliability and far-seeing judgment in financial 
affairs was so generally recognized in Syracuse that he was chosen in 1883 as President of the Syra- 
cuse Savings Bank, a position which he held at the time of. his death. 

Mr Duguid's general interest in all public affairs brought him into considerable prominence in 
politics as a member of the Republican party. In recognition of his services and his fitness for the 
position, he was appointed to the office of U. .S. Internal Revenue Collector for the 23d District of 
this State, and held the office from 1869 to 1873. When the paid fire department of Svracuse was 
organized, Mr. Duguid was .ippolnted a fire Commissioner and was President of the Hoard in 1877 
and 1878. In the latter years he was elected to the Legislature of the State, and was subsequently 
re-elected, serving as a member of the .\ssembly in 1879, 1S80 and iSSi. His liberal education, his 
ample business experience, and his unimpeachable integrity, rendered him at once a prominent and 
effective legislator. He was placed on some of the most important committees, including the Special 
Railway Investigating Committee. In 1880 he was Chairman of the Committee on Commerce and 
Navigation and a member of the Committee on Cities. In 1881 he was again Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Commerce and Navigation and a member of the Committees on Cities and Indian affairs. 
Mr. Duguid's most valuable legislative sen-ice was rendered, however, in a series of railway investi- 
gations. His advocacy of the measures recommended by the committee, which resulted in vast ben- 
efit, made him favorably known throughout the State. In all his political labors his progressive 
spirit and sagacity were clearly manifested, and though a strict partisan, he always strove to elevate 
the standard of party principle. 



Biographical. 45 



In the community in which he li^-ed Mr. Duguid's Christian character shone in his daily life and 
his benevolent spirit was active in all good work. Himself and his devoted wife were active mem- 
bers of the Kirst I'resbyterian Church until 1S70, when they went out with others to build up the 
Fourth Presbyterian Church. Of this society they were members for seventeen years, and it had no 
more cheerful, unseltish workers than they. At the organization of the church Mr. Duguid was 
chosen President of the Hoard of Trustees, and continued in the position during his connection with 
the church. In 1SS7, soon after the death of his uncle, II. \V. Van Huren, who for many years had 
taken a deep interest in the Scattergood Mission School, Mr. Duguid became convinced that the mis- 
sion should be organized into a church, and he, with other workers, again went out to build up the 
Memorial Presbyterian Church. Its Board of Trustees also made him President. He was a lead- 
ing spirit in the building up of the Syracuse Y. M. C. A. and for two years filled the office of Presi- 
dent. He was also President of the Hoard of Trustees of the Onondaga County Orphan .\sylum for 
twelve years. I'pon the religious life of the city he left his mark. He was public-spirited, and his 
citizenship was fruitful in benefits to the community. 

Mrs. Duguid died in .Vpril, iSSS, and the shock upon Mr. Duguid, whose health had already 
begun to decline, was a severe one and hastened the end. He died in Tucson, Arizona, December 
30, 18SS, while on a slow journey towards Southern California. Mr. and Mrs. Duguid had three 
children — Mary K., Harriet E., and Henry \V. Duguid. They are all residents of .Syracuse. 



ROBERT G. WVNKOOP, one of the oldest merchants in Syracuse, was born December 3d, 
1S16, at Catskill, Green county, N. Y. His father was the Rev. Peter S. Wynkoop, pastor of 
the Reformed Dutch Church, and was bt>rn at Kinderhook in 1788. He died in 1848 at the age of 
sixty years. His ancestors were from Holland. The mother was Margaret Gosman, of New York 
city, who died at Ghent, Columbia county, X. V., about the year 1S32. They had a family of 
thirteen children, one of whom died in infancy, leaving four sons and eight daughters. Of the sons 
four became prosperous booksellers, of whom the subject of this record is one. The boyhood of 
Robert G. Wynkoop was passed at home in an atmosphere of sturdy piety and surrounded by 
wholesome influences that fostered and directed his natural energy and industry into proper channels 
and planted in his young mind the germs that developed into a character fully endowed with those 
principles of integrity and honor that are the foundation of all useful lives. He was educated at 
the Kinderhook academy and graduated with an excellent education in 1835. His first occupation 
away from his home was teaching school in Coxsackie and West Troy, which he followed one year. 
He then went to New York city and was employed as clerk in a wholesale dry goods house about a 
year, when the financial panic of 1837 swept over the country and for a time demoralized all kinds 
of business. 

It was in the next year, 183S, that Mr. W'ynkoop performed his first political act by casting his 
first vote for Seward as governor of the State. In the same year also he was honored with the first 
and only office of a political character which he has ever held, being appointed hy Governor Seward 
as a Commissioner of Deeds. The effects of the panic in New York city were felt, perhaps, more 
severely than in any other part of the countrj', and Mr. Wynkoop remembers being compelled to 
walk through files of soldiers in Wall street who were guarding the banks. 

After one year as a clerk in New York Mr. Wynkoop joined with his brother, Peter S., and 
opened a book store in Hudson. N. Y. This partnership continued until 1848. In 1841 Robert G., 
still a member of the firm, went to .\uburn, N. Y., and opened a book store which he conducted 
during the life of the partnership. With ten years of active experience Mr. Wynkoop now felt an 
ambition for a wider field of business. He had already learned of the bright prospects of Syracuse 
as a business center. It was not then a large place, but had just been incorporated as a city and 
was already becoming somewhat noted for the spirit and enterprise which has always characterized 
its business circles. In pursuance of well considered plans he, therefore, dissolved the partnership 
alluded to, joined with his other brother, Jonathan G. Wynkoop, and after closing out his business 



46 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



at Auburn and Hudson, opened a book store in Syracuse in the fame block where it has since been 
successfully carried on through a long period of forty-two years. The only change in the firm during 
this period was the retirement of Jonathan G. in 1S70, and the accession of James S. Wynkoop, son 
of Robert G. Mr. Wy nkoop now enjoys the distinction of being one of the three oldest continuous 
merchants in Syracuse, the other two being S. 1'. fierce and J. Dean Hawley ; and the latter has 
just now retired from the field. It need scarcely be said that during his long business experience in 
Syracuse Mr. Wynkoop has gained a reputation for uncommon mercantile capacity, unimpeachable 
integrity, as well as the respect and esteem of the entire community. Successful business careers of 
more than fiftv years duration, forty-two of which are passed in one location, are never founded upon 
sand ; they must inevitably be, and always are, built upon principles of uprightness, business honor, 
prudence and fairness by men of sagacity, foresight and indomitable perseverence and industry. 
.Ml of these conditions have surrounded and governed the conduct of the old and reputable Wynkoop 
business house. 

The character of Robert G. Wynkoop as a citizen and a man has been honored in the com- 
munity where he has lived so Icng in many ways. He was one of the incorporators of the Onondaga 
County Savings Bank and one of the most active in the laborious work of placing it upon a solid 
foundation and in conducting its manifold affairs ever since. He was its nce-President for many 
years, and is at present. He was made a Director of the New York State Hanking Company, and 
is still in that office. He is a Iiirector in the Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga, and has 
been from its organization. He is a Trustee of the Oakwood Cemetery Association, was actively in- 
strumental in giving to the city that beautiful burial place, and has always taken a deep interest in 
its improvement. Mr. Wynkoop's naturally benevolent impulses have found expression in Syracuse 
in various directions. He was one of the few men who gave liberally of their time and means to es- 
tablish that beneficent institution, the Old Ladies' Home, and has been one of its Trustees from the 
first. He is a Trustee of the Onondaga Orphan Asylum, and has been for many years. He is a 
regular attendant at the Reformed Dutch Church, on James street, and it has received from him not 
only material support, but the benefit of his counsel in all of its affairs. Mr. Wynkoop is not lacking 
in public spirit, and the affairs of the city at large, its growth and prosperity, have always received his 
earnest attention. He was one of the incorporators of the Genesee and Water street Railway Company, 
and its President for many years. Though he has never held public office it is not because such 
honors have not often been tendered him ; but his tastes are not inclined in that direction. He has 
been an active politician in the Whig and Republican ranks, and has always devoted himself to the 
upholding of the better principles of party action. In the late Presidential campaign, when General 
Harrison was making his successful run for the Presidency, Mr. Wynkoop was one of the prime 
leaders in the organization of the Harrison Old Men's Club, all of the members of which had voted 
for the first President Harrison. One hundred and ninety who enjoyed that distinction were found 
in the city of Syracuse. Such is a britf and imperfect record of the active life of one of the staunch 
and honorable business men of Syracuse. 

Mr. Wynkoop was married in 1S46 to Miss Caroline C. Wood, of .\uburn. She died in March, 
1870. Their oldest child is now Mrs. Charles T. Redfield. Their two sons are James S., now in 
business with his father, and Robert G., Jr. 



DR. WILLIAM AGUR IL\WLEY, the homa-opathic physician longest resident in .Syracuse, 
was born on the 28th of August, 1820, in Hinsdale, Berkshire county. Mass. His father was 
the Rev. W. A. Hawley, a Congregational minister, who preached for twenty-five years in that 
place. He died on the 20th of May, 1854, in Sunderland, Mass., about six weeks after his removal 
there. The mother of the subject of this sketch was Miss Debby Aurelia Warner, daughter of Ben- 
jamin Ruggles Warner, of Brookfield, Fairfield county. Conn. This Hawley family is descended 
from Joseph Hawley, who settled in Stratford, Conn., about 1630. The Rev. Wm. A. Hawley had 
seven children, of whom six lived to maturity. Of the seven, three were sons, one of whom died in 




WyCyL^ir^.*^^ ^. ^<^--cA^ 



Biographical. 47 



infancy ; the youngest went west when a young man, settled first in St. Louis, and died in Chicago 
in iSSC ; he was an inventor. Dr. Hawley was the third child and second son. 

He was carefully fitted for college by his father, who performed the same service for other young 
men. At eighteen years of age, in the year 183S, he entered Williams College and graduated with 
credit in 1S42. Like so many college graduates who have not abundant means, he turned his first 
attention to teaching, going for that purpose to Kentucky, where he found employment in Lexington 
and Louisville, lie was called home after five years by the sickness of a sister, and intended to re- 
turn, but changed his plans and began the study of medicine according to the tenets of the old 
school, in the winter of 1S48, with Dr. Shaw, of Plainlield, Mass. lie remained there only three 
months, when he went to .Albany, N. Y., and continued study with Drs. .\rmsby and Kreeman. 
Dr. Hawlev was devoted to his chosen profession, studied it in all of its phases with the closest and 
most persistent industry, and graduated from the .Albany Medical College in 1851, a confident be- 
liever in the doctrines of allopathy. In September, 1851, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Sophia 
\Villard. of Lancaster, Mass., who died on the 23d of June, i8Sg. Her father was the Rev. Benja- 
min Willard, a Haptist minister, and her mother was Sarah Conant, of Worcester county, .Mass. 

Dr. Hawley settled in Albany and began practice, in which he was reasonably successful, and 
thought himself located for life. But after about tw-o years of professional labor, during which period 
his belief in the power of drugs to cure diseases underwent a gradual change, which finally culminated 
in his renunciation of the entire school of practice to which he had given so much time and study. 
Various incidents, combined with his own study and thought, led up to this change. A brother, (be- 
fore mentioned,) came on from the west and was taken sick with every indication of an attack of ty- 
phoid fever. He and his wife were converts to the water cure treatment, and Dr. Hawley saw his 
sick brother, after being packed in wet sheets a few times, without a particle of medicine, brought 
out of the threatened illness in a few days. This experience made so deep an impression on him 
that he went to a bookstore and obtained all the authoritative works on the subject that he could 
find, and mastered their contents. The information thus obtained titted him for the unprejudicial 
study of Homtcopathy. He was soon called to Saratoga Springs to assoctate himself with Dr. Be- 
dortha in the water cure at that place. While there he made, with his associate's consent, several 
remarkable cures by Ilomnopathic treatment of cases of long standing, and which the regular treat- 
ment of the establishment had utterly failed to relieve. After nine months at this cure. Dr. Hawley 
took charge of the well-established water cure at Lebanon Springs, Columbia county, N. Y., which 
was the first water cure founded in this country and was very successful. Here he expected to re- 
main, but the sale of the establishment forced him to make a change at the end of a year. He had 
by this time become a firm believer in the tenets of the Homeopathic school, and had given the sub- 
ject the most thorough study. He now removed to Watertown. X. \ ., and began a period of suc- 
cessful practice which continued si.x years, and was so satisfactory that he, one night, expressed to a 
friend his opinion that he should never leave Watertown; but the same night he received a letter 
which so changed his purpose that he went ne.\t day to Syracuse in response to the call of Dr. A. R. 
Morgan, then of this city. The result was a partnership with Dr. Morgan and the removal of his 
family to Syracuse just two weeks later. This was in tS6l, and the partnership then entered upon 
continued for si.\ years, being closed by the ill health of his partner, who was compelled to abandon 
practice. Since that time Dr. Hawley has practiced alone. 

The law governing the practice of Homieopathy is becoming more and more widely understood, 
and while it cannot be e.\plained here, it is proper to state that Dr. Hawley's practice has been char- 
acterized by a strict obedience to that law, and that his success has been such as constantly to 
strengthen his belief in its truth. He is a thinker, not alone upon the practice of medicine, but on 
the many subjects which have claimed his attention. At the same time he has always given candid 
attention to the spoken or written thoughts of others. His position in his profession has been and 
now is in the front rank, and he has been honored by his brethren in many ways. He is at present 
a member of the County Ilomieopathic Medical Society, and held the office of President eight of the 
twenty-seven yearsof its existence. He was, until his volunt.ary withdrawal, a member of the New 
York State Homncopathic Medical Society, also a member of the American Institute of Homieopathy, 
the first national institution of medicine in the world, but withdrew therefrom on account of their de- 



48 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

parture from the principles of the school. He is a member of the International Hahnemannian Asso- 
ciation, and was its president in iSSS. He is also a member of the Central New York Homaopathic 
Society, and is among its ex-presidents. He has had four children, the yoimgest of whom liied at 
two months of age. Mary E. was born at Albany, June 8, 1852. William Augustus, born in Water- 
town January 29, 1856, is now in Pittsburg. Pa., engaged as an architect. Flora C, born in Water- 
town February 26, i860, married Micajah J. Hoives, and lives in Holyoke, Mass. 

A born Puritan, still retaining many of their characteristics, he has found that neither theirslate- 
ments, nor those of any of the sects, adequately express the thing which is to him religion. Having 
been, many years ago, suspended from the communion of the church, of which he had for years been 
a most active and enthusiastic member, because of his rejection of some of their statements, he has 
since remained outside of all religious organizations, while yet religion is to him a verity of verities ; 
the chief concern of this mortal state. 



ARCHIMEDES RUSSELL was born in Andover, Essex county, Mass., on the 13th of June, 
1840, and was next to the youngest of a family of nine children, a twin brother dying in in- 
fancy. His father was Moody Russell, a native of the town of Alfred, York county. Me., and a de- 
scendant of the early settlers of that State from the Plymouth Colony of Massachusetts Bay, and who 
married Fanny Wardwell, a native of the town of Andover, and also a descendant of the Plymouth 
Colony. This aged couple are still residents of Andover. 

The son was apprenticed when only thirteen years of age to Charles S. Parker, a carriage and 
sign p.iinter, who is still pursuing the same business at the same place, and continued with him two 
years. Moody Russell was an extensive contractor and builder, and when his son was tifteen years 
old it was determined that he should be trained to his father's vocation. He accordingly gave his 
time and energies to that business, attending school a portion of the time, during a period of five 
years, when he had nearly reached his majority. Andover was, and still is, distinguished for its edu- 
cational facilities, and at the time under consideration boys of even ordinary circumstances received 
excellent instruction during the winter months. 

Just before reaching his majority Mr. Russell entered as a student the otlice of John Stevens, 
then a prominent architect of Hoston, and one who enjoyed a large practice in that city and through- 
out New England. There Mr. Russell received such instruction and training as could be obtained 
at that time in that city — a city which has always occupied an advanced position in this as well as all 
other branches of the arts and sciences. 

On the 4th of December, 1862. Mr. Russell first located in Syracuse under an engagement 
made with the well known architect, Horatio N. W'hite, whose assistant he remained for a term of 
years, and down to January 1st, 1868. Since that date Mr. Russell has continued in the active prac- 
tice of his profession in Syracuse. 

As an architect it is not too much to say that Mr. Russell occupies a position in the front rank. 
Many of the notable structures in Syracuse and in other cities and villages of the State were erected 
from his designs and plans, several of the more conspicuous being — Onondaga County Clerk's office 
building. Snow building, Greyhound building, McCarthy's wholesale warehouse. Congress Mall, 
Dissell's Clothing warehouse, W. S. Peck's Clothing warehouse. Church of the Assumption school 
building. House of Providence, Third National liank, Crouse Memorial College, Jacob Amos' resi- 
dence, George D. Whedon's residence, J. S. Grouse's residence, Crouse stables, U.S. While's resi- 
dence, L. .S. Denison's residence— all of Syracuse. Mctlraw building, Cornell University ; Sibley 
building, Cornell ; Otsego County Court House ; Presbyterian Church, Little Falls N. \.: D. H. 
Burrell's mansion. Little Falls, N. Y.; Warner Miller's mansion, Herkimer, N. W; W. S. Dicken- 
son's mansion, Malone, N. Y.; J. Stevens' mansion, Rome, N. Y.: Devereaux building, Oneida. N. 
Y.; Cortland House, Cortland, N. Y.; Second National Bank, Oswego, N. Y. In the course of his 
professional experience Mr. Russell has gained the entire conlidence of all wiih whom he has had 
business relations. 



Biographical. 49 



In Syracuse, where Mr. Russell is best known, his character and qualifications are such that he 
has been called to public service in positions of trust and responsibility. He was one of the Board 
of Fire Commissioners from iSSi to 18S5, and served as President of the Hoard during the last two 
years of the term. In politics he is an earnest Republican, but has never been in any sense an office 
seeker. He was elected Supervisor from the Seventh w.-ird in 18S4 and again in 18S6 and 1887. 
In the deliberations of that body, his course was such as to fully justify the confidence of his con- 
stituents. 

Mr. Russell was married in Boston on the 30th of June, 1S64, to Susie M. Bartlett, of that city. 



HON. JOHN LIGHTON. The subject of this sketch was born in Syracuse January 20, 1840. 
His father's name was also John Lighton, and he was for many years a well known butcher. 
He died in this city in 1841, when the younger John was only one year old. He left twoothersons, 
one of whom is lames Lighton, of whom further mention will be made. The other was Patrick 
Lighton, who died in Syracuse in that year. 

John Lighton belongs to that large class of .\merican citizens commonly spoken of as self-made 
men. His opportunities for education, as it is obtained in schools, were very limited and confined to 
the district schools of the city ; and even these he felt compelled to leave when he was hardly ten 
years old, to earn his own livelihood. He began clerking in a grocery then kept by Mrs. Stanton 
on the corner of Canal and McHride streets, the site that he, in company with his brother, has for 
many years past made familiar to all Syracusans. He could hardly see over the top of Mrs, Stan- 
ton's little counter at that time, but he worked for her interest, as well as his own, and learned all 
that could be learned about the grocery trade in such a place during four years. He then changed 
to the grocery kept in the same block by O. C. Shuart, where he remained two years. He was then 
about si.Kteen years old and became convinced that a good trade was a necessity to every young man 
who has his own way to make, and accordingly began as an apprentice with Willard & Hawley, to 
become a silversmith. .\t this trade he worked faithfully four years and became a first class artisan. 
At the end of that period he joined with Adelbert Willard, son of his employer, in carrying on a silver 
ware manufactury, in which business Willard & Ha-.vley furnished the capital and the profits were 
divided between them and the young men. This business was successful until the breaking out of 
the war, (one and a half years,) when the great fluctuations in the price of silver rendered .it so un- 
certain that it was given up. John Lighton now went back to the grocery business, in which he has 
been a more than ordinarily successful dealer for thirty years. He first joined with his brother 
lames, and together they, with L. Cowan, began trade at the Lodi locks, on the canal, under the firm 
name of Lighton, Cowan & Lighton, succeeding the firm of Cowan & Lighton, compo.sed of James 
Lighton and Mr. Cowan. Soon afterward the firm opened another grocery at the corner of Canal 
and .McHride streets, and also began operations in boating on the canal. In 1862 the brothers pur- 
chased Mr. Cowan's interest in the business, and continued the trade at both points, and all the time 
extending their operations, especially in the way of purchasing ail the near-by groceries, thus remov- 
ing competition and enlarging their own trade. They also adopted a plan which made their estab- 
lishment very popular for many miles along the canal, keeping their place open and lighted day and 
night the boating season through. In 1866 Arthur McKeever was taken into the firm under the style 
of Lighton Brothers & McKeever, and it so remained down to February 11, iSgl, an unbroken period 
of business of twenty-five years. By conducting their trade on principles of strict integrity, and by 
exercising their best energies and constant watchfulness, their business was uncommonly successful. 
They extended their boating operations and added to it a large interest in salt manufacturing at both 
Salina and Geddes. John Lighton was the first president and a stockholder in the New York Salt 
Company, and still holds the same ofiice. In the year 188S the John Lighton M.-ichine Company 
was organized, with Mr. Lighton as president, for the manufacture of automatic machines and cash 
registers. In all of these industries .Mr. Lighton's sound common sense, prudence, good judgment, 
and personal popularity, have been large factors of success. His business qualifications are well 
G 



50 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

recognized in the community, and he was elected a trustee of the Syracuse Savings Bank in 1870. lie 
is also a director in the \orth American Salt Company. 

In politics Mr. I.ighton is a Democrat of the liberal school, believing strongly in principles and 
men, rather than in party manipulation. In the fall of 1881 he received the nominatinn for the As- 
sembly, and was elected by a majority of 157. and was re-elected for a second term by an increased 
majority reaching 655. This was a high tribute to his usefulness as a legislator. 

When nominated for the second term, the Albany Argus paid him the following compliment: 

"The third district of Onondaga honors itself in honoring Mr. I.ighton with a re-nomination. 
No 'black list' of the present legislature contains his name. His rugged honesty and good sense 
made him a valuable legislator last winter. His views are broad, his action open-handed, and his 
devotion to the people is well understood. Whether in committee or in the house, Mr. Lighton's 
opinions always carry weight. His majority in 18S1 was 155." 

The Syracuse Con rifr on this occasion spoke of Mr. Lighton as follows: 

"Mr. I.ighton made a most creditable record in the last Assembly. Few men in that body 
brought auay a brighter name. Mr. Lighton was sent to represent the business interests of his dis- 
trict, and to a certain extent of the State, and to his persistent efforts and his wise management some 
of the best measures of the session are largely due. 'Free canals,' especially, found in .Mr. I.ighton 
an earnest and devoted champion. Fidelity such as was his ought not to go without recognition 
from an appreciative constituency." 

Mr. Lighton's most important work in the Assembly was in connection with the canals. He 
also performed e.vcellent work with reference to the salt industry and the elevator monopoly in liuffalo. 
The details of the legislation introduced and carried through by Mr. Lighton cannot be followed 
here, but it is eminently proper to state that it was of the utmost importance to his constituency and 
drew from them the most gratifying congratulations. 

In an Albany letter reviewing the session of 1883 we find the following relative to Mr. Lighton's 
legislative service: "Mr. Lighton's bill requiring the Superintendents of Public Works to report the 
trade and tonnage on the canals has become a law ; this is a very important measure to the boatmen 
as well as to the ta.\ payers. The bill incorporating the Canal Boat Owners' and Commercial .Asso- 
ciation, for obtaining reports from persons navigating the canals, as to the condition of the canals, 
conduct of lock tenders, and kindred subjects, was rendered superfluous by the procuring of a char- 
ter by Mr. Lighton from the Secretary of State. 

"On account of the objections in the senate as to the responsibility of the State for damages, Mr. 
Lighton's bill repealing the charter of the European Cable Towing Comjiany was laid aside in the 
Assembly. 

"As a member of the Canal Committee, Mr. Lighton was a heroic worker tor the interests of the 
canals and the boatmen. If his own elevator bill had been allowed to be reported it would have 
passed both houses. The Covernor now has the following of Mr. Lighton's bills: Providing for 
the lighting of locks on the Erie canal. Providing for the enlargement of lock 46 (Utica) so that two 
boats can pass. Providing that there shall hereafter be paid and collected upon all salt manufactured 
on the reservation a duty of one-half of one cent per bushel of tifty-six pounds' weight, and all laws 
prescribing a higher rate of duty are hereby repealed. This allows the Syracuse salt manufacturers 
to compete with the newly discovered salt fields. Providing for the removal of coarse salt vats and 
other erections situated on lots 259 and 270 of the salt springs reservation. 

"On the whole, Mr. Lighton's record is that of an energetic and faithful member who has the 
canal interests at heart, and who did all he could to protect and advance them." 

"Mr. Lighton was the originator and promoter of the bill providing for double locks on the Erie 
canal, for which the Slate has already appropriated ifi 0,000,000. This is one of the most important 
improvements ever adopted in the great water-way. As a public-spirited citizen of Syracuse, Mr. 
Lighton enjoys an enviable reputation. 

Mr. Lighton was married December 2, 1862, to Miss Mary Theresa Fichter. They have si.v 
sons and three daughters. The eldest son is John B., who is vice-president and manager of the 
John Lighton Machine Company. C. Frank is of the firm of Hier & Lighton, wholesale cigar and 
tobacco dealers, in Syracuse. J. Edward, of Lighton Brothers *: Sons, grocers, in Syracuse. 
George II., is in the retail tobacco business, also in Syracuse. 



BlOGRAPHICAI.. 51 



GEORGE E.DANA, Vice-President of tlie Whitman & liarnes Manufacturing Company, and I'res. 
ident of the Koard of I'olicc Commissioners of Syracuse, was born in Lowell, Mass., on the 5th 
of Kebruary, 1S34. His father was David Pana, one of the early citizens of Lowell, 10 which place 
he removed from Oedham, Mass. He was a successful business man and held several city offices. 
Ills mother was Klizabelh Karnes. After some years of study in private schools, he entered Harvard 
College at the age of sisteen years and graduated with credit in 1854. He then spent about fifteen 
months in the study of the law, but was obliged to give it up. and he at once assumed the business 
of his father. In 1S62 he became connected, as a civilian, with the (Quartermaster's Department of 
the U. S. army, and was stationed at different times at Newbern, N. C, then at the headquarters of 
the loth Army Corps in front of Petersburg, and afterwards at the headquarters of General Grant at 
City Point, Va. While engaged in this work Mr. Dana developed executive and business ability of a 
high order and gained experience that has been of great value to him since. In i86f) he went with 
Col. George Bradley to Port Riley, Kansas, and remained there during the organization of the famous 
Seventh Cavalry (Custer's) and resigned his position in 1S67. The building of storehouses, ([uarters, 
etc., was carried out during his term of service at Fort Riley. In 1S6S Mr. Dana took up his resi- 
dence in Syracuse, and in 1S70 became connected with the manufacturing company of George Parnes 
iV Co., an account of which is given in another part of this work. Upon the formation of the Whit- 
man & liarnes Manufacturing Company, in 1877, Mr. Dana had attained such a position in the busi- 
ness that he w'as made Secretary of the company. This position he occupied until 1889, when he 
was made vice-President and Manager of the eastern department, a station demanding business qual- 
ifications of an exceptionally high character. Mr. Dana's standing in the business circles of Syracuse 
is indicated by his selection for the offices of Director of the State I>ank, of the Trust and Deposit 
Company, of the Solvay Process Company, of the Tully Pipe Line Company, etc. In whatever sta- 
tion he is placed and to whatever duties he i^ called, he is a worker in the broadest sense. Active, 
energetic, prompt in decision, and of fearless integrity and sound confidence in what he believes to 
be the right thing to do, his efficiency in whatever he undertakes is far above the average. 

Mr. Dana is a Republican in politics and has given that support to his party which he believes 
should be given by every good citizen. But he is not at all a politician in the common acceptation of 
the term. He was honored with the office of member of the City Council of Lowell, Mass., in 1860- 
fii, and was appointed on the Board of Police Commissioners of Syracuse in l88g. A year ago he 
was made President of the Board. In this office he has displayed a degree of good judgment as to 
the necessities of the community and the good of its police force, as well as the utmost fearlessness in 
advocating various reforms, which have earned him the respect and confidence of the great body of 
citizens of whatever politics. In business, in political circles, and in social life Mr. Dana occupies, 
in every sense, an enviable position. Mr. Dana was married in 1S63 to Cordelia Cogswell, daughter 
of David Cogswell, an okl and respected citizen of Syracuse. His wife died in 1S70, leaving with 
him two daughters. 



PL IKR 1!. Ml LLNN.W, an attorney of this city, was born in the town of Lyndon, Catteraugus 
county, N. Y., December 3, 1850. His parents, Collin McLennan and Ann Prazer McLennan, 
came from Strathpefler, Rosshire, Scotland, in 1846, and located on the homestead farm in Lyndon, 
where they have since resided. 

The subject of this sketch is the second of six children, four of whom are sons residing in Syra- 
cuse. He attended district school and worked upon the farm until he was si.xteen, and was noted 
among his acquaintances for good companionship and tireless energy of mind and body. At sixteen 
he entered the academic department of Alfred L'niversity, in Allegany county, from which he passed 
to the regular college course, graduating in 1S73. His course was not an easy one. He was obliged 
to earn, by teaching school in winter and working on the farm in summer, money with which to meet 
the expenses of the autumn and spring terms which he attended. 



52 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Having long before determined to make the legal profession his Hfe work, in September, after 
he had finished at college, he came to Syracuse to study law. After two months reading in the office 
of Bookstaver & Kingsley he taught school in Geddes for a term of four months and then entered 
the office of Fuller A: Vann where he remained until his admission to the bar at Rochester, October 
6, 1876. He then opened an office in Syracuse alone, but three months later formed a partnership 
with Major E. O. Farrar, which continued one yar. He then became a member of the firm of Yann. 
McLennan & Dillaye, which partnership continued until its senior member, Mr. Irving G. Vann, 
was elevated to the Supreme Court Bench in 18S1. He then organized the firm of Waters, McLen- 
nan & Dillaye, which continued until 1S82. 

Mr. McLennan had by this time attained a prominent position in his profession and his abilities 
were generally recognized. He is an impassioned speaker and a skillful examiner of witnesses, and 
this led him to that branch of practice most closely connected with the trial of causes. In that field 
no man, perhaps, has acquired a more conspicuous position at so young an age. In all parts of the 
State he has been engaged in Ihe trial of important cases and earned a measure of success of which he 
may well feel proud. In 18S2 he was appointed general counsel for the New ^■ork, West Shore and 
Buffalo Railroad Company, with headquarters in New York city. In this position of unusual re- 
sponsibility Mr. McLennan acquitted himself with honor and to the entire satisfaction of the author- 
ities of that company. He did not change his residence from Syracuse, and when the West Shore 
road was consolidated with the New York Central, Mr. McLennan took up his practice in Syracuse 
alone until the elevation of Judge Forbes to the Bench, when he became a member of the firm of 
Tracy, McLennan & Ayling, which continues to the present time. 

In politics Mr. McLennan is an uncompromising Republican, and his force and brilliancy as a 
public speaker have brought him into prominence in many important political campaigns. He has 
never held office, e.xcept that he was selected by Mayor Kirk, in iSSS, as one of the Special Commis- 
sioners to report upon the best source of water supply for the city of Syracuse, and in iSSq was con- 
tinued as one of the regular Board of Commissioners now charged with erecting works to bring water 
from Skaneateles lake. 

Mr. McLennan was married in December, l88l, to Miss Belle Barron, of Addison, Steuben 
county, N. Y. They have four children, one boy and three girls. 



SELY C. HAYDEN was born in I'ompey, Onondaga county, N. Y., October 25, 1830, and is a 
direct descendant of the Baronet William Hayden, who came to New England in the ship " Mary 
and John " about 1630 and settled in Dorchester, Mass. The name Hayden is derived from High- 
down, the name of the manor house in Norfolk where the early ancestors of this family are first heard 
of. They were prominent in England from the lime of William the Conqueror to the landing of the 
first Hayden in this country. William Hayden moved to Windsor township about 1640. During 
the famous Pequot war he served as a lieutenant. Three children survived him : Daniel, Nathaniel, 
and Mary. David, a grandson of Daniel, married Dorothy Allen in 1737, and it was their son Allen 
who, with his wife and children, moved from Harrington, Conn., to Pompey. Allen Hayden had 
eight children : Clara, Polly, Allen Willard, Zora Austen, Harvey, Olive, Allen, jr., and Annis. 

Allen Willard Hayden married Abigail Castle, April 17, 1805, and all of their eleven children 
have been prominent in the communities in which they lived. The father died in June, 1858, and 
the mother in January, 1864. 

Sely C. Hayden, son of Allen Willard, like all farmers' boys of that period, began attendance at 
the district school as soon as he reached a suitable age and later enjoyed a period of study in the 
noted Pompey academy, from which so many successful men have gone forth into the world. At 
the age of nineteen years he went to Rochester, where his elder brother, Charles J., was already estab- 
lished in the furniture manufacturing business, with which was connected a retail store. Sely C. en- 
tered the store and devoted his best energies to the business for a period of five years, familiarizing 
himself with all its details. Like many other well-informed men of that time, Mr. Hayden regarded 



Biographical. 53 



SjTacuse as one of the most promising towns for embarking; in business, and he located here in 
November, 1S55, beginning business at the site now occupied by Ginty's store on South Salina street. 
Mr. Hayden purchased the stock of .\shley, Williston & White and carried on business there for live 
years, when he bought the store No. 6g .South Salina street and removed to that location. Five years 
later he purchased the adjoining store of Kennedy, Spaulding & Co., and has ever since occupied 
both stores. 

Asa business man Mr. Hayden h.is enjoyed a life of prosperity, the result of persistent industry 
and honesty. l'"or over thirty-five years he has carried on a flourishing business and it is not too 
much to say that no man in Syracuse has done more to adorn and make beautiful the many charming 
homes in this city. As a citizen he has been a man of public spirit, and though never actively en- 
g.iged in politics he has always shown a desire to forward the best interests of the community. A 
prominent member of the First Presbyterian Church, Mr. Hayden has been for twenty-five years an 
oflicer of the society, and is also an .ictive member of the Board of Counsellors of the Old Ladies' 
Home. 



GEN. GUST.WUS SNIPER was born in Padcn, Germany, on the nth of June. 183O. His 
parents emigrated to America when he was but a lad, and soon after landing in this country came 
on to Syracuse from New York and here passed the remainder of their lives. The father's name was 
Joseph Sniper and he died in 1S62, having earned the respect of his fellow citizens. The mother 
died in 1S78. The subject of this sketch obtained his education in the common schools of Syracuse, 
improving it as much as he could by attendance at night schools. In the year 1S50 the boy began 
work at cigar making for (George P. Hier, a trade in which he became proficient and at which he 
worked continuallv until the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, nearly all of the time in Syra- 
cuse. In early life he developed an ardent love for military study and practice and joined the Syra- 
cuse Light Guard about 1854 and afterwards was a member or officer of the Syracuse (Irays and of 
the Davis Light Guard. In 1859-60 he raised a company known as the Munroe Cadets and was 
made Captain of the company, which position he held at the breaking out of the war. Thus in the 
militia, as a member or ofiicer of the Fifty-first regiment, he passed through all the grades from Cor- 
poral to Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-CIeneral. 

With the breaking out of the war the young militia oflicer was imbued with the fires of patriot- 
ism and through his intense love for military life he saw an opportunity to distingush himself in that 
profession. No sooner was a hostile gun fired against the I'nion than General Sniper took steps to 
raise a company of volunteers, expecting to join the 12th regiment. In this he was disappointed, 
for although his company was filled within a very short time, so rapidly were enlistments made in 
those early days of the great struggle that he found it impossible to connect himself with the first 
regiment to leave this county. Nothing daunted, however, by this result he immediately formed a 
new company with the purpose of joining the 24th regiment, of Oswego. In this also he was dis- 
appointed for a similar reason. Disbanding his company he enlisted in the loist, determined to at 
least attach himself in person to a volunteer organization. He then raised about one-half of a com- 
pany and was made Jst Lieutenant and soon afterward Captain. Now his perfect military schooling 
began to show itself and before the regiment left the State he was promoted to Major. After an 
honorable career in the service the loist regiment was mustered out in 1863, General Sniper having 
meanwhile been promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. He came home with a reputation formilitary skill, 
bravery and executive ability that was most flattering to himself and friends. When the organiza- 
tion of the iSjth regiment was resolved upon. Colonel Sniper took a deepand active interest and was, 
perhaps, more efficient in the final success of the undertaking than any other one person. When the 
ranks of the regiment were finally filled, in 1864. he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel. He was 
promoted to Colonel before the regiment had seen much active service in the field ; and when that 
splendid organization entered upon the closing campaign of the war, in the spring of 1865, partici- 
pating in several brilliant engagements, Colonel Sniper won for himself a name and fame which were 



54 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



heralded across the country in the news columns and illustrations of all prominent periodicals and 
newspapers. On the field at <^)uaker Road. March 29, 1865, after the colors had been three limes 
shot down in the immediate face of the enemy, Colonel Sniper pressed to the front, raised the flag 
and swinging it above his head, led his regiment on to victory. For his daring heroism he was 
brevetted Brigadier-Cleneral. At the head of his regiment he saw the final scenes of the war and re- 
turned home to receive ihe plaudits and the rewards of his deeds at the hands of his fellow citizens. 

General Sniper has never given up his ardor in military matters and has kept it green by mem- 
bership and official station in many organizations. He is and long has been Commander of the 
Central City Veterans, and has been prominent in the Veteran's League, the Grand Army of the Re- 
public, and also in the Masonic Order, the Odd Fellows, the A. O. U. \V., etc. 

General Sniper's native ability, sound judgment, and good common sense have conspired to 
bring him into prominence in political councils, especially as a representative of the leading German 
element of the city's population. In 1S70 he was elected to the Legislature, where he made a good 
record for three years. In 1876 he accepted the position of Deputy in the County Clerk's office and 
in 18S2 was elected County Clerk, holding the ofllce three vears, making a period of nine years in 
the office. The responsible duties of this position were disch.-trged by him with fidelity and ability. 
Since his return from the war, and in addition to the public services just alluded to, General Sniper 
has been connected in a business capacity with the Rock Spring Brewery, and from 1873 to 1876 
was Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue. In whatever station he has occupied he has been accorded 
Ihe good will and friendship of all with whom he has come in personal contact. With his own country- 
men he is extremely popular and in a broad sense enjoys their confidence and respect. 

General Sniper was married, in 1863, to Miss Catharine Miller. They have two children — a 
son and a daughter living. 



AMOS LOUIS MASON, the prominent contractor and builder of Syracuse, was born in the town 
of Salina, .'\ugust 28, 1824. His father was Cyrenus Mason, a native of \'ermont, where he 
was born on the 2d of July. 1798 ; he died suddenly in Syracuse September 5, 1857. The mother's 
name was Martha Cushman, born .March 5, 1S06, and died in Syracuse January 2, 1886. The sub- 
ject of this record was the oldest of nine children, seven of whom were boys. Three of the brothers 
are now living. Amos L. attended the district school when he reached a suitable age and his educa- 
tion, as obtained from books, was confined to attendance at Ihe common school. In 1832 the fam- 
ily removed to Huron, Ohio, where they remained three or four years, and then went to Warren 
county, I'a. In 1838 they removed to Wayne county, N. V., and in April, 1840, came back to 
.Syracuse. Amos L. was then sixteen years old and his first occupation here was lock-tending on the 
canal, which he followed two years. He then began working at the carpenter's trade for his uncle, 
but much of his time was spent in other kinds of labor, until 1845, when he left hisuncleand finished 
his trade with Alden Crane. In the ne.\t year he began jobbing for himself as a beginning of a long 
period of building which has not yet ceased and during which he erected, probably, more structures 
than any other man in Syracuse. It would be almost impossible to mention even a large part of the 
buildings which Mr. Mason h.as put up, but among the more prominent were the Wieting block, 
which he has twice built ; a store building, formerly known as the Canandaigua House, near the old 
County Clerk's office ; the brick structure on North .Salina street, now occupied by the Columbia 
market ; the east portion of the Onondaga County Savings Bank building ; the Granger block ; the 
stores now occupied by I)ey Bros & Co.; the Builer block on South Salina street ; St. lohn the 
Baptist church on Court street, and the .Syracuse I'niversily (Hall of Languages); the first and present 
Seymour school edifice, and many other prominent buildings. In the erection of salt blocks Mr. 
.Mason's record is unapproached by that of any other person, he having built no less than one hun- 
dred and sixteen of those structures, and, moreover, there is not a salt mill now slanding that he did 
not erect. When it comes to a reference to the dwellings that he has built, the list reaches the 
enormous number of one thousand, or a little more. That anyone man should have been able to 



BioGRArmcAi,. 55 



accomplish such a vast amount of building in an ordinary lifetime is simply marvellous ; but what is 
of still more importance is the fact that in all that long list of contracts there has not been one that 
has not added to his reputation as an honest, conscientious and capable builder. Indeed, it is, doubt- 
less, to that fact that he owes his success in always finding his hands full of his favorite business. 
Mr. Mason is a man of business versiuility, capable of grasping large enterprises, and with executive 
ability to carry on a variety of undertakings simultaneously. Me became interested in s.ilt manufac- 
turing as early as 1S55, at first alone and in 1S56-7 was associated with William !•". Gere, lie issiill 
owner of the first Siilt block he built and it is still in operation. In 1S72 he purchased, with the late 
Tames 1'. Haskins and others, the right of a machine for the manufacture of pressed brick, and they 
organized the National I'res-sed Brick Company. In 1S75 he purchased the entire interest and plant 
and formed the Syracuse Tressed Brick Company, composed of H. M. White, John Greenway, Stephen 
Bastable, and fames Tolman. Mr. White was the manager until three yeaas ago, since which lime 
.Mr. Mason has acted in that capacity. He was also practicaily interested in the enlargement of the 
Erie canal locks for about three years. 

The above shows that Mr. Mason has been all of his life one of the busiest of men ; and his long 
career in the community, during which he has had business relations with very many of the leading 
men of Syracuse and its vicinity, and has so faithfully conducted his affairs and fullilled his obliga- 
tions as to win the good will and confidence of all. His confidence in the future of Syracuse has 
never wavered and he has always had the best interests of the community at heart and given freely of 
his time for their promotion. He was elected Supervisor from his ward in 1877 ; was one of the 
founders of the Woodlawn Cemetery, and is a trustee of the Syracuse Savings Bank. 

Mr. Mason was married on the 31st of December, 1849, to Miss Sarah A. Ilarroun, and they 
have had seven children, live of whom are living. 



JONATH.VN G. WVNKOOP was born in Ghent, Columbia county, N. \'., on the 13th of May, 
1S24. His father was Peter S. Wynkoop, a pastor of the Reformed Church ; he died in 184S. 
The Wynkoops originally came from Holland. Peter S. Wynkoop's wife was Margaret (Josman, of 
New York city. She died at Ghent about 1832. The subject of this sketch is one of a family of 
twelve children, seven of whom were daughters ; one of the sons died in infancy. The other four 
all became prominent booksellers, one located in Hudson, N. Y.,and one in Kingston, N. Y., the 
remaining two being Robert G. (noticed on another page of this work) and Jonathan G. The latter 
attended school in his boyhood and later obtained an e.xcellent English education in the Kmderhook 
academy ; while in his home life he was surrounded by such associations and influences as always 
serve to establish the foundation of a man's character in principles of honor, integrity and industry. 
Mr. Wynkoop's first business after leaving school was to follow in the footsteps of his elder brothers, 
with whom he was afterwards to be long associated by serving from 1841 to 1845 in the Hudson 
bookstore kept by .his brothers. The characteristic fidelity and perseverance of the family were dis- 
played by him and when the term of his service expired he was practically a master of the business 
as far as it could be learned in that time. Thus equipped he had sufficient self-confidence to locate 
in Syracuse and open a bookstore in company with Rev. Joseph Myers, father of Matthew J. and 
1-awrence Myers, now of Syracuse. That store was located in the Syracuse House block and the 
business continued three years. .Vt the end of that period and when Robert G. Wynkoop had termi- 
nated his business connection with the brother in Hudson and was ready to locate in Syracuse, the 
two (Robert G. and lonathan (J ) joined as partners and established their store just below the former 
one, where Brown iV Dawson are now located. That store was opened in 184S and the history of 
the house during the ne.st forty years is quite well known in Central New York and is conspicuous 
for its record of steady perseverance, the unquestioned high character of its business principles and 
its steady growth. Four vears after the partnership was formed the store was removed to the present 
location of Robert G. Wynkoop, and has ever since continued there. Jonathan G. retired from the 
firm in 1870, and after a few years of partial respite from active work he joined, in 1873, the firm of 



$6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Judson, Williams & Co., in a large lumber business, manufacturing and selling and having mills in 
Oswego and elsewhere. Mr. Wynkoop is still indirectly interested in the lumber trade. In 1878 
he was made a Director and Secretary and Treasurer of the Syracuse dl.iss Co., succeeding Joseph 
J. Glass upon the death of the latter. Kroni that time to the present Mr. Wynkoop has h.id much 
to do with the active management and direction of this important industry, and it is now enjoyii.g a 
high degree of prosperity. 

In 1S78 Mr. Wynkoop was made Trustee and Secretary and Treasurer of the Salt .Springs 
Solar Coarse Salt Co., succeeding Orlin Mead, deceased. This responsible station he still occupies. 
He was formerly connected as an officer with the Geddes Street Railway Company, which was re- 
cently absorbed into the Consolidated Company. In these several positions Mr. Wynkoop has ex- 
tended and confirmed his reputation as a prudent, sagacious and successful business man. Mr. 
Wynkoop has never been an active politician, though he entertains political views in favor of Repub- 
licanism of a sufficiently decided character and he has not been backward in supporting his prin- 
ciples. Though not a church member, he was one of the seven original founders of the Dutch 
Reformed Church on James street and has always been active and liberal in its support. Mr. 
Wynkoop was married in 1856 to .Miss Mary Judson Hawley. They have three children. The 
eldest is Mrs. Emma Judson W. I'ritts, wife of a physician of Hudson, N. V., born January 14, 
1S58 ; William A., born March 5, 1863, and fc^dward Judson, born April 25, 1869, now studying 
medicine. 



ALFRED HIGGINS. Consjncuous among the most thorough and untiring business men of 
Syracuse is Alfred Higgins. He is of New England ancestry, having been born at lirewster, 
liarnstable county, Mass., March 31, 1S30. His father, Samuel Higgins, was for forty years a 
sea-faring man, in capacities from cabin-boy to commander of merchant vessels. In May, 1837, he 
removed his family to Syracuse, where he engaged in various pursuits and lis'ed an honorable life, an 
example to his children which they wisely followed. Mrs. Higgins also possessed high adornments 
of character. She died suddenly while attending communion service in the Park ]*resl>\'lerian church 
June II, 1886, and the death of her husband occurred in August ten weeks later. 

Alfred Higgins embraced such opportunities for acquiring an education as the times and his 
circumstances permitted, until he was fifteen years old ; after which he engaged in such pursuits as 
were adapted to his years, until the winter of 184S-0 when he became sales agent of a tobacco house. 
In 1854, on the completion of ihe .Syracuse and Hinghamton railroad, he was appointed baggage and 
express agent, continuing in the position until 1S57, when he was assigned in the agency of Ihe 
express office in .Syracuse, At that time Wells, Hutterfield & Co. were the proprietors of the bus- 
iness between New York and liufTalo, and Livingston i"v Fargo were the owners of Ihe business west 
of Buffalo. In 1S60 their companies were consolidated and Henry Wells elected president. He 
was an excellent business man and an admirer of Mr. Higgins' manner of conducting the ofiice, and 
the people of Syracuse know how wisely .Mr, Wells acted when he continued Mr. Higgins agent 
under the new company. The office was located in a building on ground now occupied by the While 
Memorial Building. It was subsequently removed to the place now occupied by Loos, Kaufman & 
Co., on Vanderbilt Square, and later to its present location, corner of Clinton and Washington 
streets. When Mr. Higgins was first appointed the population of the city did not exceed 30,000 
and the working force of the office consisted of four men and one horse, in contrast with thirty-four 
men and twenty horses at this time. Mr. Higgins has been offered promotions, which he declined, 
among them that of Division .Superintendent between New York and Buffalo. He has been in con- 
tinuous service for thirty-four years, and has constantly had the fullest confidence of his superiors, 
who have shown their appreciation of his superior services by extending to him exceptional favors. 
His fidelity to his duties during all these years is a most worthy e.xample for emulation, and it is not 
probable that an agent more pojjular with the public can he found on any express line. 

Mr. Higgins has never sought or desired political favor, but in obedience to the expressed wishes 
of his constituency he represented the Sixth ward, in which he lived for fifty-one years, eight times 




fi"**? ^FSXtmarJ': 




Biographical. 57 



in the Common Council, 1864, '66, and '69, and from 1875 to 1879, inclusive. He fully sustained 
his reputation as an honest and fearless citizen and one possessed of public spirit and devotion to the 
best interests of the comnjunity. \Vhen Irving G. Vann was elected Mayor of the city he honored 
Mr. Higgins by appointing him member of the Board of Excise, which office he held for three 
years. 

Mr. Iliggins has always been public-spirited and has contributed not a little to the growth and 
prosperity of the city by the e.xcellent management of his agency and his personal efforts in various 
undertakings having for their purpose the full development of the city. It may be truly said of him 
that no man in Syracuse has had a more busy life and it may safely be said that none ranlcs him in 
the line of good citizenship. 

The children of Samuel Higgins were eight in number, of whom si.x were sons, Alfred being the 
youngest. Of these, Col. Benjamin L., an honored citizen, Mrs S. M. Gifford, and .Mfred alone 
survive. 



CII.\RLES WESLEY SNOW was born at Peterboro, Madison county, N. Y., on the nth day 
of .March, 1S35. His father was Hiram Snow, who was originally from Vermont, and was a 
farmer during most of his life. His mother was Alid.-ir .Ann Squier, whose home was near Albany 
on the Hudson river. Their children numbered twelve, of whom the subject of this sketch was the 
second. The family removed to a farm near Messina Springs while Charles w.'is still an infant, and 
when he was live years old (in the year 1840) settled in .Syracuse, where the father engaged in various 
kinds of business until his death, which occurred in the year 1S54. His wife died in 1SS9. 

Charles W. Snow gained his education in the public schools of Syracuse, which he attended 
until he was fifteen years old, and by his naturally industrious habits and determination to make the 
most of his opportunities, he laid the foundation of a good practical education which was afterward 
improved and extended by further study and judicious re.ading. 

On the first of April, 1S50, he entered the drug store of W. B. Tobey, then located in the 
(iranger block, .is a clerk, having determined to make that business his life work. He labored faith- 
fully for his employer four years and gave such satisfaction to him that the young man was taken 
into partnership in the business. Mr. Snow was then nineteen years old. He was endowed with 
the true business instinct and other qualifications that commonly command success, and had an en- 
thusiastic love for his chosen profession. It naturally followed that the business of the firm felt a 
new impetus from the time of Mr. Snow's entering the partnership. Business methods valuable in 
themselves, incessant attention to details, a constant study of what his market demanded, and where 
to get it to the best advantage, were features promptly introduced by ^Ir. Snow into the operations 
of their trade, and with the best and most successful results. The partnership continued twelve 
years and down to the year 1S66, when the firm dissolved and Mr. Snow at once opened a store at 
what was then No. 2S East Genesee street,.where Grant & Dunn are now located. That store he 
stocked heavily and judiciously and began the wholesale and retail drug trade, which he continued 
there with constantly increasing volume and unvarying success for twenty-two years. At the end of 
that long period, during which he had purchased the block in which he was doing business and sub- 
stantially rebuilt it, he purchased the lot on Warren street, adjoining the new Government building, 
and erected thereon the loftiest and one of the best fire-proof business blocks in Syracuse. This was 
finished and occupied by his store on the entire lower floor in 1888. 

With this business experience of nearly forty years in .Syracuse, Mr. Snow has consistently fol- 
lowed ihc upright and honorable principles that always should, and commonly do, govern the bus- 
iness conduct of all successful men, depending upon sagacity, good judgment, and industry for his 
proper reward. In this he has not been disappointed, and at the same time has gained the unqual- 
ified respect .ind esteem of the entire community. 

Mr. Snow has devoted almost his whole attention to his business. Public office has never pos- 
sessed attraction for him, though he has received ample evidence of the confidence of his fellow cit- 
H 



58 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

izens. He has been one of the Board of Directors of the First National bank since 1887, and has 
for many years been conspicuous in the direction and conduct of various benevolent and charitable 
institutions. He is a member of the Unitarian Church and one of its Board of Trustees. 

Mr. Snow was married on the 20th of October, 1S63, to Miss Harriet L., only daughter of Dr. 
Nelson C. Powers, who was a leading physician of -Syracuse for more than thirty years. They have 
two children : Nelson P., born December 9, 1868, and now in a wholesale drug store in New York 
city, and Carrie L., born October 15, 1874. 



FREDERICK ROWLAND HAZARD was born on the 14th of June, 1S58, at Peace Dale, 
Rhode Island. His father is Rowland Hazard, a prominent woolen manufacturer and respected 
citizen of that place. His mother was Miss Margaret Rood, of Philadelphia. The elder Mr. Haz- 
ard is President of the Solvay Process Company, of Syracuse. 

The subject of this sketch studied at Brown University, from which institution he graduated 
with honor in iSSi. It had been his purpose, as well as that of his father, that he should follow the 
business of woolen manufacturing, and with that end in view Mr. Hazard spent two years in the 
mills at Peace Dale immediately after he left the University. He studied and worked practically in 
the various departments of the business and made himself conversant with its details, in the endeavor 
to fit himself for any duty that might fall to a manager. But he was destined to another and very 
different field of labor. At about the time that Mr. Hazard graduated from the University, laborers 
were breaking ground for the establishment in Syracuse of the largest manufacturing plant in Cen- 
tral New York — the Solvay Process Company's works. As stated in the sketch of Mr. Cogswell, 
preceding this, Mr. Hazard's father was very prominently interested in these works, and therefore it 
was a natural consequence of his son's ability and the demands of the new business, that the latter 
should be offered the position of Assistant Treasurer. This occurred in the fall of 1S83; but the 
young man decided that it would be far better for his future, as well as for the business, if he could 
make himself thoroughly familiar with the details of the manufacture, (as he had already done in 
studying the woolen manufacture when he expected to engage in it) before assuming the duties of the 
place. He promptly started, sailing for England in the month of September, and spent nine months 
of industrious labor and study in the works of Solvay & Cie, at Dombasle, P'rance. He returned in 
May, 1884, and has since that time rendered most efficient service as Assistant Treasurer and Treas- 
urer of the Company. He was promoted to the latter office in June, 1S87. Mr. Hazard was made 
Treasurer of the Tully Pipe Line Company and of the Split Rock Cable Road Company upon 
their formation. Both of these companies are intimately associated with the Solvay Process Com- 
pany, and are described elsewhere in this work. Mr. Hazard's natural and accjuired ability enables 
him to fill these stations in a manner satisfactory to the companies and conducive to their best inter- 
ests. Being still a young man, of fine address and polished manner, liberally educated and with 
well disciplined business habits, it is not out of place to predict for Mr. Hazard a more than ordinar- 
ily prosperous and honorable future. 

Mr. Hay.ard was married on the 29th of May, 1886, to Miss Dora G. Sedgwick, youngest 
daughter of Charles B. Sedgwick, of Syracuse. They have three young daughters. 



SYLV'ESTER P. PIERCE was born in the town of Paris, village of Sauquoit, Oneida county, N. 
Y., on the 19th of September, 1814. He was the fifth child of a family of eight children of Dr. 
Spaulding Pierce and Abigail Bacon ; the former a native of Plainfield, Windham county. Conn., 
and the latter a native of Athol, Mass. His grandfather and his great-grandfather on his father's 
side were natives of Plainfield, Conn., and his great-grandmother was the first white child born in 
the town of Plainfield. His father, Dr. Spaulding Pierce, settled in Paris, Oneida county, in the year 



Biographical. 59 



1796, and was a practicing physician of the Old School through tin 1 1 m li iif early settlement of the 
town. He died when the boy, Sylvester, was twelve years old. He had met with financial losses 
and when the family was left without its head, Sylvester found it necessary to leave home and seek his 
own livelihood. At an early age, therefore, he went into a store in the village of Sauquoit, where he 
worked faithfully several years. He ne.xt engaged in the store of Jay Hathaway, of Rome, N. Y., 
for about two years, and went from there to Utica, N. Y., into the dry goods store of Theodore S. 
Gould. The young man remained there several years, and then found employment in the crockery 
store of Ransom Curtis, in the same city, and during his term of service there he was sent to Oswego 
to close out a general stock of goods purchased by the firm, and remained there one year. During 
this considerable period of varied business experience, Mr. Tierce had acquired a fund of practical 
knowledge of the laws governing honorable trade which was to be of immense future value to him, 
and he began to think of a broader field and individual effort in the ranks of businessmen. Accord- 
ingly in the spring of 1839 he located in Syracuse (then a comparatively small village) and opened a 
crockery store in partnership with Ransom Curtis. His first store was on the site now occupied by 
Coville & Morris, on East Water street, where they remained one year, when they were forced to re- 
move through the sale of the building, and they located temporarily on the corner of Water and War- 
ren streets, and then removed, in December, 1840, to what was No. 10 South Salina street. The 
firm were importers from England from the beginning ; their business was skillfully handled and en- 
ergetically conducted, and was successful from the outset. After four years Mr. Curtis went out of 
the firm and from that time down to the present, Mr. Pierce has continued in that line of trade alone, 
with the exception of short periods w-hen several of his clerks have been allowed an interest in the 
business. Hoth wholesaling and retailing were carried on with rapidly increasing volume and reach- 
ing over a constantly broadening field, until he finally conducted one of the largest establishments of 
the kind in the State, with importations direct from Germany, Holland, France, and England. The 
retail branch of the business was discontinued about ten years ago. Mr. Pierce purchased the Salina 
street store in 1845 and rebuilt the old marble front in 1854. He purchased the Clinton street prop- 
erty in 1863, and built his present stores thereon in 1S69 for the accommodation of the wholesale 
branch of the business. Besides this large establishment, which might satisfy the business ambition 
of most men, Mr. Pierce has long been connected with prominent manufacturing enterprises. In 
1849, .soon after the building of the gas works, he began the gas fitting business in a small way, and 
has since added steam heating and kindred branches. From this has grown the enormous business 
now done by the Pierce, Butler & Pierce Manufacturing Company, who also control the manufacture 
of the celebrated Florida boiler, for heating purposes. The sales of this company extend to nearly 
every State in the Union, and into foreign countries, and they have branches in New York, Chicago, 
and Boston. Mr. Pierce is president of this company, and also of the Catchpole Manufacturing Com- 
pany, of Geneva, N. Y., at which place the manufactory of the Florida boilers is located. The close 
attention always given by Mr. Pierce to his business, the high and honor.able aims that he has always 
kept in view, and his unswerving integrity, have won for him the high esteem of his fellow-men. 

In politics Mr. Pierce was at first identified with the Whigs, but upon the organization of the Re- 
publican party he became, and has continued, a firm supporter of its principles. He has never been 
a seeker after office, but. at the request of his fellow citizens, served as Supervisor of his ward (the 
Sixth) two terms. He is a liberal supporter of religious interests and has been for many years a ves- 
tryman of St. Paul's Church. Both himself and his wife were consistent and earnest members of 
that church. 

Mr. Pierce was married in 184I to Miss Cornelia Marsh, daughter of Elisha Marsh and Lovina 
Wiard, of Geddes. Mrs. Pierce's father was from Coleraine, Mass., and settled at Onondaga Hill 
about the year 1800. where he was one of the pioneers of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have 
four children : Marsh C, Charles H., William K., and Emma C. Mr. Pierce's sons are all asso- 
ciated w ith him in business. 



6o Memorial History of Syracuse. 

WILLIAM E. A13BOTT was born in Lowville. N. Y., on the igth of January, 1822. His an- 
cestors on both sides were Connecticut people. His father was Paul Abbott, born May 7. 
1783, son of William Abbott, who lived in Pomfret, in that State, and subsequently removed to Union 
in that State, where Paul was born, and thence to Clinton, Oneida county, in 1799. His mother was 
Patty Eels, born in what was then known as Middletown Upper Houses, now Cromwell, Conn. 
Paul Abbott was a tailor and began his first business in that line at Lowville as a merch.int tailor. 
He learned his trade in Whitestown, N. Y., and went to Lowville to live in 7804. He died in that 
place in 1S31. William E. attended the district school and the academy in Lowville, and enjoyed 
the good fortune of a period at Oouverneur Academy, and also at the preparatory school at Oberlin, 
Ohio. Possessed of a good common education he went to the city of Utica in 183S. when he was 
sixteen years old, to begin his business career. He served faithfully as a clerk in the dry goods stores 
of A. L. & R. H. W"ells, and Spencer Kellogg & Son, between three and four years and made him- 
self a master of that business as far as it could be acquired in that time. At the end of his clerkship 
on the 2d of January, 1842, he located in Syracuse with his brother, Henry G. Abbott, as dealers in 
dry goods. Theirs was the first store in which dry goods were sold exclusively in this city. Their 
first store was on the site now occupied by C;rant& Dunn, and either in that or one of the two adjoin- 
ing stores the business was successfully conducted for thirty-five years. In the year 1S46 a younger 
brother, James H., was admitted to the partnership and the firm name became .Vbbott lirothers, 
with a branch store in Utica. William E. finally, in the year 1S49, bought out his brothers and car- 
ried on the business alone for about thirty years, during the last three in the store on South Salina 
street now occupied by Ginty & Son. At the close of this long period of business activity, in which 
was built up a successful trade and a reputation for integrity and business capacity, he retired from 
that line of trade. After one year ot freedom from business cares Mr. Abbott joined with Edwin P. 
Hopkins, formerly County Clerk, in the coal business, locating their yard on West Water street, in 
Alexander, Bradley & Dunning's foundry yard. This was in September, 1S71. After Mr. Hopkins' 
death his son, W. E. Hopkins, took his father's interest in the business, the firm name remaining the 
same. This firm was continued down to 1S8S, when Mr. Abbott bought his partner's interest and 
has since conducted the business alone. 

This is a brief record of a long and honorable career, free from speculative operations and un- 
wholesome struggles to obtain a fortune at a grasp, that often end in ruin, and in which Mr. Abbott 
reached that fair measure of success to which he was entitled, and at the same time won the esteem 
and friendship of all the business community. 

Mr. Abbott has received many evidences of the confidence of his fellow citizens. He was chosen 
Inspector of the Penitentiary in i86g and held the office three years. During a period of the same 
length he was Supervisor of the Eighth ward, in the years 1871-3. In 1856 he was chosen a trustee 
of the Orphan Asylum, which ofllce he still holds, and has been Secretary of the Board for thirty 
years. He is one of the chatter members of the Onondaga County Savings Bank and also of the 
Plymouth Congregational Church, of which latter he has been a consistent and practical member. 
About twenty years ago Mr. Abbott purchased three acres of land on the corner of Beech and East 
Genesee streets, built a pleasant residence there .and has ever since made it his home. In the declin- 
ing years of his life Mr. Abbott enjoys the fullest esteem of the community and the warm friendship 
of the many who have been admitted to his confidence. 

It is a source of pride to Mr. Abbott that he was one of the earliest and most earnest advocates 
of anti-slavery, when such a course brought opprobrium from many, and often personal abuse or in- 
jury. He was actively instrumental in aiding between three and four hundred slaves over the under- 
ground railroad and on to freedom. In the famous Jerry Rescue he was one of the actors and also 
one of the bondsmen of the late Moses Summers, who was indicted as one of the rescuers. He has 
ever since that incident carried, on a key ring in his pocket, one of the chain links of Jerry's shackles. 
In connection with Dr. Lyman Clary, Moses Summers, and Dr. James EuUer, they met in Dr. Clary's 
office on Warren street and put in nomination the " Jerry Rescue Ticket," as it was called, for .State 
and county officers, and Dudley P. Phelps for Member of Assembly. The ticket was successful at 
the fall election and owing to the small majority given the State ticket, was instrumental in electing 



Biographical. 6i 



Mr. Clark as Governor of the State. This was the beginning of the great Republican party in the 
State of New \'ork. 

On the 12th of August, 1S45, Mr. Abbott was married to Jane A. Foster, daughter of Arnold 
Foster, of Litchfield, Herkimer county, N. V. She died in March, 1889. He has no children of 
his own, but an adopted son. 



PATRICK LYNCH was bom in County Kerry, Ireland, on the ist day of November, 1824, and 
came with his parents to America in June, 1833. His father was John Lynch, who became a 
farmer in the town of Dewitt, this county, and died there. All the education ever received by Pat- 
rick Lynch from schools, was obtained in Ireland, and, consequently, before he was ten years old ; 
but he never lost an opportunity during after years to increase his store of knowledge, both in En- 
glish branches and in that broad general information which contributes so largely to enable a man to 
attain success in life. The immigration of the family to .America was influenced by James Lynch, 
the well known early merchant of Salina village, and an uncle of the subject of this sketch. In 
James Lynch's store the boy, fresh from Ireland, began work as a clerk as soon as the family were 
settled here. When, a little later, his brothers, Cornelius and John, opened a store in Salina, Patrick 
began work for them in a similar capacity. In those two stores he spent his time until he reached 
his twentieth year. With his constant study and unremitting attention to the business he gained a 
practical experience which was to be of the greatest value to him in after life. When twenty years 
old, in company with his brothers, above named, he opened a dry goods store in Syracuse, in what is 
now the Empire block, under the firm name of Lynch & Co. The partnership lasted about three 
vears, when John Lynch died and Cornelius retired. Patrick continued to do a successful business 
from that time down to 1S51. laying the foundation of a fortune, and gaining the confidence and re- 
spect of the community. His spirit of enterprise and his confidence in his own ability to grasp and 
handle larger interests led him to enter into the manufacture of iron, an industry- with which he has 
ever since been connected, through the former Delano Iron Works, and now the Onondaga Iron Com- 
pany. Like a large majority of the successful men of Syracuse, Mr. Lynch also engaged in salt 
manufacturing, both in the erection and management of fine salt blocks and as a stockholder in sev- 
eral coarse salt companies. His interest in this latter branch of the industry still continues. Mr. 
Lynch has been also closely identified with early banking interests in Syracuse, and was the president, 
and practically, the owner of the Syracuse City Hank, which was located in the building that stood on 
the site of the present magnificent Lynch building on South Salina street. The bank was in success- 
ful operation from 1851 to about 1867, when its alTairs were settled up and its business closed. In 
the Morris Run Coal Company, which was organized by the late James P. llaskin, Mr. Lynch was 
also a prominent stockholder and a trustee, and he was appointed Receiver of the llaskin estate. In 
railroad interests Mr. Lynch has always felt a deep concern and an abiding faith, which led him long 
ago to invest in their construction. He was a stockholder in the New York Central, the Lake Shore 
and Michigan Southern, and is now a stockholder in the Syracuse, Geneva, and Corning road, which 
is one of the most profitable lines in the country. In all of these affairs and positions Mr. Lynch has 
shown, in a marked degree, those qualifications that usually characterize the business men of sound 
principles, cool and far-seeing judgment, boldness, combined with prudence, and the intuition to 
grasp the right matter at the right time. Always feeling a deep interest in the welfare of his adopted 
city, he has invested extensh-ely in real estate. He purchased his beautiiul home on James street in 
1859, and long ago became the owner of an interest in the Malcolm and (Irand Opera House blocks, 
besides his beautiful block recently erected on Salina street, with other minor holdings. He is a 
progressive citizen and keeps the best interests of the community always in view. Mr. Lynch be- 
longs to the Catholic faith and is in every way a liberal supporter of her churches and benevolent in- 
stitutions. 

Mr. Lynch has been twice married. His first wife was Sarah Stratton, of Syracuse. She died 
in 184S. In 1859 he married Mrs. Cynthia Yan Loon, of Albany. Mrs. P. H. Pendergast. of Syra- 
cuse, is his daughter by bis first wife. 



62 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



THEODORE E. HANCOCK was born in the town of Granby, Oswego county, May 30, 1847. 
His father was Freeman Hancock, who was of Enghsh descent and bom at Martha's Vineyard. 
He belonged to a hardy family of sailors. His mother, Mary Williams, was of French descent 
and was born in Providence, R. I. Mr. Hancock's education, after his attendance at the district 
schools when young, was obtained at the Falley Seminary, in Fulton, N. V., where he graduated 
first in his class in 1867. He then entered the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., and 
graduated in 1871, at the head of his class and the recipient of prizes for proficiency in Latin and 
Greek. Having determined upon the law as a profession, he attended the Columbia Law School 
and graduated in 1S73. Since that date he has practiced continuously in Syracuse, and has entered 
the front rank of his profession. During the period since 1873 he has been a member of the firm of 
Gilbert & Hancock, Hancock S: Munroe, Hoyt, Beach & Hancock, and Hancock, Beach <V Devine, 
which is the present firm of which he is a member, his paitners being William A. Beach and James 
I)evine. 

Mr. Hancock is a Republican in politics and has been an earnest worker within the lines of that 
party as far as consistent with dignity and fairness. In recognition of his services and his standing 
in his profession, he was appointed by the Common Council as Justice of the city of Syracuse in 1878, 
and was elected to the same office in the succeeding year, and ran ahead of his ticket about 1,500. 
The duties of the office were discharged by him in a manner that fully satisfied his constituents. In 
18S9 he was nominated by his party for District Attorney of Onondaga county and at the election 
ran about 1,200 ahead of the regular ticket. Mr. Hancock is a student by nature and for one of his 
years is thoroughly equipped for his profession and the public ofiices to which he has been called. In 
the responsible work of the District Attorney's ofiice he has the commendation of the community. 

Mr. Hancock was married, in iSSi, to Martha B. Connelly, and they have two children. 



ARTHUR B. KINNE, M. D., was born on the 25th of September, 1850, in Dewitt Center, 
Onondaga county, N. V. His father was Mason P. Kinne, a prosperous and respected farmer, 
and his mother was, before her marriage. Miss Mary J. Spaulding, of Canandaigua, Ontario county, 
N. Y. In common with most farmers' boys, Arthur B. Kinne attended the district school for his 
primary education, but was fortunate enough to be given more advanced opportunities in the public 
and High School of Syracuse, and he graduated from the latter in 1871. The succeeding three years 
he spent on his father's farm, and during that formative period he resolved to make the profession of 
medicine his life work. Accordingly, in 1S74, he came to Syracuse and entered the office of the late 
W'illiam Henry Hoyt. 'I'here he gave up three years to unremitting study, supplemented during 
that period by two courses in the New York Hom<eopathic .Medical College, from which institution 
he graduated in March, 1S77. In the following May he located permanently in Syracuse and has 
practiced without partnership associates ever since. He occupied first the office of Dr. Hoyt, his 
preceptor, and upon the death of Dr. Frank Bigelow took his office on Salina street, where he re- 
mained three years. During the succeeding four years he occupied an office on East Jefferson street, 
at the end of which time he removed to Warren street, where his office and residence have since been 
located. 

During his period of practice in Syracuse Dr. Kinne has attained a position in the front rank of 
his profession, and has gained the respect and esteem not only of those with whom he has been 
professionally associated, but of a large circle of friends and acquaintances. He is a physician who 
does not believe that his highest object was attained with the completion of his studies in college. 
He has made the best possible use of his time for study and the qualifications thus gained have not 
gone unrecognized. He is a member of the American Institute of Homiiopathy since 1SS7 ; a mem- 
ber of the New York State Honmopathic Medical Society since 1S82, and read a paper before that 
body in 1888, his subject being Materia Medua, which was commended by his professional breth- 
ren. Ever since his graduation he has been a prominent member of the Onondaga County Iloma'O- 
pathic Society, from which he has been a delegate to the State Society for the past three years. Of 



Biographical. 63 



the same he was President in I SS7. In his social relations Dr. Kinnc is most happily situated. He 
was married in iSSo to Miss Julia P. Smylie, of Patterson, N. J., and they have one child, a daugh- 
ter aged nine years. 



WII.I.I.VM AUSTIN BE.VCH, attorney and counselor and e.\-Collector of Internal Revenue, 
was bom in Baldwinsville on the 22d of August, 1842. His father was Henry G. Beach, a 
successful farmer and lumber dealer ; he held the office of Salt Superintendent one term about the 
vear 1S43-4. and died in 1871. His wife was Mary Thompson, who died in 1863, and both were 
natives of Delaware county, N. Y. William A. attended the Union school at Baldwinsville up to 
the year 1S61, when he entered the Delaware Literary Institute, at Kranklin, Delaware county, and 
graduated two years later. During the succeeding two years he taught school in the towns of \an 
Buren and Cicero, Onondaga county. In 1S65 he began the study of law in the office of Graves, Hunt 
& Green, in Syracuse, and was admitted to pr.-ictice in April, 1866. He was admitted to practice in 
the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, on the lolh of April, 1S73 ; to the 
District Court of the Southern District November 23, 1885 ; to the Circuit Court of the Northern 
District November 18, 1885, and to the Supreme Court of the United States October 18, 1888. Dur- 
ing the period covered by this advancement, Mr. Beach enjoyed a large practice and won recognition 
as a lawyer of more than ordinary attainments. A Democrat in politics and with a taste for active 
labor in the party, he began campaign work when he was only twenty-two years old, stumping the 
county for the candidates of his party. He made a study of all political questions of importance, is a 
forcible and logical speaker, and his efficiency in this field was such that he has been called on to 
stump the State in every campaign since 18O8. and during the past season was one of the gentlemen 
selected by the Reform club to meet the Republicans in joint debate on the subject of tariff reduc- 
tion, at the county fairs throughout the State. In recognition of his political services he was per- 
sonally requested by the late Samuel J. Tilden to accept membership on the State Committee, which 
honorable position he held from 1S75 to the fall of 1877, including the memorable canvass of 1876. 
During a long period it is not too much to say that Mr. Beach had the confidence of Governors Til- 
den, Robinson, and Cleveland to a degree enjoyed by very few other men. This fact is indicated by 
his appointment by Governor Cleveland as one of a Commission to examine into the proposition of 
storing the headwaters of the Hudson river by reservoirs, and he personally drew the report advising 
that the lakes in the .\dirondacks, tributary to the Hudson, be dammed for that purpose, storing the 
water during the spring floods, to provide a supply which could be made available for the river during 
the dry period. This report has been acted upon by the State Legislature as far as relates to Indian 
lake. Mr. Beach was provisionally appointed as Collector of Internal Revenue for the 25th N. Y. 
Collection District, on the 25th of November, 18S5, and after confirmation by the Senate, was reg- 
ularly appointed to that responsible office on the i8th of January, 1886. He continued in the office 
until June 30, 1890, conducting its large business with the most commendable efficiency, and leaving 
it as one among the two or three offices in the United States bearing the best records. During that 
period there was collected by the office the large sum of ^,706,312.87, every dollar of which was 
properly turned over to the government. It may safely be inferred that during his career Mr. Beach 
has gained the unqualified esteem of his fellow citizens of Syracuse. He is public spirited in a high 
degree and has always given freely of his time and talents for the general welfare of the community in 
which he lives He was appointed, about 187S, as one of the committee of five from e.ich ward to 
revise the city Charter. He was also a member of the committee for the improvement of Forman 
Park and was largely instrumental in the improvements recently made in Leavenworth Circle. In 
the agitation of the subject of a better water supply for the city of Syracuse, a project now nearing 
consummation, no person has been more active and none, perhaps, more conspicuousor effective than 
Mr. Beach. From Buffalo across the State to New York city and before the Legislature, he labored 
in advocacy of the important project and is now one of the attorneys for the Water Board of the city. 
As a lawyer Mr. Beach occupies a high position in the Bar of Onondaga county. At the beginning 



64 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

of his practice in 1867 he was a partner for two years of Henry E. Marble, under the firm name of 
Heach & Jfarble. From 1869 to 1S72 he was associated with William E. Sanders, under the style of 
Sanders & Beach. After practicing alone for one year he took as a partner O. J. Brown, the firm 
name being Beach & Brown, which continued until January I, 1S81. He then practiced alone until 
18S6, when he became associated with Harrison Hoyt. Subsequently T. E. Hancock, now District 
Attorney, and later James Devine, joined the firm. On the ist of January, 1891, Mr. Hoyt with- 
drew and the style is now Beach, Hancock & Devine. While Mr. Beach possesses all of the qualifi- 
cations that combine to make the successful criminal lawyer, his taste is not distinctly for th.it branch 
of practice. For cases demanding long continued effort in the Court room and before the jury Mr. 
Beach has not the physical strength. As a consequence, most of his attention has been given to the 
general ofiice work connected with civil practice. In this direction many important cases have been 
intrusted to him, the most notable of which was perhaps that of the Receiver of the .Vlbion Bank 
against a firm of New York brokers for a large sum of money squandered in speculation by the cashier 
of the bank. In this important case Mr. Beach took the new ground that the checks given by the 
cashier to his brokers and applied by them in speculation were in form such that they were obliged to 
notice that it was the funds of the bank which were being used and hence was a fraud. In this suit 
Mr. Beach recovered a judgment of $147, 000. Outside of his profession and among his fellow 
citizens, Mr. Beach enjoys an enviable reputation for ability and integrity. 

Mr. Beach was married on the 3d of .May, 1SS6, to Mrs. Augusta H. Kelly, and they occupy a 
handsome residence at No. 621 West Onondaga street. 



J.\MKS W. SHELDON, the subject of this sketch, was born in Otego, Otsego county, N. Y., on 
the 1 2th of February, 1S37. He was the son of Henry Sheldon, who was of English descent, 
born at South Kingston, K. I., and who migrated about the year 1810 to what was then the "far 
west" (Otsego county), locating upon lands which are still in possession of the family. He was a 
man of sterling qualities and possessed of great energy and perseverance ; he was an architect and 
builder and erected many fine structures, among them churches, factories, and railroad bridges, 
which remain as monuments iif his industrious hand. He was the father of five sons and three 
daughters, all of whom reached manhood and womanhood, filled responsible positions in life, and 
became a blessing and honor to their parents. He died at the age of forty-seven, when the subject 
of this sketch was but fourteen years of age. The mother's maiden name was .Mary Knowles. She 
was of New England birth and inherited and exhibited throughout her life the peculiar and estimable 
New England traits of character, and lived to reach her eightieth year. 

Dr. Sheldon received a good practical education, but is emphatically a self-made man. At the 
age of twenty he began the study of medicine under the instructions of an Old-School physician. 
Later on he became a convert to Homieopathy and was graduated at the Cleveland Homiepathic 
Medical College, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1864. After practicing his profession a short time in the 
country, he located in Syracuse early in 1865, entering into partnership with Dr. Lyman Clary, one 
of the pioneers of Homccopathy in this city, who practiced nearly fifty years, beginning when the 
place was a village. 

Dr. Sheldon h.is followed his profession in Syracuse for twenty-five years, acquiring a large and 
remunerative practice. He has not only endeared himself to his friends, professionally, but to the 
public at large as well, always taking an .ictive interest in the welfare and prosperity of the city His 
high professional reputation is ba.sed up<m his success, and at the same time his general conduct in 
the .sick room, his gentleness and tenderness and sympathy with suffering, have secured him a place 
in the affections of all of his patients and their friends. 

During his hours of leisure Dr. Sheldon has as a rule been engaged in some benevolent or char- 
itable work, with which he has always been in the fullest sympathy. He has always felt a deep in- 
terest in young men and has given financial aid to several who were striving under dilliculties to ob- 
tain an education and profession. He has been largely interested in Y. M. C. A. work, having 



Biographical. 65 



served as vice-President, and as Chairman of the Finance Committe of the Young Men's Christian 
Association of Syracuse for several years, contributing freely of his time and means in building the 
beautiful new home now occupied by the Association. Politically Dr. Sheldon has always been an 
active Republican, voting for the first time for .\braham Lincoln, and regularly casting his vote for 
the Republican candidates for President to the present time. He is a member of Masonic Lodge 
No. 305 ; also of the Business Men's Association and Exchange, and of the Citizen's Club. He is a 
member of the First Presbyterian Church ; of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, and of the 
State Homcepathic Medical Society, and is one of the Committee on Medical Legislation of that 
body. He is a member of the Onondaga County Homrepathic Medical Society, and President of 
the Syracuse Homeopathic Medical .-\ssociation. Outside of his profession, to which he is an honor 
in the broadest sense. Dr. Sheldon enjoys to the fullest the confidence and esteem of the community 
Dr. Sheldon was married on September, iS6o, to Miss Emily J. Betts, of Memphis, N. Y. They 
have one daughter, Susie M., who was born in Memphis January 7, 1S65, and married on October 
4, 18S7, Albert H. Gleason, of New York city, a member of the firm of Hastings & Gleason, 
attornevs. 



ROBERT DEV, founder and head of the dry goods house of Dey Brothers & Co., of Syracuse, 
and the first of several brothers to come to America, was born on the 25th day of November, 
1S49, in the parish of Abernethy, Morayshire, Scotland. His father, a man of sterling moral worth 
and great force of character, had his farm and mill on the borders of ISanff and Moray, the mill 
stream forming the dividing line between the counties. 

Robert was educated at the district school of Kirkmichael, and at the age of seventeen went to 
Aberdeen, doubtless at the instigation of his three elder brothers who were at that time pursuing 
their studies in that university city. He entered the employment of Pratt i; Keith, at that time, as 
to-day, the largest dry goods house in the north of Scotland and a school which has sent its pupils all 
over the worid, thoroughly equipped for the business of life. He remained with that finn for five 
years, but ha\ing a desire, like many another Scot, to see more of the world and seek broader fields 
for his energies, he determined to try his fortune in New York city. Just at this time, however, Mr. 
Curr, of the firm of Sibley. Lindsay & Curr, of Rochester, was visiting his native city, Aberdeen, 
and hearing of Mr. Dey's intentions, he pursuaded him to go to Rochester and enter the employment 
of his firm in that city. He did so and was joined there by his brother Donald, and they remained 
five years, when a resolution made, in 1S67, that in ten years he would be in business for himself 
came forcibly to the recollection of Robert. An opportunity to accomplish this aim presented itself 
at this time in Elmira, and in the spring of 1877 a small store was opened in that city, which rapidly 
grew in its proportions until it became the subject of comment throughout the Chemung \'alley. From 
the start, able co-operation in the business had been rendered by Donald, and now other members of 
the Dey family were called into requisition and in quick succession Charles, James, and John 
added their talents to the new enterprise. The fresh impulse added to the strength of the house and 
in the spring of 1883 the brothers found themselves in a position to attempt still more e.xtended oper- 
ations. The present store in S)Tacuse was opened in the spring of that year and its e.xperience has 
been a repetition of that in Elmira, with a still greater measure of success. Under the same leader, 
with his keen judgment, his clear-headedness and his unflinching integrity of purpose, the remark- 
able success of the Syracuse venture is well known. Both here and in Elmira, the Dey Brothers have 
done much to abolish old-fashioned and objectionable business methods and have always been fore- 
most in movements to promote early closing and the establishing of a weekly half-holiday ; for 
several years they have taken the initiative in the latter movement by closing on Friday afternoons 
during the summer months, an action which has called out much favorable comment and has proved 
a healthy stimulus to both employers and employed. At the present time the business is being car- 
ried on by the brothers Robert, Donald and James, the two others, John and Charles, having retired 
for a season to follow other enterprises. Two older brothers, William and Ale.xander, both of whom 
I 



(^ Memorial History of Syracuse. 



are LL.D.'s, and holding high positions in educational matters in Scotland, pay almost annual visits 
to "the boys in America," and strengthen their hands by sage counsel. 

Robert Dey possesses all the qualifications that usually constitute the successful business man 
and the public-spirited, useful citizen. He is characterized by sound judgment, is quick to think and 
decide, as well as act, tolerant of human weakness, unless it takes the form of deliberate wrong, and 
is endowed with executive ability of a high order. He hence finds it easy to grasp and carry out 
large plans, and at the same time to gain the devotion of those in his employment. Mr. Dey is a 
director in the Salt Springs Bank. 

In 1890, Mr. Dey was married to Mary Mills Sweet, elder daughter of William A. Sweet, of 
Syracuse. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes has said, "I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we 
stand as in what direction we are moving." From this standpoint those who know Robert Dey best 
are convinced that the business success which he has thus far commanded is small compared to the 
capabiUties of the man, and granted a continuance of health and strength, they are confident that in 
the not very distant future he will be known in connection with enterprises of far greater proportion 
than anything he has yet undertaken. 



JOHN DUXN, Jr., of the shoe manufacturing firm of Dunn, Salmon li: Co., of Syracuse, was 
born in Burlington, Vt., May 26, 1S34. His father was a boot and shoe manufacturer, who died 
in Chicago in 1S90. When the subject of this sketch was quite young his parents removed from 
Burlington to Ellisburg, Jefferson county, N'. V., and there the lad began going to school. When 
he had reached a proper age his attendance at school was alternated with periods of labor in his 
father's shop until he had become a competent workman. The young man had an ardent desire to 
acquire a college education and inspired by that hope he labored hard and saved money sufficient to 
enable him to enter Union Academy at Belleville to prepare for college, where he continued about 
two years ; but at the end of that time, having nearly reached his majority, he reluctantly relin- 
quished his college aspirations, as he could see no way of accomplishing his purpose e.vcept after a 
long period of labor at his trade ; but he left the academy with an education which showed his natu- 
ral capabilities and the persistence with which he had studied. 

Previous to his academic studies Mr. Dunn had worked at his trade in Oswego, and when he left 
the school returned to that city where he continued at his trade until the year 1S59, when he opened 
a store on his own account ; this was the small beginning, upon a very limited capital, of a period of 
nearly forty years of unbroken and successful connection with the manufacture and sale of boots and 
shoes. From 1859 to 1863, the Oswego firm was Dunn & Hart, his partner being Hon. Edwin 
C. Hart. In 1S63, Mr. Dunn joined the great armies of the Union and went into service as quarter- 
master of the 184th New York regiment, where he remained until the close of the war. Returning to 
Oswego, he closed up his affairs and at once formed the firm of Fenton, Dunn& Gay, manufacturers 
and wholesale dealers in boots and shoes, at the same time assuming the imexpired contract for con- 
vict labor in the State prison at Auburn, which had been forfeited by the firm of E. P. Fenton & Co. 
One year later the firm was succeeded by the firm of Dunn, Gay & Co., and at the end of another 
year the style was again changed to John Dunn, Jr., & Co. After about three years this firm was 
succeeded by Dunn, Barber & Co., at Auburn. A few years later, in the year 1871, the firm of 
Dunn, Salmon & Co., was formed and a business period of nearly twenty years of successful and 
harmonious relations began. The practical details of the manufacturing department of this business 
has been under the direct charge of Mr. Dunn. The large contract for convict labor was continued 
by the firm until that system was abolished by law a few years ago. and constituted the foundation 
of the manufacturing branch of their business ; but in order to meet the demands for their product 
an auxiliary factory was established in Auburn. This grew in proportions with the increase of busi- 
ness and when the prison contract was given up the entire business was placed in this factory, which 
at the present time occupies a building 300 feet long, 50 feet wide and five stories in height. Here, 



./ 





Biographical. 6y 



fifteen hundred pairs of shoes are turned out each day, which arc sold in all parts of the country. 
The firm maintain a large jobbing house in Syracuse, but its business is wholly separate from the 
manufactory. The business qualifications of Mr. Dunn, which have enabled him to rise from the 
smallest beginning to his present standing, arc prudent cautiousness tempered with sound judgment 
and keen foresight, and executive ability that enables him to comprehend and master laage enter- 
prises. These traits are well understood by his friends and have been recogni/ed by placing him in 
many responsible positions. He is I'rcsident of the Steam Gauge and Lantern Company; Tresident 
of the Syracuse Electric Light and Power Company ; vice-President of the Bank of Syracuse, and a 
trustee of the Syracuse Savings Bank. He was recently made president of the Consolidated Street 
Railway Company. That this corporation will confer great benefits upon the commimity there is 
now scarcely a doubt. 

Mr. Dunn is a Republican in politics and could on many occasions have accepted political sta- 
tion, had his inclinations led him in that direction. He was appointed by Mayor Kirk as one of the 
Commissioners for the New City Hall now in process of erection. 

Mr. Dunn was married in iSsq to Miss A. Augusta Hart, of Oswego. They have three child- 
ren living : Mrs. William Spaulding, the eldest ; Miss Helen A. Dunn, and Miss trances H. 



GEORGE DE WITT COWLES was born in the town of Otisco, in this county, and is the son 
of Theron Cowles, who for many years was well known as one of the prominent citizens of that 
town. 

The family are of English origin, John Cowles, the common ancestor of all bearing the name of 
Cowles in the United States, coming to Hartford, Conn., in 1636, from London. He was one of the 
eighty-four original purchasers of the town of Farmington, Conn., from the Indians, in 1640. The 
township is about fifteen miles square and was incorporated in 1645 and was shortly afterwards di- 
vided among the proprietors. John Cowles represented the town of Karmington in the General As- 
sembly of that State in 1653, 1654 and 1655. The original homestead of the Cowles family in the 
village of Farmington is still occupied by one of his descendants. The paternal grandfather of Mr. 
Cowles, with his father, then a boy four years of age, left the town of Farmington and came to the 
town of Otisco in 1802 and died there in October of the same year, and subsequently his grand- 
mother married Capt. Eliakim Clark. Louis Gaylord Clark, founder and editor of the Knicker. 
huktr Magazine and Willis CJaylord Clark, editor of the Philadelphia Saturday Post, were half 
brothers of Theron Cowles and were born in the town of Otisco in iSoS. 

Mr. Cowles spent his early life on the farm of his father in Otisco and his education commenced 
in the district school of the neighborhood under the instruction of Benjamin J. Cowles, a leading citi- 
zen of that town. In 1S45, he moved with his father from the town of Otisco to the city of Syra- 
cuse, where he has since resided. 

His studies, preparatory for college, he pursued at the Onondaga Academy under John D. Kun- 
kle, and in Syracuse under Prof. Stebbins at a classical school conducted by him just across the 
street from the residence of the late John Crouse. Hon. Andrew D. White was a classmate in the 
same school. He entered the Junior class at Union College in 1848 and was graduated second in a 
class of one hundred, in 1850. After leaving college he spent nearly two years traveling in the 
Southern States, when he returned to Syracuse and commenced the study of law in the office of 
Henry S. Puller. He was admitted to the bar in 1S55, at Oswego, and after his admission entered 
into a law partnership with Hon. Henry J. Sedgwick, of Syracuse, which continued until 1862. 

In March, 1861, he attended the first inauguration of President Lincoln at Washinglon, and was 
in that city at the outbreak of the Rebellion, when the bridges were destroyed, the wires cut and com- 
munication with the capital of the nation practically suspended. While there he joined the Wash- 
ington Clay Battalion, organized under the command of Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky, for the de- 
fense of the capital. Upon the arrival in Washington of a force sufticient to insure the safety of the 
city, the battalion was disbanded, and its members honorably discharged from the service of the 
United States, by the direction of Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War. 



68 Memorial History of SvRAcusfi. 



After this episode he continued the practice of the law alone until l86S, when he entered into 
partnership with Hon. James Noxon. which continued until Mr. Noxon took his seat on the bench 
as Justice of the Supreme Court of this State. Subsequently he formed a partnership with Edward 
C. Wright, which continued up to :SS3, since which time he has continued in practice alone. 

In a professional life of thirty-five years he has acquired in central New York a solid reputation 
at the bar as a careful, capable and successful lawyer, and in the community where he has lived he 
is recognized as a practical, prudent and prosperous man of business, and in society he commands 
the respect and esteem of all. In politics he is a Republican and faithful to his principles ; but has 
never been a seeker after ofiice. 

Mr. Cowles was married May 19, 1858, to Isabel Seymour, daughter of Joseph Seymour, late of 
the city of Syracuse. They have one daughter, Mary Seymour Cowles. 



HON. WILLIAM COWIE, Mayor of Syracuse, was born at Brechin, Forfarshire, Scotland, 
October 7, 1S46, and came to Syracuse, whither relatives had preceded him as early as 1S40, in 
January, 1865. In September of that year, he entered the County Clerk's office as general clerk, the 
Hon. Carroll E. Smith then being at the head of the office and Edgar E. Ewers his deputy. Upon 
the election of Mr. Ewers as County Clerk in November, 1870, he appointed Mr. Cowie his deputy 
and the subject of our sketch served in that capacity through Mr. Ewers' term and the succeeding 
ones of Charles E. Hubbell and Thomas 11. Scott. In November, 1879, Mr. Cowie was elected 
County Clerk for the three years' term commencing January i, 1880. His long experience in the 
office had thoroughly fitted him for the discharge of his duties, and he served through his term with 
great acceptance to the public. He was succeeded by Gen. Gustavus Sniper, under whom he re- 
mained as search clerk for nearly a year, finally resigning after a continuous service of over eighteen 
years, to take the business management of the Syracuse Standard newspaper. Finding his new po- 
sition not congenial, he soon withdrew from it, and after a rest of several months, he engaged in the 
real estate business, in which he Still continues. The present City Clerk, Henry F. Stephens, was his 
first partner. In February, iSgo, Mr. Cowie was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate 
for Mayor of Syracuse, and after a hard-fought and exciting contest he was elected. As the head of 
the city government he has made many warm friends and many bitter enemies, as every man does 
who tries fearlessly to do his duty ; but at all times he has had the sympathy and support of the 
majority of the better element of the community. 

Socially Mr. Cowie is very popular. He is widely read in several languages, a constant student 
and a ready thinker and forcible writer. Like most Scotchmen, he is particularly fond of poetry, of 
which, at various times, he has written and published creditable examples. He is partial, also, to 
out-door sports, and for many years he has been one of the leading cricketers of Syracuse. 

Mr. Cowie married, in 1870, Miss Sarah Henderson, daughter of our well-known townsman, 
Dr. Alexander Henderson. The result of this union is one son, now acting as Mayor's clerk, and 
two daughters. 



DR. NELSON C. POWERS was born in Canastota, Madison county, N. Y., on the 12th of May, 
1815. After obtaining a preparator)- education he entered the Clinton Liberal Institute, at 
Clinton, N. Y., and finished the prescribed course of study in three years. I le then began the study 
of medicine with Dr. V. W. Mason and continued it with Dr. D. E. Hurd, both of Canastota. He 
further pursued the study of his chosen profession at the Medical College at Woodstock, Vt., and 
the Geneva Medical College, (now incorporated with Syracuse University,) and graduated in 1840, 
when twenty-five years of age. In the autumn of that year he was married to Miss N. M. Van Sice, 
and settled at Perryville, Madison county, alterwards removing to Peterboro in the same county, 
where he gained the friendship and confidence of all with whom he was associated. 



Biographical. 69 



In the year 1852, Dr. Powers located in Syracuse and here he soon acquired a large and con- 
stantly increasing practice. Possessing a strong and active mind, Dr. Powers was always an earnest 
student, having almost const.Tntly in hand some subject of investigation and thought. l?y his ac- 
knowledged ability he reached a position of eminence in his profession b.ised upon his uniform suc- 
cess, while his geniality and kindliness of spirit and flow of humor rendered his ministrations highly 
prized by the sick and gave him a warm place in the hearts of his friends. His judgment was sound 
on many topics outside of his profession, and when his opinions were formed he was capable and 
ready to support them on all proper occasions. 

As a citizen Dr. Powers took a deep interest in all public affairs, earnestly advocating the cause 
of justice and good government in city. State and nation. He always acted from conscientious mo- 
tives and never wavered from what he considered his path of duty. Self-interest never influenced 
him to turn from what in his estimation was the right course, and his assistance could always be re- 
lied upon in any good cause. He was originally a Democrat in politics, but upon the organization 
of the Republican party allied himself therewith and was ever after closely identified with its progress 
in this section. Though often solicited to accept public preferment, he uniformly declined to do so, 
preferring to devote his whole energies to the duties of his profession ; but he did not in any sense 
neglect the m.iny minor political duties which he believed should receive the attention of every good 
citizen. 

After Dr. Powers settled in Syracuse he became attracted by the broad philanthropy and unself- 
ishness of Rev. Samuel J. May, with w-hose liberal beliefs and christian spirit he deeply sympathized, 
and they became devoted friends. Upon the services of Mr. May, Dr. Powers was a constant at- 
tendant, and after the death of the good preacher, the same friendship was established with Rev. S. 
R. Calthrop, a friendship which endured to the end. In this connection it was written of him at the 
time of his death, that "he was a man ever ready to help"; this was the distinguishing trait of his 
character, and, as it is also in its fullest development the controlling element in Mr. Calthrop's life, 
an entire and perfectly rounded friendship naturally existing between them. 

Dr. Powers was a prominent member of the Masonic Order and the lodge to which he belonged, 
as well as the church society, adopted resolutions at special meetings which testified eloquently to the 
virtues of the deceased. A meeting of the physicians of the city was also held at the residence of 
Dr. H. D. Didama, at which the following tribute was paid to him : " It is proper that the medical 
brethren of one so eminent as Dr. Nelson C. Powers, should bear testimony to his worth and do 
honor to his memory. He was a companion the most genial ; the truest of friends ; the kinde.st of 
neighbors ; a good citizen ; a faithful husband ; the tenderest of fathers ; a beloved physician. His 
religious convictions were strong and he was loyal to them under all circumstances. Hisopinions on 
all subjects — formed with great care and patience — were rock-like in their firmness. He won a 
wide reputation in his profession, not by the devices of the charlatan, not by seeking to drag down 
his competitors, but by understanding his business and minding it." 

While Dr. Powers occupied a position of honor and prominence in the medical profession, as 
has been shown, it was as a citizen, a man, and a friend that he was most cherished in the hearts of 
those who knew him best. At his death he left a widow and a daughter (Mrs. C. \V. Snow), who 
still live in Syracuse, and a son, Charles Powers, who is deceased. 



BRUCE S. ALDRICH, the subject of this sketch, was born in the town of Scott, Cortland Co., 
N. Y., on the 25th of May. 1835. His father was a respected farmer and is deceased. His 
mother is still living in Syracuse. The surroundings and circumstances of the ordinary farmer's son 
in this country fell to the lot of this boy in his early years, though he was more fortunate than many. 
After several years in the district school, more or less of each year being given to arduous farm 
labor, he enjoyed a period of study in the Academy at Homer, N. Y., then among the most success- 
ful of the minor educational institutions of the State. From the time he was fifteen years old until 
he reached twenty he suffered from ill health which threatened to permanently unfit him for a useful 



70 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

life; but he finally regained health and strength sufficient to enable him to take up school teaching, 
which he followed about five years, in Spafford and Little York, in Cortland county, and Otisco, 
Onondaga county. At the end of this period he went to Borodino in the spring of 1855 and served 
as a clerk for Bavid Becker in his country store three years. He then went to Homer and kept the 
books of the firm of Clark Bros. A little later he began a wholesale business in notions, selling the 
country merchants from a large wagon for ^L J. Stone i; Co., and later for Stone i: Carpenter, of 
Syracuse — a line of business which at that period was quite successful in various parts of the country 
where railroads had not penetrated. This occupation he continued until the 20th of November, 
1865, and Mr. Aldrich secured a large patronage, and made a business acquaintance and gained e.\- 
pererience which were of value to him later in life. On the date last mentioned he purchased an 
interest in the tobacco and cigar business of John P. Hier Although that business was then on a 
firm foundation, it was very small when compared with its later importance. For twenty years Mr. 
Aldrich gave his whole time and energies to its development, attending especially to the sale of the 
manufactured product and the financial features of the business; and he had the satisfaction of see- 
ing its rapid growth from an establishment employing three or four men, to one requiring from two 
hundred to three hundred and doing an annual trade of about a million of dollars — the largest house 
of that character in the State outside of New York city. Its success was very largely due to Mr. 
Aldrich's efforts; but that success was purchased at the expense of a warning from his physician in 
February, 18S5, that he must cease active labor of all kinds and at once. He accordidgly sold out 
his interest to his partner and for a time gave himself entire freedom from business cares, until he 
had substantially regained his health. But Mr. Aldrich is so constituted that he could not long 
remain wholly idle, especially after half a lifetime of unremitting activity, and he has during the last 
five years taken a large and active interest in several important undertakings. He began operations 
in real estate in Syracuse, in which he has been unusually successful and now finds himself the owner 
of a number of excellent pieces of property, among them being the Martin Block, corner of Warren 
and East Jefferson streets, the Newell property on South Salina street, the Ten Eyck Block on 
Slocum avenue, the building of the Butler Manufacturing Company in Geddes, and other less im- 
portant pieces. In 18S6 he purchased, in association with Gen. R. A. Johnson, surveyor-general of 
Arizona Territory, and Emerson Stratton, a large ranch property in that territory, on which there is 
now a herd of between 5000 and 6000 cattle. Mr. Aldtich and members of his family have already 
spent two winters there to the great benefit of his health. He is practically the owner of a large 
lumber yard and business on North Salina street, and is at the head of the National Typewriter 
Works at Parish, which is manufacturing one of the leading typewriters in the market. He has a large 
interest in the Syracuse Bamboo Furniture Company, of Syracuse, which he acquired in 1889. All 
of these various enterprises have felt a progressive impulse from Mr. Aldrich's clear-headed foresight 
and bold business push and enterprise. 'I'he qualifications which have enabled him to command a 
degree of success vouchsafed to few are well known in the community where he has lived and have 
led to his selection as associate in a number of important corporations; among them a directorship 
in the Syracuse Gaslight Company, and in the. Electric Light and Power Company; and he has 
recently been made a director in the Consolidated Street Railway Company. 

Mr. Aldrich is a great lover of fine horses and is commonly the owner of from ten to twenty 
good animals, which are a source of pleasure as well as of profit to him. 

He is a Democrat in politics and has been tendered nominations for city offices; but his inclina- 
tions do not lead him in that direction. He was one of the Hoard of Police Commissioners under 
the administration of Mayor W. B. Burns. 

Mr. Aldrich was married, in 1866, to Miss Helen E. Minturn, of Cortland, N. Y., and she died 
in 1872, leaving one daughter, Carrie k. Aldrich, now living at her home in Syracuse. 



Biographical. 71 



DR. FI.ORINCE O. DOXOIIUE, the well-known physician of Syracuse, was born in this city, 
October S, 1S50. Mis young boyhood was spent in attendance at the public schools until he 
was nine years old, when with his parents he removed to the country. From that time until he was 
sixteen he continued going to school in the winters, and worked at farming in the summers. At the 
age of nineteen he entered Onondaga Academy, where he spent two years, and this was followed by 
one year in Cazenovia Seminary. His studies in these institutions were alternated with terms of 
teaching, as principal of a school at Navarino, and of another at Onondaga Hill. Dr. Donohue is 
blessed with mental qualifications of exceptional strength and activity, and being one of the most 
enthusiastic of students, studying as well for the natural love of it as for the benefits to be derived 
from acquired knowledge, he had by the date mentioned become thoroughly equipped for college 
and besides earned sufficient money to enable him to enter .Syracuse University and pay his own way. 
This he did, beginning in 1S74, and he remained in that institution two years, pursuing the medical 
course, and in the meantime living with Dr. \V. W. Porter, one of the promineut and successful 
physicians of Syracuse. His college studies were supplemented with hard work under Dr. Porter's 
tutelage, and his advancement in the profession was rapid. At the end of the two years he entered 
the Long Island College Hospital, and in 1S77 graduated from it with honor. Since that time he 
has been in constant practice in Syracuse, where his professional ability and success have given him 
signal recognition from both the public and his professional brethren. 

Dr. Donohue is an enthusiast in his profession and from the time he began its study has pursued 
it with devoted persistency and the determination to master its mysteries as far as lay within his 
power. As an obstetrician he has, perhaps, gained his highest professional renown, though his 
knowledge of medical and surgical practice as a whole is broad and deep. In the sick room he is 
thoroughly at home and acts promptly upon the confidence that he feels in himself. His profes- 
sional standing has been fully recognized both at home and abroad, as is evidenced by the numerous 
honors that have been bestowed upon him. He was made a member of the New York State Medi- 
cal Association November 20, 1SS4, and was chosen delegate from that body to the British Medical 
Association, of which he is also a member, in October, 1885. In that capacity he visited England 
and took part in the deliberations of that Association, and again in 1889. He is, therefore, one of 
the very few members of the British Medical .Association in this country. He was appointed one of 
the Slate Commissioners of Health by (Jovernor Hill, November 26. iSSg, and still holds the posi- 
tion. He has long been a member of the Onondaga County Medical Society and in its deliberations 
occupies a leading position. He was appointed on the Syracuse Hoard of Health October 31, iSSg, 
and still holds that otifice, acting as one of its most efficient members. He is at the present time 
President of the Syracuse Medical Association, having been elected to that position in 1890 and re- 
elected for the ensuing year. He was chosen a permanent member of the medical staff of St. 
Joseph's Hospital, of Syracuse, but resigned the position. In all of these honorable stations, Dr. 
Donohue has sustained his reputation as a thoroughly educated, thinking and progressive physician 
and surgeon. 

Dr. Donohue is a writer of force and ability on a wide range of medical topics and is a regular 
contributor to several leading medical journals. Confident in his own acquirements and judgment 
and well equipped with knowledge of his profession, he takes a prompt and firm stand on all ques- 
tions and cases that come before him for discussion in the various societies, or for literary treatment, 
and he possesses the faculty of clearly and concisely explaining his ideas both orally and by his 
pen. It need scarcely be said that he enjoys to the fullest extent the confidence and esteem of his 
brethren of the profession. 

Outside of his profession Dr. Donohue is a public-spirited citizen of Syracuse and is always 
awake to the needs of the city in a general way, and particularly from a sanitary standpoint. His 
work in the local Board of Health has been fearless, effective and useful and promises still better 
for the future as long as he is connected with it. His faith in the prosperity and importance of 
Syracuse is unbounded and he has not hesitated to become the owner of considerable real estate, in- 
cluding a handsome brick block which he recently erected on Clinton street. 

Socially and among his acquaintances Dr. Donohue is a genial and popular gentleman; outspoken 
almost to bluntness in support of any position assumed by him, he still wins respect from his 
opponents as well as devotion from his adherents. 



j2 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Dr. Donohue was married on the 27th of September, 1877, to Miss Lucy A. Moseley, eldest 
daughter of the late William T. Moseley, of Onondaga. 



HENRY J. MOWRV was born in the town of I'hiladelphia, Jefferson county, N. Y., P'ebruary 
20, 1833. His father is Willard J. Mowry, a mechanic, who formerly lived in Nelson, Madison 
county, and removed back there when Henry J. was one year old. The ancestors of the family 
came from Rhode Island. His mother was Nancy Brown, ol Madison county, and both are still 
living. 

The subject of this sketch went to the district school as a boy and after he had reached the 
age of twenty years, he attended Cazenovia Seminary for a time, thus fitting himself for a teacher. 
This profession he followed previous to his attendance at the Seminary, and after that he taught 
winters and worked at carpentering in summers for about five years. At the end of that period he 
felt an ambition for broader fields of activity and he purchased a livery business in Cazenovia, which 
he conducted two years and then on the 1st of January, i860, bought the line of stages between 
Manlius and Syracuse. At that time, just before the late war, that stage line and several others 
leading out of Syracuse, were of considerable importance and the business done by them in passen- 
gers and express was of comparatively large proportions. Mr. Mowry entered upon his new busi- 
ness with characteristic energy, accompanied his stages over the road every day and made himself 
extremely popular with his patrons and ihc public at large. He operated the stage line nearly six 
years, living in Manlius, and also established a line between Syracuse and Cazenovia. In 1S65 he 
sold out his staging business and went to the oil fields of Pennsylvania, where, in association \\'ith 
others, he bought an oil farm. Mr. Mowry remained there only three months, but consummated 
transactions during that time which yielded profits. He then returned to Manlius, and soon after- 
ward, joined with J. A. Scoville and Lewis Eaton, purchased the dry dock property at Fayetteville 
and began bidding on important contracts for canal work. They secured contracts for repairs on 
several sections of the Erie canal, and the construction of sections of the Chenango canal extension. 
This business was carried on successfuly under the immediate direction of Mr. Mowry, and contin- 
ued about two years, to the spring of 1S6S. Soon afterward Mr. Mowr)' purchased some vacant 
real estate at auction in the city of Brooklyn, sold out his property at Manlius and spent the next 
year in Brooklyn. While there, he continued in the line of business from which he has never since 
been entirely free, contracting for various kinds of public work. In Brooklyn he had contracts for 
grading, paving, etc. 

At the end of his year's residence in Brooklyn, Mr .Mowry sold his property there and located in 
Syracuse, which has ever since been his home. Here he, in company with others, purchased a dis- 
tillery plant, where is now the .Sanderson Steel Company's works. This they operated three years, 
from the fall of 1868, when the property was burned, and the site sold to William A. Sweet. Dur- 
ing the three years in which Mr. .Mowry was inicrested in distilling business he kept up his connec- 
tion with contracting by associating with E. B. VanDuzen, R. N. Gere, and N. Stanton Gere, under 
the firm name of E. B. YanUuzen & Co., as general contractors. In this firm Mr. Mowry was the 
chief active spirit and had charge of the actual planning' and prosecution of the various works. Their 
contracts included large government works on the lower lakes, chiefly on harbors at Buffalo, Black 
Rock, Sodus, and elsewhere. Under Mr. Mowry's superintendence these various contracts were 
energetically, honestly and profitably executed. These works continued for three years, and he was 
afterwards associated with Horace and Daniel Candee, and also with V. B. YanDuzen. The Tilden 
raid, so-called, on canal contractors, found them with a large amount of business on their hands, 
but their contracts were all cancelled. 

In the fall of 1873, Mr. Mowry bought the packing business of E. B. Alvord, in which he has 
since been interested, and in 1875 the firm of II. J. Mowry & Co. was formed, Yale Anderson and 
Geo. M. Barnes being the other partners. Mr. Anderson withdrew in 1882 and the firm has since 
been, and now is.composed of Messrs. Mowry and Barnes. The business has greatly prospered and 
reaches more than three quarters of a million dollars annually. 



BlOGRArillCAL. 71 



I luring this period, Mr. Mowry continued his interest in contraclinj;, as a member of the firms 
of ( andee & Co., and VanDuzen iV Co. The former lirni ce.ised to exist in 1S77 and the latter in 
1882, Mr. Movvry purchasin;.; the ihedjjes and other property of the firm. In the year just men- 
tioned he bid, in association with N. .S. Ciere, for the construction of the Murray canal in Canada. 
The work was a most important one, comprising the opening of a canal si.\ miles long, besides the 
work at each end, and wide and deep enough for ocean-going vessels. The contract price was 
about $i.300,0(X). Mr. Here withdrew from the contract and Mr. Mowry assumed the entire under- 
taking .alone. It required a heavy guarantee and the responsibility, both of a financial and a practi- 
cal character, w.as enormous. The work continued down to iSgo wholly under Mr. Mowry's direct 
personal supervision and was completed to the entire satisfaction of the government. 

It will be seen by the foregoing that M r. Mowrv's life has been an extraordinarily busy one. In 
all the various enterprises in which he lias been interested he has acquired a high reputation for 
eliiciency, integrity, and fairness. 

Mr. Mowrv is a lifelong Democr.-il in politics and has developed considerable natural aptitude 
for that held of work, lie began to take an active part in politics under the tutelage of the late 
Hen. John A. Green, while he was still a resident of Manlius, and his capabilities since that time 
have been fully recognized in the councils of his party. Me was a candid.ate for the Assembly in 
1867. but was defeated by the lale Hiram Eaton, reducing the majority of the previous year, how- 
ever, from 1.250 to 316. Since he became a resident of Syracuse he has^occupied a prominent 
station in the political lield. lie lias been a member of the county organization twenty-five years or 
more and active in every canvass. I le has been conspicuous also in the city organization and a del- 
egate to Stale Conveniions many limes. He w.-is the representative for this Congressional District 
in the St.ite Comniitiee for si.\ consecutive years, during which time he held high rank among his 
associates and was one of the trusted advisers of the lale Daniel Manning, and in this connection 
was an active and zealous advocate of the nomination of Clrover Cleveland for C.ovenor. He was a 
delegate to the National Conveniion which nominated Mr. Cleveland for the Presidency, and under 
his administration was dispenser of political patronage, and was always consulted on political matters 
in this district. In short, Mr. Mowry has occupied lor a long period the position of leader in the 
1 lemocratic political field in this locality. He was a candidate for member of the National Commit- 
tee in iSSS, and the vote for him and the Hon. Roswell P. Flower for this position resulted in a tief 
He w.-ts chosen in 1S90 by the Secretary of the Treasury as one of three Commissioners to select a 
sitefora l-ederal Uuildingin liufTalo. He was candidate for Alderman of the si.xth ward early in 
his career and candidate for Mayor in 1S78 against the Hon. Irving (i. \ann. He was appointed 
Hire Commissioner by Mayor Helilen and during his term of four years the old volunteer system was 
changed to the present paid department. M r. .Mowry w.as twice chosen by the local ailministrations 
upon commi-ssions for the revision of the city charter, and was appointed by M.ivor Kirk as one of 
the commissioners for the construction of the new city hall and also as one of the Water Commis- 
sioners; he is president of that board, who are entrusted with the expenditure of three millions o 
dollars in the construction of a system of waterworks to be supplied from Skaneatcles lake. Mr. 
Mowry has been for many years a trustee of Syracuse Savings Uank and is President of the new 
Commercial liank. He is an active member of the liusiness Men's Association and chairman of its 
Finance Committee. In all the positions of trust in which the subject of this sketch has acted, he 
has served without pay, and in the prosperity and welfare of Syracuse he has always taken a deep 
interest and given his lime, energies and means freely to the welfare of its institutions, and is looked 
upon by the entire community as an upholder of good government. 

Mr. Mowrv was married in 1S5S to .Miss Maria L. Evarts, of Nelson, Madison county, N. Y. 



74 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

EDWARD CARL STEARNS was born in the city of Syracuse, Onondaga county. N. V., July 
12, 1856. He is the youngest of the seven children born to Delilah Taylor and the late tjeorge 
N. Stearns. 

Eben Stearns, the great-grand-father of E. C. Stearns, came to this country from Enpland 
about the year 1780, and settled near Wilkesbarre, I'a. ; but when the historical massacre of Wyoming 
occurred, he removed with his family to the town of Lanesboro, Mass. His family consisted of his 
wife, three sons and one daughter — Samuel, Rachel, Cyrus, and Eben. Samuel, the eldest, married 
Elizabeth Smith, and came to New York State in the year 1824 and settled in the town of Pompey. 
Their children were six, as follows: Rachel, Mary, .Anna. George N., Hiram, and Avis. 

George N. Stearns, the elder of the sons of Eben, and the father of the subject of this sketch, 
received a common school education, and at an early age from choice learned the wagon-m.aking 
trade, which he followed until about the year 1859. -^t th-i' timeh is several inventions began to 
attract considerable attention, demanding his time and energies to develop their manufacture. About 
the year i86o he established himself in a small but complete works for the production of his patented 
devices, and from the readiness with which the trade accepted those tools, he realized that he had made 
a move in the right direction toward success. He remained in the same location si.\ years, gradually 
e.xtending the business, and at the end of that period erected a small but convenient factory on 
Cedar street. From there he was soon able to send his own traveling men on the road, instead of 
allowing a few large jobbers to monopolize the sale of his goods. During those si.x years, the sub. 
ject of this sketch was the principal salesman of these wares. Visiting, as he did, continually, the 
principal cities of the Union, and coming in contact with the ablest buyers of the wholesale hardware 
trade, he acquired an experience in those early years that has since proven invaluable to him. The 
business was thus well established and profitable; but by the year 1S77 the elder Mr. .Stearns showed 
symptoms of failing health, and a new co-partnership was formed, which still exists, under the name 
of E. C. Stearns & Co. From this time forward his career as a business man has been marked by 
uninterrupted success. By his energy, active habits, and strict adherence to principles of integrity, 
he has surmounted obstacles and achieved success ol which few men of his years can boast. 

About the year 1S80, the firm removed their machinery to the shops formerly occupied by the 
gun works of John A. Nichols, on the north side of James street, near the corner of Lock street. 
About this time they established an office in Chicago, and shipments have since been made from 
that point. In less than two years thereafter, it became again apparent that more extensive quarters 
were imperatively necessary to meet the ilemands of the business. In February, 1S82, they broke 
ground on the corner of ,\dams and Oneida streets, and by the following November their present 
large and substantial buildings were finished and occupied. In the following February (1S83) saw 
their foundry, machine shop and wood shop in full operation. The firm now possessed what they 
had so long desired — the facilities for producing their goods in the best, cheapest and most work- 
manlike manner, and from that time forward the progress has been rapid. Their shops are equipped 
with the most approved machinery, and in many instances labor saving machinery of their own design 
and invention is doing work in the most economical and perfect manner. Recently more territory 
has been acquired, a large storehouse erected thereon, the foundry has been enlarged to nearly 
double its former capacity, and the firm have in their employ about 300 men. Their goods have a 
national reputation and have a foreign trade that is most encouraging. 

In the upbuilding of this immense business in all its details, .Mr. Stearns has been at the front; 
and in its present condition, when compared with what it was only a few years ago, is very flattering 
to his business and executive ability. In recent years he has given some of his time and means to 
the improvement of real estate, and has erected about twenty houses for sale. His views of any 
business undertaking, no matter upon how large a scale, are broad and his judgment accurate. 

Mr. Stearns is a Republican in politics and h.is shown much earnest interest in municipal 
affairs. 

Mr. .Stearns was married in, i8Sl, to Miss Louise Albro, daughter of John .\lbro, of Syracuse, 



Bior.RAPHiCAi,. 75 



JOHN WILKINSON was the fourth in descent from Lawrence Wilkinvn, ol llariK-rly House, 
England. On the arrival of the latter in the new world, having little in common with the Puri- 
tans of Massachusetts Bay, by whose party he had been ruined and expatriated, he settled in Provi- 
dence. Rhode Island. There his name may still be seen in the " First Hook of Records, " as signed 
by himself in the year i650-'5i, as one of the original founders of that colony. 

lie married .Susannah Smith. His third child was John Wilkinson, born March 2, 1654. John 
Wilkinson married Deborah Whipple, .\pril 16, i6Sg. His fifth child was Daniel Wilkinson, who 
was born lunc 8, 1703. in the town of Smithtield, part of the present city of Providence. Daniel 
Wilkinson married .\bigail Inman. September 22, 1740. His seventh child was named John Wil- 
kinson, born November 13, 175S. John Wilkinson married, in December, 17S2, Klizabeth Tower, 
whose mother was cousin of John Hancock. 

This John Wilkinson was not seventeen years old when the clash of arms resounding through 
the civilized world, announced the Revolution which preceded the birth of the new Republic. He 
entered the service of his country soon after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. By 
the fate of war he was captured and confined in the notorious Jersey Prison Ship in New York 
1 1 arbor. The records of the sufferings of these prisoners, who were densely crowded between the 
1 lose decks and even in the noisome hold, where they died by scores, have only been surpassed in 
former days bv the I'.lack Hole of Calcutta, and later by the cruelties of Libby Prison and .\nderson- 
ville. After nine months he was exchanged, but with impaired health, which was only restored 
after the care of years, .\fter his marriage he lived for some years in Cumberland, R. I. In 1790 
he removed to Troy, N. \. He lived there nine years, and there the subject of this sketch was born, 
September 30, 179S. 

In February. 1790, John Wilkinson, the father, left his home in Troy, to create for himself a 
new one in the then wilderness of Central New York. He performed the long and toilsome journey 
on foot, leading a cow. His wife and little ones, together with all his household goods, rode upon a 
sledge drawn by a yoke of o.\en. .-\t a sunnier season he had been attracted by the lovely lake of 
Skaneateles and had selected the land for a farm in the midst of the forest one mile from its 
^liores. Thither he came, and set to work literally to hew a home for his family, and also, as it 
proved, a grave for himself; for he died in less than three years, from injuries received while build- 
ing a barn. He was buried on his farm, which still remains in the family. 

Here, in a log house, in the midst of a great forest filled with game, John Wilkinson grew up. 
L'ntil the age of twelve he went to school at Skaneateles. Then the mother, not daunted by the ad- 
ditional burden entailed upon herself in her struggle with the wilderness for the support of four 
children, by the loss of her son's help upon the farm, or by the expense incident to the scheme, de- 
termined to give him the best education the country afforded and to send him to the Academy at 
I Inondaga. 

While pursuing his studies there he attr,acted the notice of the Hon. Joshua Forman, then the 
;^Teat man of ihe country, and the principal patron of the -Academy, and after he gr.aduated he be- 
tame Mr. Forman's clerk, and a member in his family. In the law office of Forman & Sabin he 
studied his profession He w.as admitted to the bar in September, I S19, and was the first lawyer 
who settled in Syracuse. 

In February. 1820, a post-office was established in Syracuse, and Mr. Wilkinson was ap|K>inted 
jwstraaster. In 1825, when the first election for village officers was held, Mr. Wilkinson was elected 
I lerk. He was for several years president of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad, and by his influence 
succeeded in having the work-shops of that road built at Syracuse, thus adding the hardy population 
of the Fifth ward to our city. He was afterward president 01 the Michigan Southern Railro.ad. 

As a lawyer, Mr. Wilkinson occupied a prominent place at the Onondaga Itar. The late Peter 
Outwater. esq., was associated with him for many years, and later, James L. Bagg, esq. Mr. Wil- 
kinson was a director in the Onondaga County Hank from its organi/jition in 1S25. until its close. 
He was also president of the P.ank of Syracuse, which he, together with the late Horace White, esq., 
organized in 183S, on the passage of the general Banking Law, and so continued till his death. 
Both of these banks were managed with prudence and were exceedingly profitable to their stock, 
holders. 



;6 



Memorial Historv of Syracuse. 



At Albany, February 24, 1S25, John Wilkinson married Henrietta Wilhelmina Swart. They 
had eight children born to them. 

in 1S34 and 1S35, he was elected Member of .Assembly for Onondasja Counly. and occupied, 
while in that body, the position of Chairman of an important committee, viz: On ihc Incorporation 
and .Mieration of Banking and Insurance Companies. 

In the last years of his life, he operated the lerre llavile. .Minn .\: St. I.oiiis Kailroail. in his 
own name for two years as Trustee and Receiver. 

After the death of Capt. Oliver Teall, he became president of the Syracuse Water Wurks. He 
adopted the plan for collecting the water from springs and small streams into a reservoir. Mr, Wil- 
kinson was engaged upon this work at the time of his sudden death in September, 1862. 



TllOM.VS r>ROCK\\ .\\ in\ 11. The subject of this sketch was born in tlietownof Kirkland. 
near the village of Clinton, Oneida county N. V., December 3, iSio. He was a descendant 
of the Rev. James Kitch, who emigrated from Kngland and settled in Connecticut as early as 163(1, 
and who lived and preached in Norwich. His father was Dr John I'itch, a very successful 
medical practitioner for forty years in Oneida county. His wife was the daughter of the Rev. 
Thomas Urockway, of Columbia, Conn. 

When eleven years of age Mr. I'itch CMlercd the drug store of j. IC. Warner, of I'lica, where 
he remained as a clerk for nine years. In 1830 he removed to Syracuse and established himself as 
a druggist in the "Green Drug Store" on the north side of Hanover Squ.ire. Soon after he asso- 
ciated with himself Captain Hiram I'utnam. The firm ranicviasT. It. Fitch *: Co. Tiicy sold 
out to Dillaye & Co. in 1846. 

Mr. Fitch was largely inslrinnenlal in forming the Mechanics' r.^nk (aftcrw.ards the Mechanics' 
National Hank), of which he was alternately president and cashier down to the day of his death. 
He was one of the founders and a trustee of the Syracuse Savings liank ; one of the original pro- 
moters, and a director, and for some time president, of the Syr.acuse i: IJinghamton Railroad 
Company: counselor of the Home .\ssociation; one of the founders and a trustee of Oakwood; trustee 
of the First Presbyterian church for more than thirty years ; for several years a trustee of Syracuse 
University; director of the Syracuse Cas Light Company; largely interested in and director of 
several street railway companies ; a member of the firm of Ellis, Wicks & Co., large dealers in 
leather, and at one period heavy dealers in wool ; a member of the firm of Dunn, Salmon i; Co., 
manufacturers of and wholesale dealers in boots and shoes ; and for a long time one of the owners 
of the Fitch and Putnam Tract. 

-Mr. Fitch was not a politician, but he took great interest in public affairs ami contributed gieally 
to the early development of the village, and, later, of the city of his adoption. He was originally a 
Whig, but became an earnest Republican, and especially active in promoting the Union cause during 
the war of the Rebellion. He was a delcg.ate to the Hallimore convention which re-noiuinaled 
Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency. He was public spirited and earest and active in every enter- 
prise which promised advancement to the city or benefit to the public welfare. 

On the 20th of October, 1834, Mr. Fitch married the oldest daughter of Daniel Flllolt, .Miss 
Ursula A. Elliott, sister of Charles Loring Elliott, the artist. He died of acute bronchitis after a 
short illness, .August 27, iSyc), leaving surviving him his widow and five children, Charles Elliott 
Fitch, Eliza .S., wife of A. Judd Northrup, Mary Ella (since decciscd), wife of Charles S. Symonds, 
of Ulica, William E. Fitch, and Jennie 1!. iitch. 



ROHF.RT GERE. In the development of the various business interests which have conlribuled 
to the growth and progress of Syracuse and its vicinity, nor.e Inok .1 more active and efficient 
part than the subject of this brief memoir, the late Robert Gere, 



Biographical. 



Mr. Ore was born in the town of Groton. Connecticut, on the 26lh of November, I79f). His 
early opportunities for eilucalion were sucli only as the common schools afforded, but he possesscil 
a mind of rare vijjor and imusual acuteness of observation — faculties which, in the school of liis 
varied experience, in afier life, enabled him to become a sag.acious judge of human nature and of 
the iliversilied business interests which he inaugurated and successfullv carried out. 

His boyliood days were spent on his father's farm in his native town. In the 24lh ye.ir of his age, 
on the 25th of October, 1S20, he was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Stanton, and removed to 
Florida, .Montgomery county, where he was a contractor on the original Erie t,"anal; and as the 
work approached its completion, by means of a river boat on the Mohawk an<l the finished portion 
of the canal, he removed his family to the town of (leddes in the spring of 1824, and settled on a 
farm purchased from the State, about one and a half miles west of the present village of Geddes. 
Two brothers, William S. and Ch.arles Gere, came and settled on adjoining farms west — one preced- 
ing and the other following Robert Gere. They also purchased their lands from the State, and 
these three adjoining farms were tiien a dense forest, which was cleared by the proprietors and 
made as desirable hon\estcads as any to be found in the county. They are still the property of Gere 
families- 
Mr. Gere, well aware of the effect upon a young and rising community of the beneficial influ- 
ence of education and religion, early gave the land and erected a school building, and maintained 
the same individually for lifteen years. He also united with a few others to form an Episcopal 
Church in the village of Geddes. .Anxious to do more than his farm required at his hands, he early 
engaged in the manufacture of salt, and continued thereafter in that business in all its branches for 
fifty years. In 1S32 he e^lbar'^■ed in the lumber business, and. in connection with the late Joseph 
Hreed, got out and shipped to tide-water a large amount of pine lumber from Cicero Swamp. In 
lS35-'f), in connection with Hon. Elizur Clark, he was a very large contractor in the manufacture 
and deliveiy of the rails and ties for the Utica and Schenectady and the Auburn and Syracuse Rail- 
roads. His house w.is the depot for the latter road when it was run by horses to his place, before 
the deep cut further east was worked through, in 1S3S. 

Although Mr. Clere lost heavily by his generous endorsements for business men, he always man- 
aged by his energy and enterprise to be forehanded, and to keep in successful operation moie than 
one important and lucrative branch of business. In 1S43, leaving his farm, he came to Syracuse 
(then a village) and entered into partnership with those two noted and honored founders of Syracuse, 
William II. .Mexander and Columbus C. Rradley, in their fui.iace and foundry business He sur- 
vived them both. 

In 1S4S his business ability and adaptation for the position made him the appointee of the Gov- 
ernor and the Senate for the olfice .Superintendent of the Onondaga Salt Springs, the duties of which 
he admirably performed till 1851, when he resigned to become a contractor for the building of the 
locks at Salina and doing the section work of the Liverpool level of the Oswego Canal. Shortly 
after this work was completed he, together with the late Horace and Hamilton White, founded the 
Geddes Coarse Salt Company, of which he was President, and engaged in the business of manufactur- 
ing coarse salt on lands lying west of Geddes, and was at the time of his death the President and a 
large stockholder in that enterprise, as well as in the various iron industries now largely under the 
control of his familv. In fact, Mr. Gere was the originator, founder and chief supporter of these 
and many other industries; his mind conceived them and his enterprise and capital supported them. 
Although he w;is the leading mind in many of the prominent industries of Syracuse and Oddes 
he never desired to appear conspicuous in any of them; but, on the contrary, as a wise educator of 
his sons, whose success and honorable standing as business men more than compensate for his gen- 
erous care and assistance, he chose worthily to stimulate their ambition and develop their business 
talents by placing them at the head of the various industries which he h.id been so instrumental in 
creating and supporting. 

Mr. Gere died on the iSth day of December, 1877, aged 81 years and 28 days. Of his family 
there remains to mourn him his widow, the faithful wife of more than half a century; Hon. R. Nel- 
son (iere. President of the Syracuse Iron Works and of the Merchants' National ISank; (leorgc C. 
Gere, Superintendent of the Geddes Coarse Salt Company; Anna, wife of Hon. James J. belden, 



78 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

ex-Mayor of the city of Syracuse; lion. William H. II. Cere, Secretary ol the Onondaga Iron (Com- 
pany and e.v-Supervisor for the Third Ward of Syracuse; and N. Stanton (Jere. late Tresident of the 
Hoard of Supervisors, and representing on the board the town of (Jeddes. These are the children 
of Mr. Gere, born in the order named. Two of his sons represented Onondaga County in the Legis- 
lature, and all of them have exercised an inlluence of great importance in the business interests of 
the city and county. 

The city of .Syracuse and the county of Onondaga owe a large debt of grateful remembrance to 
their sturdy pioneers, among whom Robert Cere assumed a leading position. He was a man of great 
strength of will, and possessed the most positive traits of character. A plain, blunt man, he was 
always just what beseemed to be. His inner nature was a genial, kindly one. He was deeply at- 
tached to his family, and took the keene t pride in the prosperity and advancement of his sons. 

IJuring the last year of his life when intirmities confined him to his residence, his family, with- 
out e.\ception. were unremittmg in their attentions to him and vied with one another in their efforts 
to mitigate his last suffering. When, at last, death had set its seal upon his long, laborious and 
useful life, his four sons bore all that was mortal of him to the grave. 

We clip the following from a brief notice of his death, which appeared in the Dnily Journal of 
December i8, 1877 ; 

".Another of our oldest, most honored and esteemed citizens passed to his eternal rest, when, at 
six o'clock this morning, the death messenger came to Robert Gere. For several days past it was 
apparent to those who gathered at his bedside that his end was near, that his lamp of life was flicker- 
ing. Months ago he was borne dow^n by the weight of years, his physical strength having been al- 
most expended in the faithful discharge of the duties of an exceptionally active life. As colors melt 
away into shades and tints and finally disappear, so his life went out at the age of eighty-one 
years." 



OlIN'ER TEALL was born August 5, 1788, in the town of Killingworth, Conn. His great-grand- 
father came from Holland and settled in this country a number of years previous to the Revolution, 
liis father, with four brothers, served their country in the war for American independence, in all, 
nearly six years each. F.ighteen months of his term his father spent as a prisoner, having been cap- 
tured at Horse Neck, at the lime when Cieneral Putnam made his almost miraculous escape. 

Soon after the close of the war his father, I)r. Timothy Teall, resumed his profession, and, 
about I7(>I, removed with his wife (who.se maiden name was I'hube Hull) and several children, from 
Killingworth into the town of .Manlius, Onondaga County. .Shortly after their removal into .Man- 
lius, Mrs. Teall died, leaving her husband with six children, four daughters and two sons. Oliver, 
the subject of this biography, was then but about four years of .ige. 

Oliver, so soon as he was able, was put to work upon the farm, much of it then being yet unre- 
claimed from the woods. And there he continued to toil until he was 17 or 18 years old, when he 
was allowed to deal for himself, with the understanding that he was to work on the farm when not 
otherwise employed. His facilities for acquiring literary information all this while were, of course, 
very slender. He has been heard to say that all his schooling did not amount to more than one year 
at a common district school. Yet, so soon as he had been taught to read, he began to occupy his 
little leisure time in the perusal of such books as were within his reach. 

He soon after engaged in various branches of business. For a while he conducte<l a limekiln, 
laboring at it himself very hard. Then he entered into partnership in the tanning, currying and 
shoemaking business. Afterwards he engaged in iron smithing, in its various branches. Thus he 
acijuircd a great deal of practical information in a variety of useful arts, which was of inestimable 
value to him in subsequent life. 



J 



Biographical. 79 



In the war of 1S12 he commanded a company, which he ordered to muster in Manlius, and 
marched to Oswego, when it was threatened by the enemy. Hence the title by which he was so 
familiarly known. 

.\t an early period of life. Captain 'real! commenced his speculations in real estate, the buying 
of water powers, erecting mills, carrying them on a while, and when he had made them valuable 
selling them to advantage. The experience which he gained in these transactions,' ([ualilied him for 
an enterprise which, in the event, greatly enhanced his property, and made him more than ever 
known and respected by the business men of this part of the Knipire State. In iSiS, he took what 
was then a large contract on the middle section of the Erie Canal. The thoroughness of the work 
done under his supervision, and the accuracy of his accounts, inspired all who were cognizant of his 
skill and fidelity with the highest confidence. 

Mr. Teall was the father of the first water supply for Syracuse; was very conspicuous in sup- 
port of the educational institutions of the place and was prominent in temperance and benevolent 
work. 

In iSocj, Capt. Teall married Catherine Walter, a farmer's daughter, in the town of .Manlius. 
She was frugal, industrious, gentle, distinguished for her general benevolence, and for her untiring 
devotion to her family. She died September 30, 1S3U. Uy her he had live children, two sons and 
three daughters. 

Soon after his marri.ige, he purchased a farm in Manlius, and erected a commodious stone house, 
which he expected would be his dwelling-place so long as he should live on earth. Hut on his 
appointment to a superintendency upon the Krie Canal, he removed to that part of Syr.icuse which 
was called Lodi, purcha.sed of the State the right to the surplus waters of the west end of the Rome 
level, and erected mills, which for a number of years he man.aged in addition to his public business. 

In the summer of 1857, he was attacked with a disease of the lungs which at lirst assumed a 
serious and alarming appearance. By advice of physicians he was taken to the sea-shore in the hope 
that a ch.ange of climate might restore his wonted powers. In this, however, his friends were doomed 
to disappointment, as he rapidly became worse. They, therefore, started for home with him and on 
arriving at New York the most .skillful medical aid was procured, but without avail. Leaving New 
York for Catskill he was able to reach Newburg only, when he was met by the unerring messenger, 
and on the 15th day of .August, 1S57, summoned to his final rest at the the .-ige of (19 years and to 
days. 



HON. GEOROE FR.VNKLIX COMSTOCK, ex-Judge, and ex-Chief Justice of the Court of 
.•\ppeals, was born at Williamstown, Oswego county, N. Y., August 24, 181 1. The baptismal 
name of his father indicates the New England origin of the family; for his parents with biblical 
reverence and true devotion to the pilgrim temper, gave him the unusual Scripture name Serejah 
(or Seraiah, •'I'rince of the Lord"). Imbued with the spirit of resistance to tyrants, .Serajah Com- 
stock, then in his youth, enlisted in the Revolutionary army, and served until the last enemy surren- 
dered in his presence at the capture of Yorktown. Following the tide of emigration which set in 
after the conclusion of the war, he left his native State, Connecticut, and settled at Williamstown, 
where he died in the boyhood of his son, George K. Comstock. The son, whose early years were 
marked by a love of reading and study, had imbibed in the common schools the desire for a higher 
education, but was thrown on his own resources. By teaching at an early age, and by the aid of 
friends, he acquired the means of pursuing a classical course. He graduated with high honor at the 
Union College in 1834, and then for a time taught the ancient languages in an e.\cellent classical 
school at Utic», N. Y , while he used all his leisure in the study of law. The following year he en- 
tered the ofHce of No.son & Leavenworth, at Syracuse, the former of whom, B. Davis Noxon, held a 
distinguished rank among the best lawyers of the State, while the other, Elias W. Leavenworth, be- 
came well-known as a New N'ork Secretary of State and as a member of the Forty-fourth Congress. 
Here Mr. Comstock completed his legal course as a student, and in |83<), received the hand of Cor- 
nelia, Mr. No.xon's daughter, in marriage. Two years previously, in 1837, he h.id been admitted 



8o Memorial History of Syracuse. 



to the bar, and commenced practice at Syracuse. Devotinj; himself with energy to the practice of 
his profession, he closely studied at the same time the fundamental principles of the law. In 1S47 
he had attained such a reputation for legal acumen and research that he was appointed by (iovernor 
Voung reporter of the Court of appeals, a position previously occupied by IJenio, Hill, and others of 
great and acknowledged ability. The lirst four volumes of the New York Keporls were his three 
years' work as a reporter, during which period he also pursued his profession actively. His reputa- 
tion as a lawyer was now fixed, and his counsel was often sought, especially in the higher courts. 
In 1849 he aided in organizing the Syracuse Sayings Bank, and was one of the incorporators, pres- 
ident Killmore called him to the office of the Solicitor of the Treasury of the United States in 1S52. 
and he served during the remainder of the I'residential term. The Whig party, with which he had 
always acted politically, was now weakened by dissensions, but the Conservative Whigs, then called 
" Silver grays," in unison with the Native American party, nominated and elected him one of the 
judges of the Court of .\ppeal in 1S55. .\t the close of his term of service on the bench, the country 
was excited with the political discussions which preceded the civil war. The old Whig party had 
ceased to exist, and the Conservative Whigs found their natural home with the Democrats. Judge 
Comstock regarded the new Republican organization as fraught with danger to the Union, and en- 
deavored to allay sectional animosities by a consideration of the constitutional questions 
involved. His speeches and addresses, both before and after the commencement of the war, com- 
manded the attention of thinkers in both parties. The Democrats presented his name for re-election 
to the Court of .\ppeals in 1S61, but the tide was setting too strongly in the opposite direction, and 
all the candidates of that party were defeated. This was to Judge Comstock. a most fortunate event, 
as he has ever regarded it. With the increased distinction resulting from his judicial decisions, he 
was recognized throughout New Vork as second to no lawyer in practice. Uisaid w.is sought in 
cases involving the most important principles and the largest interests, but he look time to edit a 
new edition of Kent's Commentaries, at the solicitation of the heirs of the l hancellor. W hen tiie 
convcnion of 1S6S for the revision of the constitution of the State was called, it was 
understood that the judicial .system of the .State required change, and that Judge Comstock was, by 
his legal learning and experience, his breadth of mind and his elevation above partisan inlUience. 
well fitted to aid in the work. He was elected a delegate for the .State at large. To him and to 
ex-Chief Justice l-'olger is to be accredited chiefly the formation of a new judiciary article, which was 
adopted by the convention and submitted to the vote of the people. Judge Comstock h.as taken a 
very prominent part in founding and supporting educational and benevolent instil utions. 1 le initiat- 
ed the movement at Syracuse in iSdi). to secure the establishment of a University at that place, lie 
aroused the interest of the citizens at public meetings, wrote articles for the press in its favor, and, 
above all, donated ^50.1x10 in addition to the !(liuo,()00 required of the city for its location there. 
Since the organization in 1S70, he has been one of the trustees, and is now the lirst vice- President 
of the Hoard. I'ine buildings have been erected, and the institution is provided with an ab'e faculty. 
While the University is under the auspicies of the Methodist denomination, Judge Comstock is a 
member of St. Paul's (Protestant E\ i>copal) Church. He may also Le considered as the founder of 
the "St. lohn's School for Hoys," at .Manlius, as it is now organized. The institution was incor- 
poraied in 1869, but necessary changes have been recently made, and $60,000 presenteil 10 it by 
Judge Comstock. Judge Comstock is one .f the trustees of the State Idiot .\syliini, at Syracuse, 
appointed by the Governor, l-'or many )ears he has been connected with various financial and busi- 
ness enterprises. In 1S6S he was one of the incorporators of the Syracuse. Chenango and New 
Vork Railroad, and became a director of the company; the road was completed in 1873. Like many 
other residents of Syracuse having surj^lus capital, he has invested in the great salt interest. He 
originated and is President of the American Dairy Salt Company, and Treasurer of the "Union" 
and "Western" Coarse Salt Companies. He is a director of the Syracuse Cias Company, and of the 
Water Companv, and a director of various other manufacturing and commercial corporations. His 
co-operation in public movements and associated effort has been invaluable to his co-workers. In 
his legal and business temperament he preserves the mean between the theorist who does not regard 
the application of principles, and the routinist who does not look beyond precedents and immediate 
surroundings, lilcnding a dignifid presence with simple and engaging manners, and profound at- 
tainments with practical usefulness, he enjoys in his ripened age the universal repute of a learned 
jurist, a true gentleman, and a friend of humanity. 



HlOGRArillCAl.. 8l 



HON. EDWARIl H. JUDSON, President of the First National Bank of Syracuse, and a well 
known financier, was born at Coxsackie. (jreene county. New \'ork. January il, 1S14. 
His parents came of old New Knjjland families, his father having moved to Greene county, N. V., 
from Woodbury. Litchfield county. Conn., and his mother being a native of Branford, on the south- 
ern shore of that State, near New Haven, Inheriting the intelligence and sterling character of New 
Kngland life, they imp-irted the best thought and training of the time to their son, who was a ready 
and proficient pupil. The mother's brother, Ralph Barker, who had been .tssociated svith Erastus 
Corning in the .\lbany City Bank, opened a banking office at Coxs.ickie. and the nephew, as clerk, 
there received the rudiments of a profession which was to be the special sphere of his mature life. 
In the meantime he developed a remarkable .-iptitude for business, and with characteristic New Eng- 
land enterprise sought other fields of effort. At the age of twenty-two he commenced the manufac- 
ture of lumber with his brother. \V. A.. Judson. at Constantia. Oswego county, and at a later period 
became associated with the same brother in the lumber commission business at Alb.iny, which latter 
association extended over a period of twenty years or more. In connection with his lumber interest 
at Constantia Mr. judson also engaged in the manufacture of iron at the same place. When twenty- 
four years of age he was elected a member of the State .•\ssembly, serving during the years 1839 and 
1841, and being Chairman of the Committee on Cities and Villages, and also Chairman of the Select 
Committee on the State Lunatic Asylum. As his business progressed his varied experience and ex- 
tended connections thoroughly familiarized him with the details and operations of banking. He 
foresaw the prospective wants of Central New \'ork, and especially of the growing city of Syracuse, 
of which he became a resident in 1849. In 1S50 the Merchants' Bank of this city was organized 
under the presidency of John 1). Norton, and Mr. Judson became the Vice-I'residenl. The Board 
of Direction consisted ol the leading business men of the city and vicinity. Of its dozen or more Di- 
rectors Mr. Judson is now the only survivor. Two years afterward the Salt Springs Bank was 
organized in this great center of salt production, and Thomas G. .•Vlvord became President, with 
Mr. Judson, who was one of the original Directors, as Cashier. This position he filled most accepta- 
bly for six years, durng which time the institution became firmly established with a stable and pros- 
perous business, when he resigned to aid in the organization of the Lake Ontario Bank of Oswego. 
During all these years Mr. Judson. notwithstanding his banking enterprises, continued his man- 
ufacturing operations with unabated vigor, and added, to the great staples of lumber and iron, the 
production of salt. The Lake Ontario Bank, of which Mr. Judson was Cashier and chief executive 
officer, was remarkable for the character and position of its stockholders, and rightly denominated 
a ■' bankers' bank." from the large and controlling ownership of the stock by officers of other banks, 
including such names as John A. Stevens and C H. Russell. President and Vice-I'resident, and 
Henry F. Vail, Cashier of the Bank of Commerce, New York city ; Erastus Corning and H. H. 
Martin, President and Vice-President of the Albany City Bank; Rufus H King and J. H. Van Ant- 
werpt. President and Cashier of the State Bank of Albany ; J B. Plumb, President of the Bank of 
the Interior, Albany ; Hamilton White, Horace White, John D. Norton, and Thomas B. Fitch, 
Presidents respectively of the Onondaga County Bank, the Bank of Syracuse, the .Merchants' Bank, 
and the Mechanics' Bank, all of the city of Syracuse; G. B. Rich. President of the Bank of Attica. 
Buffalo ; and Luther Wright. President of Luther Wright's Bank. Oswego. Among other promi- 
nent stockholders were Thurlow Weed. John L. Schoolcraft. David Hamilton, John Knower, F. T. 
Carrino-ton. George (Jeddes. and William A. Judson. In time Edward B. Judson's reputation as a 
banker extended until it rested upon the broad foundation of public confidence, and his ability, sound 
judgment, and fidelity to the interests confided to his keeping were widely known and appreciated. 
It was not strange, therefore, that his counsel and co-operation should be sought when the general 
government, in 1S63. organized a plan designed to bring the banking institutions of the country 
under one system. It svas a bold and difficult step. It might be hazardous. It was likely to meet 
the opposition of the timid and short sighted, and sure to be denounced by the reckless and unscru- 
pulous. The customs and the legislation of the States varied. The interests of different sections 
were supposed to be conflicting. Many looked with distrust and alarm at all attempts to increase 
the relative power ami influence of the central government, and many others were ready to profess 
such a belief. The avenues of the banking business were open to men wiihout experience and wilh- 

K 



82 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



out capital. There were banks of circulation with deposits, and banks of deposit without discounts. 
The change could not be made by any institution, weak or strong, without immediate trouble and 
e.\pense. Success depended upon securing the united support of sound bankers generally through- 
out the country. The author of the N'ational Banking .\ct was the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
had the advantage or the opportunity of personal effort to make his scheme practically effective. Mr. 
Chase summoned the best and most influential financiers to Washington, Mr. Judson was of the 
number. The consultation was not long nor the result doubtful. Mr. Judson gave his opinion, and, 
immediately after returning, proceeded, at the request of Secretary Chase, to make his opinion and 
patriotism of practical value, by organizing the I'irst National Hank of Syracuse, which stands as No. 
6 in the archives of the government. Mr. Judson became the I'resident, John Crouse the Vice-Presi- 
dent, and George B. Leonard the Cashier. The capital, which at first was $100,000, has been 
since increased to $250,000. There has been a marked contrast between the e.tperience of the First 
National and that of the Merchants' Bank, established thirteen years before, in the continuance of 
its Directors. While all of Mr. Judson's former associates in the .Merchants' National Bank have, 
as before stated, been removed by death, there have been but few changes from that cause in the 
Board of the First National Bank. E. B. Judson, jr., is now the Vice-1'resident. The two 
executive officers have occupied the same posts without interruption from that time to the present. 
The following year (the year 1S64) Mr. Judson became Chairman of the E.\ecutive Committee of the 
National Hanking Association, and continued to fill that position for eleven years, having as his asso- 
ciates on the committee the well known bankers George F. Baker, P. C. Calhoun, Thomas Coleman, 
Charles B. Hall, J. L. Norris, W. F. Coolbaugh, John W. Ellis, Frederic \V. Cronen, F. B. I.oomis, 
Clarence II Clark. Hisoccupation as a banker did not prevent the extension of his manufacuring in- 
terests, and he added 10 his other industries the production of glass which he has continued for 
some eighteen years, and is now the President of the Syracuse Glass Company. At the National 
Bank Convention held in New York, October 19, 1864, '.Mr. Judson made an address, wherein he ut- 
tered the folloA'ing words, which time anJ experience have verified in a remarkable manner : 

" The system of banking that we are now adopting is destined, in my judgment, to become the only 
one that has any vitality in this nation, and I have no doubt that the State banks generallv will find 
it for their interests to m.ike the change. Many of them, and very justly, too, have a pride in keeping 
up the name under which they have been so successful and gained such a wide-spread reputation ; 
but under the late act that Is obviated, and they can retain tne old name if desired, .\gain, allow 
me to say to you, in adopting this new system, let us try and live up stricily to the act under which 
we are organized. If we do, I have no fear of its success ; and 1 hope If the Comptroller of the 
Currency finds that in our reports, which the law requires us to make, we do not keep up our reserve 
fund, but allow our accounts to be overdrawn at the points where our funds should be to take care of 
our circulation and deposits, he will at once give us notice to wind up our institutions. I consider 
that clause in the law, which requires us to keep up a large reserve fund, one of the most important in 
the act, and 1 hope the Comptroller will have it strictly enforced." 

Mr. Judson has had little time or inclination for political life since his early membership in the 
Legislature, but in 1S68 he allowed his name to be presented .is candidate for Presidential elector, 
and was defeated, that being the year tlovernor Hoffman was elected. In 1S69 the Trust and De- 
posit Company of Onondaga was organized with Dudley P. Phelps as I'resident, and Daniel P. 
Wood and Edward B. Judson as Vice-Presidents. This institution .actsas a savings bank and as the 
custodian of papers and other valuables, and does a general trust business, and likewise the adminis- 
tration of estates to a considerable extent. Its vaults for the safe keeping of special deposits are 
very secure, and supplied with the most recent appliances for convenieace and prolection. .Mr. Jud- 
son is also a Trustee of the Metropolitan Trust Company of New York city. In 1S70 he was one of 
the incorporators of the Syracuse Northern Railroad, and became freisurerof the company. He 
was at one time a Director in the New York Central Railroad Company, and is now a Director in the 
.\merican Express Company, being a member of the Finance Committee of that company. In 1S73 he 
became interested in the State Bank of Syracuse, which was formeil principally by the incorporators 
of the Trust and Deposit Company, and .Mr. Judson was chosen a Director. He was also for some 
time a I )lrector of the Syracuse National Bank, which was then the oldest bank in the city, having been 
first organized under the State laws in 1839. This institution went into liquidation in 1S77. .Mr. 
Judson continues, at the age of nearly seventy-eight years, in the active duties of the presidency 



BlOCRAnilCAL. 83 



of the First National Bank of Syracuse, which has added to its capital of $230, 000 a large surplus, 
and is iloinij a steady and profitable business, with deposits amounting to some $1,275,000. When 
the new building of the Onondaga County Savings liank was erected, at a cost of ifsoo.ooo, premises 
were prepared in it expressly for the Kirst National Bank, with furniture and equipments surpassed 
by none, and with special provision for security against burglars, including a steel-lined vault of 
solid masonry with triple doors and safe of most approved construction. The present Directors are 
v.. B. Judson, E. B. Judson, jr., Jacob Crouse. G. B. Leonard, E. K. Rice. C. W. Sno w, Dennis 
McCarthy, John McCarthy, and E. F. Holden. 

Though devoting most of his time to the management of this institution. Mr. Judson continues 
the manuf,-icture of lumber at Constantia. and is interested in the proiluction of iron, salt, and glass 
at Syracuse. With all these demands, and the manifold duties incident to the life of a prominent and 
public spirited citizen, he yet finds time to look after educational interests elsewhere, and serves as 
one of the Trustees of Wells College at Aurora. Such is the brief record of one whose life work has 
been alike.active and beneficent. The key to his success is the mastery of one field of enterprise 
before assuming much risk in another. Possessing that moral courage which arises from the con- 
sciousness of one who commands his circumstances and knows his latent strength, with an aptitude 
for achieving difficult results, great energy in pursuing the details of business, and with an open rec- 
titude, winning public confidence, he has, in diverse occupation through a long and busy life, dem- 
onstrated the sure triumph of industry and economy intelligently applied. Mr. Judson was married 
in 1S45, to Sarah Williams, daughter of Coddington B. Williams, of Syracuse, He has one son 
I". B. Judson, jr., a gentleman of thorough business qualifications and a promising future. 

.\lr. Judson is also prominent in church and charity affairs. He is a regular attendant of the 
May Memorial Church (Unitarian), and for a number of years has been President of its Board of 
Trustees. He is the Treasurer of St. Joseph's Hospital, in which he is deeply interested, a Trustee 
for the Home for Old Ladies, and heartily in sympathy with all benevolent works. 



HON. J AMFS J. BKLDEN was born in the town of Kabius. Onondaga county, in the year 182:;. 
With only a common school education he commenced his business career at an early age in a 
village store in his native town. From there he went to Adams, Jefferson county, N. \'., where he 
remained five years as clerk and partner in the business of a country merchant. In 1S50 he joined 
the host of migrators to California, where he followed various pursuits for three years, and returned 
to .Syracuse. Here he first became a partner in a crockery business, but disposed of his interest in 
1855, and from that lime gave his attention largely to the construction of public works by contract 
an occupation in which he was a large operator for a number of years. Having married the daugh- 
ter of the late Robert Gere, one of the foremost of the early residents of Syracuse, and a large manu- 
facturer and contractor, Mr. Belden naturally took up that line of business in which his qualifications 
seemed to adapt him. His first contract, in whichhe was associated with his father-in-law, was in connec- 
tion with the enlargement of the Oswego Canal. Subsequently, in company with his brother, A. C. 
Belden, and the late Henry P. Denison, he engaged extensively in the construction of railroads, res- 
ervoirs, canals, and other public works, the firm becoming widely and favorably known throughout 
the State and elsewhere. Among the important contracts which they performed were the buildlno^ 
of the street railroads in Detroit, the enlargement of the Iocks on the Welland Canal in Canada, the 
construction of the Syracuse Northern Railroad, the new reservoir of the Croton Water Works in 
Putnam county, and the removal of the rock blasted out of Hell Clate besides numerous large con- 
tracts for dredging in New York and other harbors, and for repairs and improvements on the canals 
of this State. Their last important work was the building ol the West Shore Railroad between Syra- 
cuse and Little Falls. Aside from these operations Mr. Belden was for a number of years con- 
nected with various manufacturing and commercial enterprises at Syracuse and elsewhere, and with 
several of the incorporated companies of the city of Syracuse. He was prominently connected with 
the Kirst and Third National Banks of Syracuse, and in 18S1 established the Robert (iere Bank 



84 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



(thus named in honor of his father-in-law), which now ranks among the largest and most successful 
of the financial institutions of Central New York. 

In politics Mr. Belden has always been an earnest and active Republican, of a practical and con- 
servative character. In this -mportant field he has brought to bear the same qualifications that have 
given him such flattering success in his own private affairs ; not as a seeker after office, which he has 
never been, but as one who saw some desirable end to gain (or the welfare of community and St.ite. 
His accurate judgment of men and affairs, his sturdy common sense and practical effort, brought him 
into prominence and gave him marked influence in the councils of his parly long before he was called 
to any official station. In 1877. when his own business interests were large and e.\<icting, he was 
induced to accept the nomination for the office of Mayor of Syracuse, a nomination which was prac- 
tically unanimous, and under which he was elected by an unusual majority. In that position he 
exhibited rare executive ability and capacity for the management of public affairs, instituting sub- 
stantial reforms in almost every department of the city government, and carrying on its business with 
the same simple yet potent efficiency that had always characterized the management of his private 
affairs. His re-election followed in 1S7S by an increased majority, and so popular was his previous 
administration that he carried into the Common Council nearly all the Republican nominees. With- 
out dispar.iging the work of others it must be said that no Mayor of the city has ever retired from a 
more useful and honorable administration. In 18S7 he was elected to Congress, in which body his 
work was of the same useful, unpretentious, yet powerful, nature that had characterized his previous 
public acts, and his constituents showed their high appprecialion of his legislative labors by re- 
election, under which he still occupies the office. 

It is not, however, on account of the ample fortune he has accumulated, or his increasing influ- 
ence in political affairs, that Mr. Helden is best known and most respected. In an unusual degree 
he possesses the qualities of mind and heart which win the confidence of his associates and the affec- 
tion of his friends The extent of his benevolence in public and private ch.irities will never be known; 
he probably does not know it himself. He has recently given to the city of Syracuse the noble.st ben- 
efaction it has ever received — a library building to cost at least ij!i 50,000 ; and his practical charities 
are constantly aiding public institutions of every character and the unfortunate and needy in all ranks 
of life. Kndowed w-ith great force of character, resolute and self-reliant, public spirited to an unus- 
ual degree, and generous of time and means for public and private good, he has drawn upon himself 
the good will and gratitude and friendship of all who know him. 



ALl-RKD \. IIOWI.K TT, President of the Salt Springs National Bank, was born l-'ebruary 17, 
1821, in the town of Onondaga, Onondaga county, N. Y., and is distinctively a representative 
citizen of the county of his birth. His father, I'arley Howlett, was born in Shaftsbury, Vt., June i, 
1784, the second son in a family of five sons and three daughters of I'arley Howlett and liarsheba 
I'arker. I'arley, sr. , was one of three brothers who came from I-^ngland but sailed from France, 
He located in Shaftsbury, Yt , where his son I'arley was born, and moved in 1797 to Onondaga 
county. New York, settling in Onondaga Hollow, and the same spring removed to land which he 
had purchased in the northwest corner of the town of Onondaga, and which is still known as 
" Howlett Hill." Six years later he died. His son's was one of the first deeds recorded in the 
County Clerk's office of this county. 

I'arley Howlett, jr., received a limited education from books, but early became so inured to 
self-reliance and habits of industry as to make his subsequent career a worthy record in the history of 
Onondaga county, lie spent his minority in farming, and at the age of twenty-three bought too 
acres of land which he soon reclaimed from the wilderness. In seven years more he was the owner 
of 300 acres, and soon began the manufacture o( salt at Geddes. using at first eight kettle-blocks, 
then sixteen, and subsequently thirty-two. He was the first to ship salt west, boating it down the 
Oswego River, thence by the lake, and drawing it around Niagara Falls by teams Kxchanging his 
salt for Ivirsfs ;ind cattle he would kill the l.iilL-r and pick the nvjat for ilie eastern markets. AiXcr 



BlOGRAnilCAL. 



85 



the canal was completed he packed his meat in Syracuse, his packing house being located opposite 
the present Weigh Lock. He shipped the first beef and pork in barrels, by the Krie Canal, that was 
sent e.ist from this country. 

July 21, 1S05. Parley married Miss Phebc Robins, a native of Connecticut. Their family con. 
sisted of eleven children, as follows : Solomon R.. Horatio G., Myron P., I.aiitia K., [ane M, Par- 
ley l... Alfred .v., Celestia S., Daniel, Francis C, and Jerome, two of whom, Celestia S.and .\lfred A 
are living. Mr. Howlett died May iS. 1S61. 

.\lfred .v. Hewlett spent his youth in assisting his father in his occupations, and thus early ac- 
quired an e.xcellent business training and habits of thrift and frugality. His father intended to give 
him a collegiate training, but owing to delicate health he was obliged to forego that opportunity and 
apply him-elf to out-door affairs. He was early employed in making collections by the brothers of 
Horace and Hamilton White, who were then prominent bankers of .Syracuse. Having succeeded in 
accumulating a few hundred dollars, in 1S42 he purchased the packing establishment formerly owned 
by his father in Geddes, which proved a most prolitable investment. In the meaniime the .Messrs 
White had watched with considerable curiosity the remarkable development of the business qualities 
of young Howlett. and «eting that his course indicated a decided aptitude for mercantile transactions 
they voluntarily offered him all the money he needed at the regular rate of interest. Having thus be- 
come fortified with the conlidence of two of the best friends a young man can have, Mr. Howlett 
svas enabled to c.vtend his business, and in 1843 he established a packing-house at Delphi, Ind on 
the Wabash River, and soon after a similar concern at Oswego, N. V., then a distributing point for 
Can.idaanM the East. At the latter place he also engaged in the elevator, milling, and banking busi- 
ness, and at Delphi he dealt largely in cattle and grain. This varied business was successfully con- 
ducted till about 1S67, under different firm names, as Spears. Case & Co., at Delphi, and .\mes How- 
lett i\: Co., in banking, and Howlett, (Jardner & Co , in milling and the provision trade, at Oswet'o 
In iS(>7 the packing concern was discontinued 

l!y this time Syracuse had assumed considerable proportions, and Mr. Hewlett's business was 
rapidly becoming identified with its growth and prosperity. In S59 he had been elected President 
of the Salt Springs Bank, which in 1S52 was organized under the presidency of Hon Thomas G 
Alvord and the cashiership of Hon. Edward B. Judson, and of which Mr. Howlett was one of the 
early Directors. .Mr. .\lvord was succeeded Ijy William Clark as President and .Mr. Judson by ('01- 
nelius .Mvord as Cashier in 1858. Mr. Howlett was elected Vice-President in January, 1859, and 
acted temporarily as Cashier. The following June Thomas J. Leich was elected Cashier and Mr 
Howlett. President. In 1S65 the institution followed the general current and re-organized as the 
-Salt .Springs National Hank, and to-day this is one of the strongest banking concerns in Central New 
York. Since 1S59 ^'i"- Howlett has guided its business career with a firm hand and e.vcellent judg- 
ment. His able management is universally acknowledged. He is widely known, and his financial 
views are highly respected. 

In 1S76 the .Syracuse .Savings Hank erected its present fine structure at a cost of ^300,000, and 
since that date Mr. Howlett s institution has occupied commodious quarters in that building. The 
bank has a capital of |:20o,ooo, with deposits amounting to about $515,500. The present officers are- 
Alfred A. Howlett, President; Thomas J. Leach, Cashier; David A. Munro, Charles Hubbard 
Alfred A. Howlett, Robert Dey, William Brown Smith, Isaac H. .Munro, A. Ames Howlett, T. I 
I.c.ich. and Giles Evcrson, Directors. 

Mr. Howlett in 1S6S lent his valuable assistance to the construction of the Syracuse and Che- 
nango Valley Railroad : this road was opened in part in 1872, and its whole length in 1S74. He was 
oneof the incorporators and first Directors, and afterward became the President. Among Mr. How- 
lett's associ.ites named in the articles of incorporation are Hon. George !•". Comstock. Dennis McCar- 
thy, James J. Belden, Dr. John .\I. Wieiing, John Greenway, and John VV. Barker, of whom Dr 
Wieting was the first President. 

He takes a deep interest in educational and benevolent matters, and although he has been 
obliged to fight the battle of life and triumph over its obstacles without the advantages of an early 
education, he is keenly alive to those advantages and desirous that others should enjoy them. In 
18S0 he was elected one of the Trustees "at large" of Syracu.se University, under that part of the 



86 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



charter which requires that at least six of these Trustees shall not be members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. He is himself an attendant and a liberal supporter of the Kirst I'resbvterian Church. 
Me is also Tresident of the Syracuse Gas Light Company, President of the New York lirick and 
Paving Company, a Director of the Syracuse Water Company, a Director of the Salt Springs Solar 
Coarse Salt Company (thirty-seven years), a Trustee of the Onondaga County Orphan Asylum, a Di- 
rector of the Syracuse-Hrewerton IMank Road Company, and Vice-President of the Charleston, Sum- 
ter, and Northern Railroad Company. Mr. Howlett is a striking f.xample of the force of industry 
and probity. Without pecuniary means at the outset of life, and possessing a delicate constitution, 
he has pursued a uniformly successful careerand maintained the highest commercial credit. A warm 
friend, a safe counselor, an indulgent husband and father, he merits that implicit confidence and high 
esteem ever accorded an honest man. 

June 19, 1844, .Mr. Howlett married Miss Minerva .Ames, of Me.tico. Oswego county. N Y.. 
daughter of Leonard Ames, a prominent pioneer of that section. He has two children. .Mfred Ames 
Howlett, one of the Directors of the .Salt Springs National Bank, and .Vugusta .Vdell, wife of J. V. 
Durston, of Syracuse. A. Ames Howlett is also President of the (^'arolina Land and Improvement 
Company, of Sumter, S. C, and his was the leading spirit in the recent construction of the Charles- 
ton, Sumter, and Northern Railroad in that Stale. 



HON. PETER BURNS was bom in the city of Dublin, Ireland, July 30, 1S14. He was the 
only child of David and Mary ( Dempsey) Burns, both of whom were natives of Dublin. When 
four years of age his mother died, aged twenty-si.t years. In the spring of iSiq the father and son 
emigrated to .-Vmerica, on board a merchant vessel bound to New York city. After a stormy voyage 
the vessel was wrecked off Sandy Hook, but nearly all the passengers were saved, .\rriving at New 
York, where he remained but a short time, they located in Delaware county on the east branch of the 
Delaware River, the father returning to New York to follow his previous business of brewing and 
distilling. Five years later David Burns removed to Ulster county, where he remained until his 
death, which occurred in 1S50. 

During the period when the subject of this sketch lived in Delaware county the country in that 
section was new and comparatively unsettled, and afforded very limited advantages for schooling. I le 
lived most of the time with a French family, and learned to speak their language quite fluently. .Vt 
the age of twelve years he went to Ul.ster county, where his father had located, and there passed the 
succeeding live years in a family of Hollanders, working on a farm, but obtaining very restricted op- 
portunities for bettering his education from books ; he was, however, well schooled in habits of indus- 
try, economy, frugality, and morality, and carefully diciplined in the doctrines of the Reformed Dutch 
Church. It was in this model family that the turning point in his life was reached, and from that 
five years of experience he dates the real beginning of his later career. 

.\t the age of seventeen he began work .is an apprentice to the saddlery trade in Ulster county. 
N. v., and remained there and at Woodstock until he was twenty one years of age. when he went 
to .New York city to still further perfect his mechanical skill. /Xfter two years spent in that city 
he came to Syracuse in the year 1836, w hile it was yet a village. After following his trade as a jour- 
neyman until the spring of 1840 he made a tour of the Western States to recuperate his impaired 
health, returning to Syracuse in the following autumn. Mr. Burns felt the need of better education, 
and being unable physically to continue at his trade he spent the following two years in study at the 
Onondaga Academy, with a view of fitting himself for a teacher ; but after obtaining his diploma 
he was induced to enter upon a clerkship in a saddlery hardware store in Syracuse, where he remained 
five years. By following his principle of living within his means he had by this lime accumulaied 
sufficient to embark in trade for himself, and he accordingly opened a store for the sale of saddlery 
hardware, which he successfully conducted until the year 1853, when he began the manufaciure of 
saddlery hardware in partnership with the l.iie Ka>son Krazer. This business was continui d with 



Hnir.RAPiiiCAi,. 87 



steadily increasing success, until the dealh of Mr. Frazer, in 1876, by which time it had become 
one of the leading industries of the kind in the country, and its product found a market in most of 
the States of the Union. /Vfter the death of .Mr. I'Vazer Mr. Burns continued the business one year 
and then retired, leaving his son, Willis 15. Hums, in full possession of his interest. 

In politics Mr. Hums was early identified with the Whig party, and afterwards with the Anti- 
slavery party ; but on the formation of the Republican party he became and has always continued an 
ardent and consistant supporter of its principles. His quiet and elTeclive work in the political field, 
gave Mr. Hums a position of strength with his party, and his ability was recognized in various ways. 
After tilling several stations of trust in the city he was elected to the Legislature, and served in that 
body two terms- 1S71-72. His legislative record is one of entire credit, and thoroughly effective 
in its results. He was on the Committee on Election and Privileges and the still more important 
Committee on Railroads. In the later capacity Mr. Burns was instrumental in effecting much impor- 
tant legislation, notably the preparation and passage of the Open-Cut and Viaduct Bill, which gave 
the New Vork Central Railroad Company its present means of reaching the Grand Union depot in 
New York city from Harlem, a work which cost about ^20,000,000. The first charter of the Gil- 
bert Klevated Railroad Company was also passed during that period, which action has led directly to 
the establishment of the great elevated railroad system of the metropolis. 

He served as Supervisor of the Si\th ward of Syracuse in iS;g-6o, and was several years Chair- 
man of the Board of Inspectors of the Onondaga County Penitentiary. He was one of the first Police 
Commissioners of the city, and as Chairman of that Board assisted in the present organization of the 
police force. He has been a Director in the Merchants' National Bank for thirty years, and for many 
years a Director in the Trust and Deposit Company, and its Vice-President at one period. In all of 
these positions Mr. Burns has exhibited that sound judgment and prudent business capacity which 
have given him the confidence of his associates. For several years as Trustee and a member of the 
Executive Committee of the Syracuse University, he has rendered to that institution valuable services. 

.•\t the age of twenty years Mr. Burns became a member of the Reformed Dutch Church, but 
upon his coming to Syracuse he united with the First Presbyterian Church, and was for a time Su- 
perintendent of its Sunday-school. He was one of nine persons to organize the Reformed Dutch 
Church, in lames street, and contributed to the erection of the present Plymouth Church, of whose 
Board of Trustees he was President for about thirty years. In his support of the various char- 
ities of the city Mr. Burns has been conspicuously liberal, especially in connection with the Onon- 
daga Orphan .Vsvlum. over which he has for many years exercised a watchful care. He is at 
present President of its Board of Trustees. The present excellent arrangement of the structure is 
largely due to him. 

The career of Mr. Burns in this city is one of unusual material success, and at the same time 
commands the respect of all who are acquainted with it for its unostentatious interest in the general vvell- 
being of the community and its consistent Christian character. 

On the gth of May, 1850, Mr. Burns married Elizabeth, daughter of Joshua Bates and Jane 
Phillips, both natives of Chesterfield. Mass. They have two cliildren, Hon. Willis B. Burns, of Syra- 
cuse, and Flora E., wife of Lyman C. Smith, of Syracuse. 



HENRV H. LOOM IS, a native of Onondaga county, and for the past sixteen years a resident 
of Syracuse, was born in Cicero, April 20, 1833. More fortunate than most families, this 
one has produced one member, Elias Loomis, LL.D., professor of Natural Philosophy and Astron- 
omy in Vale College, who had the rare good sense to compile a book of ancestral descent, entitled 
•• Genealogy of the Loomis Family." published at New Haven in 1870, and giving the names and 
residences of 4.305 of the descendants of Joseph Loomis, one of the first settlers of Windsor, Conn. 
From this we learn that Joseph Loomis, of Braintree, Essex county, England, born about ijgo, a 
woolen draper by trade, sailed, with his wife, five sons, and three daughters, from London, April 11, 
i(>3S, in the ship Siismi and ElUn, which arrived in Boston, July 17, 1638 ; that the family settled 



88 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



in the town of AYintlsor, Conn., where they bought land in 1640 ; that Joseph Loomis had a son 
Joseph, also born in England; that Joseph Loonils, jr., had a son James, born in Windsor, Conn., in 
l66g ; that James Loomis had a son Nathaniel, born in Windsor in 1712 ; that Nathaniel Loomi-; 
had a son Jabez, born in Coventry, Conn.; thai Jabez Loomis ha J a son Ebenezer, born in West- 
moreland, N. Y., in 1765 ; that Ebenezer Loomis had a son Chester, born in VYestmoreland, N. Y., 
in 17S5, who was the father of Henry H. I^oomis, the subject of this sketch. Such a genealogical 
record, with no missing links, would enable many families in -America to become possessed of large 
estates left in the old countries, whose rightful heirs here are helpless because of the negligence of 
their ancestors to keep and preserve correct family records. 

Chester Loomis married Abby Adams, and became a farmer at Central Square, Oswego county, 
K. Y., where seven children were born to them. In 1S23 they came to Cicero and bought a farm of 

150 acres, on which the house was built by Lynch in iSog. Here five more children were 

added to the previous group of seven, and here these worthy parents spent the afternoon and even- 
ing of their earthly existence, rearing these twelve children to maturity, and equipping them for the 
momentous journey of life. The care and toil, the prudence, the wisdom necessary to the cred ' 
iiablc issue of such a life-long task take rank with the competent management of comple.K public 
affairs, and command the admiration and respect of every reflecting person. To such faithful, self- 
sacrificing parents the foundations of good society and the perpetuity of national life are indcbied. 
'Iheir acts should be remembered with gratitude, recounted with pride, and recorded with care by 
their descendants. Of this old-fashioned family Henry was the youngest. Happily for him the 
years of his minority — that period when so unconsciously, but never so surely, habits are formed and 
character receives a stamp that no succeeding period can entirely obliterate — were passed amid the 
blessed surroundings of a good home. There his impulsive, buoyant boyhood expanded into youth 
and rounded into manhood. The old-fashioned district school, succeeded by a few terms at the Ho- 
mer Academy, were his educational helps. It is a serious inquiry whether the multiform surface- 
garnish of the modern graded schools or the feverish, reacting overstrain of our State Norma! schools 
are furnishing more adequate equipments for the sturdy struggles of life. Chester Loomis died at the 
old homestead in Cicero, September 7. 1S51. 

The year 1S54 was an eventful one for the subject of our sketch. He married Clara Marriam, 
of Cicero, and in company with his brother, Addison J. Loomis, bought the interests of the heirs to 
his father's farm. Ten children were living. Two daughters had died before their father, one of 
whom had left children. The two brothers ran in debt for nine-elevenths of the estate, and in five 
years they paid every dollar. This proved the stud they were made of. They won the first battle, 
and so made all the rest easier. In 1S59 hesold his interest in the farm to his brother, A. J. Loomis, 
and left the parental roof, under which his first twenty-si.x years had been so happily spent. 

With a desire to see the wild West he bid his young wife good bye for a season and started for 
Pike's Peak. The railroad terminated at Jefferson City, from whence he took a .Missouri River 
steamboat for Kansas City, then only a sort of trading post of 2,500 people. There were seven in 
his party, and the journey with ox-teams from there to Denver took them seven weeks. It seems 
queer to think that the site of the present opulent city of Denver consisted then of five sod houses, 
all told ; but Mr. Loomis says that was the sum total of the buildings. There were swarms of 
adventurers there, camping on the bare ground or under blankets and tents. Krom there the 
party packed on horses and mules one hundred miles to the mines, where they eagerly joined the 
ranks and dug for gold. When cold weather came in the fall Mr. Loomis returned home with a little 
more money in his pocket than when he started, pluss an experience of great value. For the next 
fifteen years he was again a farmer in his native town. In 1875 he went into politics and was elected 
Superintendent of the Poor for Onondaga County on the Republican ticket. This caused his removal 
to Syracuse, which has been his home ever since. Three years later he was re-elected to a second 
term, which expired in iSSi. 

Mr. Loomis now found more lime to devote to business interests. He had, in 1S77, become 
interested in the canning industry, and in company with others had built an extensive canning fac- 
tory in Cicero, and later one in this city, in both of which he still retains a large interest and part 
nership. The firm of IL H, Freeman and IL H. Loomis is also the largest willow basket manufact- 



BlOGKAl'HlCAL. 



iircr ill the State of New York. A fuller statement of these canning and basket industries may be 
seen in the manufacturing chapter in this book. 

In i8Sq Mr l.oomis made a second trip to Colorado, when he became so deeply interested in 
the wonderful mineral resources of that State that he made investments in mining lands and organ- 
ized " rhe Oro Mining and Milling Company" at Breckenridge, of which he is President, with five 
directors in Syracuse and four in Colorado. He is also President of the Onondaga Coal and Oil 
Company, the American Ulcach and Chemical Company, the Eastern Building and Loan Association 
of Syracuse, and the Onondaga County Loan and Trust Company. He has always retained a liking 
for farming, and in 1SS2, "83, '84, and '85 he was President of the Onondaga County Agricultural 
Society. Mr. Loomis had the great misfortune to lose his wife in 1888, leaving three children — Ed- 
win L., who is his p.irtner in business; Dora, wife of Dr. D. H. Murry ; and Anna Grace, the 
central joy of her father's home. With an excellent constitution, good health, and the good sense 
not to overtax his energies, Mr. Loomis undoubtedly has many years of useful activity and quiet 
enjoyment before him. His life has been marked by that simplicity and rectitude of character that 
well become a successful man. 



WILLIAM .v. DUNCAN, Ph. 1). — William A. Duncan came to Syracuse sametime previous to 
1S40, when it was but a hamlet. Me had been tiaii.ed from youth as a workman on the 
granite buildings of Aberdeen, Scotland, and was a finely educated builder and master mechanic. 
Me was the son of Alexander Duncan, a man well known in his day as an educator, and one of the 
best educated men on Dee side. With him came his young wife Mary, the daughter of James 
Wood, of Airlie, Scotland. He located here because he saw the great possibilities of the city, be- 
cause of its nearness to the limestone quarries. Many of the mansions around I'ayetie Park, in 
James, Genesee, and Onondaga streets, and the older public buildings of the city, show in part the 
fruits of his early elTorts towards beautifying the style of the dwellings and public buildings of the 
young city. As Superintendent of construction for the contractor he su|)ervised the erection of the 
First Presbyterian church in salina street, laying the corner and the top stones. The St. James's 
church (recently burned) and other stone edifices were built under his supervision. Hisintegiity 
and ability as a builder caused his services to be in demand in many of the large cities of the State 
and in Canada. Syracuse owes much of its admiration for the substantial and the beautiful in archi- 
tecture to his early presence. Their children were William .\.: James D.; Ji'Seph .M., President 
of the Duncan .Salt Company, Silver Springs; John IL, Superintendent of the American Dairy 
Salt-Mills, Syracuse; Mrs. F. Morgan; and Mrs. E. Tankie. Memorial w-indows in memory of 
Willi.-mi and Mary Duncan have bt en placed in the First Ward Presbyterian church and in the Good 
Will Congregational church of this city. Many of .Mr. Duncans contemporaries have with him 
completed the record of their lives, but his memory lives, and liis most upright character is his best 
monument. Neither are his example, teachings, and mental attainments lost, but by their inheritance 
the world has felt new impulses for truth and better civilization. 

Dr. William .\. Duncan, eldest son of William and Mary Duncan, was born at Oswego, N. Y., 
in li'iT, and while in infancy came to Syracuse, where he has since resided, and during his mature 
years has ben one of its most active, useful, and respected citizens. Before reaching the ]x-ric>d of 
manhood, and while acquiring his education, he became strongly imbued with a desire to aid in the 
promotion of the c.nuse of secular and religious education in the broadest sense, and it may be said 
of him that his highest hopes could hardly have conceived such a brilliant and successful career as 
he has enjoyed, and which has not yet. pri.l..ilil\ . .cached its zenith. With his originality of thought 
and superior educational abilities he ci'n.l ^s qualifications of a high order, so that he is pos- 

sessed of such versatility as enables him ; .. ^. ..illygrapple with agreat v.ariety of situations and 
opportunities, in both religious and secular pursuil.s. He is of strong physique, has Scotch delermin- 
L 



90 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



ation and perseverance, — which generally means success, — possesses a wonderful memory and 
capability for the speedy disposal of business according to correct methods, and has a wide acquaint- 
ance from much travel and physical endurance such as but few men possess. His trained mind acts 
quickly, almost impulsively, but ever safely. 

Dr. Duncan became an educator when he was a young man as the Principal of an academy, 
but later in life was atTorded one of the very best of opportunities for making a study of the best 
educational methods. For fourteen years, and until he declined further service, he was a member ot 
the Board of Education of this city, representing the Fifth ward, and was for two terms President of 
the Board. Grace School was established during his term of service, and the Seymour School edifice, 
which is widely recognized as a model school building, was planned, designed, and erected by him. 
It has a capacity for one thousand pupils, and upon its wall hangs the life-size portrait of its builder 
placed there at the pupils' request. The plan of this building has been adopted in many cities. 
Among the many improvements whieh he introduced to the Syracuse school system was the "Quincy 
method " of teaching, and which aided materially in bringing the public schools of the city up to a 
standard which, to say the least, was, and is, second to none in the United States. It is to the pa- 
tient and intelligent study and experiences of these years, during which he also accomplished a great 
deal of religious and business work, that he owes much of his present success. 

His greatest achievements have been in the religious field. For several years he was a member 
of the Executive Committee of the \'oung Men's Christian Association, and later became President 
of the association at a time when it was in a transition state. It is fair to presume that he was 
elected President because the association was greatly in need of just such service as he could render, 
and results justified the sagacity of the action. While President he projected and planned the present 
beautiful and commodious Y. M. C. A. Building ; at the end of his first ofiicial year, and with the 
assistance of Dwight L. Moody, he laid the cornerstone, and at the close of his second term the build- 
ing was formally dedicated to the uses for which it was so happily designed. The plans of the 
building have been adopted by many associations elsewhere. The records of the association also 
speak to the credit of his administration, by showing an increase of membership from a comparat- 
tively small number to about six hundred. From that time until the present the association has enjoyed 
a season of uninterrupted prosperity. 

Dr. Duncan served as Superintendent of the Plymouth, Good Will, and Pilgrim Congregational 
Sundav-Schools of this city during a period aggregating twenty-five years. The Good Will ("on- 
gregational church was one of the outgrowths of these labors. The present Pilgrim Sunday-School, 
with its branch church, was organized by him, and he is at present the Superintendent of the school. 
For nearly twenty years he was the teacher of the Syracuse Sunday-School Union Teachers' Class 
at the \. M. C. A. rooms. He organized the Syracuse Sunday-School .\ssociation, and served as 
its first President, and w'as for three years ihe President of the Onondaga County .Sunday-School 
.Association . 

He was elected President of the New York State Sunday-School Convention held in Saratoga, 
N. Y.. in June, iSgi, and has been for eleven years Chairman of its E.\ecutive Committee, which 
has charge of the missionary and institute work of this association, representing the interdenominational 
Sunday-school work of the State of .New York. During the past fiscal year this association has 
organized nearly four hundred Sunday-schools, and held more than twelve hundred Sunday-schoo) 
Normal institutes and conventions. For nearly fifteen years he has represented the State of New 
York as a member of the Executive Committee of the International .Sunday-School Association for 
the United States and Canada. This committee is associated with the International Sunday-School 
Lesson Committee in the organized interdenominational Sunday-school work of the world. He is 
the originator of the organization known as the New York Stale Woman's Missionary ."Md .Associa- 
tion, organized for the purpose of canvassing the school districts of the State and gathering the 
chiMren into Sunday-schools. He is the author of " home classes," or what is now known as the 
home department of the Sunday school, which recognizes those who study in the home, whether 
individual, neighborhood, or family classes, as having the same rights and privileges as though they 
were members of either the i>rimary or main department of the church school, receiving their lesson 



Biographical. 91 

supplies from the Sunday-school with which they ^ire connected, and being recognized in full member- 
ship as though they were in attendance upon the leguiar services of the school. This work was 
originated in i8Sl, and has grown with marvelous rapidity, so that at the present time there arc 
thousands of schools in the land that have organized classes of this kind, and there are at least 
tiftv-thousand students connected with them. The plan has been adopted by the liaplist, Melhodisi, 
Congregational, I'resbyterian, ami other denominations, and has become a permanent feature of 
nearly all our Sunday-school work, since it completes the organization of the Sunday-school. The 
blessing which it at present is bringing to mankind cannot be estimated, nor can the multitude of its 
benefits for the future be foretold or surmised. \V. H. Hall, Secretary of the Connecticut State 
Sunday-School .Vssociation, said this to the large Sunday-school convention held in Saratoga last 
June in reference to the home classes; " If Dr. Duncan had never done anything but give birth to 
this one idea, he has done enough to place him among the greatest benefactors of the race." 

Dr Duncan has for many years been the Kield Secretary of the Congregational Sunday-School 
and Publishing Society, located at Boston, Mass. This -ociety represents the Sunday-school work 
of that denomination, and this, in connection with the international work, calls him to every part of 
the United States. Within the past few years he has traveled over tw^o hundred and fifty ihi.usand 
miles, and addressed more than fifteen hundred audiences, including State. International, and the 
World's Sunday-School Convention in London, in iSSg. Hundreds of Sunday-schools have been 
Organized through his efforts, and thousands of youths gathered into them. 

He is the Secretary and Superintendent of the ('hautauqua University, located at Chautauqua. 
Chautauqua Lake, New York. This is the original Chautauqua .Vssembly. and the center of all its 
activities, including the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, the Chautauqua Assembly, the 
Chautauqua University, and the Chautauqua School of Theology Next to Lewis Miller .nnd liishop 
Vincent, Dr. Duncan is one of the most widely known officials connected with the Chautauqua move- 
ment. Through him all ofticial documents are promulgated and details of management are arranged. 
He has full charge of the grounds, directs all improvements, decides the style after which all public 
structures and private cottages shall be built, atttnds to all grievances, and is to Chautauqua what 
the engine is to the manufactory, and, like it. never tires. When he was elected Secietary of the 
association, in 1883. the institution was ligo.ooo in debt. At the close of last season the Assembly 
debt had been reduced to ^20,000, although there had been an expenditure of nearly ^loo.oco in improve- 
ments during these seven years. Dr. Duncan's first connection wiih the .Assembly was in the season 
of 1878, when he was selected by Chancellor Vincent as his assistant. He continued in this position 
until 1S83, when he was made Secretary and General Superintendent. How well he has filled that 
office everyone who is acquainted with Chautauqua is aware. Dr. Duncan is the creator of a branch 
Chautauqua at Albany. Ga., which bids fair to rival its parent in the North. At a recent meeting, 
at which Governor Gordon and Senator Colquitt were present, 3,000 day tickets were told in addition 
to the season tickets. Dr. Duncan has been hailed as a missionary of Northern good-will, and his 
Georgia visits are occasions of public rejoicing. He owns a cotton and fruit plantation of 3,500 
acres twelve miles from Albany, which is in Dougherty county, 200 miles south of Atlanta. The 
people of Albany have overwhelmed the Secretary of Chautauqua with attentions, among which was 
the presentation to him of a gold watch through a committee consisting of Mayor H. Mcintosh, 
Col. Nelson Tift (the builder of the Confederate ram Albemarle), and Captain Kichard S. Ilobbs. 
The presence of Dr. Duncan upon the platform is magnetic, and combined with excellent 
oratory, a graceful use of English, and a great abundance of material for thought to draw upon, it 
is no wonder that he stands in the first rank of popular speakers. Firmness of purpose mingles in 
the e.\pression of his countenance with gentleness when he speaks, and his clearness, earntstness. 
sincerity, and cheerfulness help in giving his finely toned words peculiar posver. His characteristics 
are inherited from the very best of Scottish traits and education, without any of the narrowness that 
sometimes is aitributeo 10 the more conservative representatives of the best thought of the land of 
the thistle. His works will go on and on long after he shall have finished his part of it. He has 
already made for himself a well-deserved place in the religious and secular history of this country, for 
no man has striven harder or more successfully to confer benefits of inestimable value upon the )onth 



92 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

in particular and mankind generally. In this connection it is not inapt to quote, with slight changes, 
the following from an Albany. Ga., newspaper, where the new Chautauqua is located: "He is 
undoubtedly a wonderful man, gifted in repartee, never at a loss in any emergency, and possessing 
a heart full of the most generous and unselfish patriotism and philanthropy. .\o man less generously 
endowed could have accomplished what he has done, and his work is not only a monument to his 
energy and sagacity, but to his unselfish nature to do good wherever good can be accomplished. 
Every moment of his life spent in Southwestern Georgia testifies to the purity of his motives and 
philanthropy." Mount Union College, of Ohio, never more worthily conferred a degree than when 
it recognized William A. Duncan as a Doctor of Philosophy. 

Dr. Duncan married Miss Julia B. Coleman, daughter of J. M. Coleman, esq., of Seneca 
Kails, N. Y. Two daughters, liberally educated and now traveling with Mrs. Duncan in Europe for 
educational benefits, bless the union. 



GEORGE C. SAWYER, for twenty-five years the New York .State agent of the Travelers Insur- 
surance Company, of Hartford, Conn., was bom in Malone, Franklin county, N. Y., March i. 
1839, the second son of Rev. George and Mary A. Sawyer His only brother, A. H. Sawyer, esq., 
who resides in Watertown, N. Y., is an eminent lawyer of extensive practice, and for a number of 
years was County Judge of Jefferson county. The father was a Methodist clergyman, and the sub- 
ject of this sketch " itinerated" with him until twelve years of age. 

Upon the removal of the family to Kulton, Oswego county. George C. entered Falley Seminary, 
pursuing for four years studies preparatory for college under such eminent instructors as the Rev. 
E. E. Bragdon, D. D., then principal and professor of lireek literature ; John K. French, I,L. D.. 
professor of mathematics (and now of .Syracuse University) ; Charles R. Egglestoh, A. M.. profes- 
sor of Latin and modern languages ; and many others. Falley Seminary, then at the zenith of its 
fame, presented such favorable conditions for advanced study that Mr. Sawyer decided to remain 
and enter Union College in the Senior year. But when about to leave for the latter institution he 
was stricken with typhoid fever, from which he did not recover for a year, and the delay caused him 
to abandon the idea of a college degree. Of a resolute nature, and determined not to be thwarted 
in his purpose by ill health, he pursued his studies under efficient private tutors for two years longer, 
and then entered the law office of S. N. Dada, esq., of Fulton. Here he studied faithfully and dili- 
gently, and was admitted to the bar .\pril 4th, 1S61. He immediately formed a partnership with 
Mr. Dada, for the practice of his profession, under the firm name of Dada & .Sawyer, which contin- 
ued till November 29, 1S65, when failing health compelled Mr. Sawyer to retire. He then entered 
upon an engagement with the Travelers Insurance Company, of Hartford, Conn , as its State agent 
for the State of New York, a position which he has ever since occupied with great credit to himself 
and profit to the organization. In 1S66 he came to Syracuse to reside, and immediately opened a 
State office for his company. This corporation began its celebrated career on .\pril i, 1864, as the 
only and original accident company of the United States introducing that business in this country 
There was afterwards organized and connected wiih it a life department, which to-day makes the 
company one of the strongest and best in the United States. Starting with a cash capital of only 
$250,000, it has by judicious management steadily increased its assets to about $13,000,000, and the 
name " Travelers" has become viriually a household word During ihese twenty-seven years of the 
company's remarkable dcvolopment .Mr. Sawyer has honorably and efficiently retained the same rela- 
tion to it, and it is safe to say that under his personal supervision New York State has contributed 
her full share to the corporation's growth and prosperity. No litt'e credit is due our subject for the 
careful and sagacious direction of his portion of the company's affairs. 

During the twenty-five years of Mr. Sawyer's residence in Syracuse he has, although absent 
much, found time to interest himself in the city's religious, social, and business activities, but he has 
had no political aspirations. .\ .Methodist by faith, as might be expected from his parentage, he is 



Biographical. 93 



prominently connected with the First Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has held and still 
holds responsible oftices. He is President of the Syracuse Methodist Kpiscopal Union, a federation 
of all the Methodist churches of the city for local mission work. While sufficiently denominational 
in his views he is nevertheless liberal in spirit and broad-minded toward other church organizations, as 
is evidenced by his connection with the NewV'ork State Sunday-School Association (in which he has 
twice been honored with its presidency), and particularly by his long and valuable service with the 
Young Men's Christian Association of the city and State. He has held nearly every office in the 
local association, and was three successive terms elected its President, serving in all with honor and 
distinction. For many years be has been a member of ihe New York State Committee of the Y. M. 
C. A., and was twice elected President of the New York State Association 

Outside of his insurance connections Mr. Sawyer is President of the Syracuse Land and Improve- 
ment Company, one of the largest and most rapidly developing organizations of its character in the 
State. He is Vice-President of the Thousand Island Park Association, and is prominently identi- 
fied with several other institutions and associations in Syracuse. 

November 12. 1862, Mr. Sawyer married .Miss Julia A. Sabin, of Fulton, N. Y. Three daugh- 
ters have been born to them, all of whom are living, as follows : Carrie E., Bertha S., and Grace J. 
The first two named are graduates of .Syracuse L^niversity, which fact of itself indicates the literary 
tastes of the familv. 



D WIGHT HALL BRUCE, born at Leno.\. Madison county. N. Y., June 21. 1834. is the elder 
son of the late Benjamin Franklin Bruce, born at the same place. May 5, 1812. He was the 
eldest son of Joseph Bruce, bom at Ro.xbury, Mass.. January 6, 1789, who was the second son of 
Thaddeus Bruce, born at Edinburgh, Scotland, November 14, 1765. He was of Norman ancestry 
and a direct descendant of Robert Bruce. The motto of the coat of arms of his house is " Do well 
and doubt not." 

Reared upon a farm, the subject of this sketch was not in his earlier years surrounded by unus- 
ual advantages for securing an education ; nevertheless, it was his good fortune to obtain the best of 
continuous common school instruction, and later a full academic course, w hich was both broad and 
comprehensive in its curriculum. He was fitted for an advanced college entrance by spcial prepar- 
ation, but circumstances arose which made it necessary to indefinitely defer making application for 
admission. He had been engaged in various pursuits, when in 185S he became connected with the 
Oswego Commetcial Times in the capacityof associate editor, which he resigned in January 1861, that 
he might come to Syracuse, where he has since resided, to become assistant to his father who had 
been appointed Canal Commissioner in charge of the middle division of the canals of the State. His 
connection with the canals was continued during several years. In 1866. and again in 1867, he was 
elected Supervisor of the Seventh ward. It was on his motion that the Board of Supervisors ap- 
pointed a committee, of which he was a member, to draft a bill to be passed by the Legislature for the 
better collection of county taxes. The work of the committee was so well done that the act whicji 
it prepared has been in effect from that time until the present, and has been adopted by many other 
counties in the State. The act was also adapted at a later period for the collection of city taxes. 
He also prepared an apportionment of Assembly Districts under the census of 1S65. which has not 
since been changed. In October, 1869, he resigned his connection with the canals to accept an ap- 
pointment, by the Secretary of the Treasury, of Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue, to make as- 
sessments throughout the Twenty-third Congressional District, composed of the counties of Onon- 
daga and Cortland, for all taxes imposed on the manufacture and sale of tobacco, snufi, and cigars. 
He resigned this position in January, 1S70. to become one of the editors and owners of the Syracuse 
Daily Jouriin I under the firm name of Truair. Smith i: Co. At a later date, and by a change of in- 
terests, the firm name became Truair, Smith & Bruce, and January i, 1884, Mr. Truair retired, when 
the name of the firm was changed to Smith i: Bruce, with equal interests. This partnership was 
continued until .\ugust 15. 1885. when Mr. Bruce withdrew. 



94 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

March 25, 1S71, he was appointed by President Grant and confirmed by the United States Sen- 
ate Postmaster at Syracuse, continuing in the position until January i, 1375, nine months beyond 
the term of his appointment. He inaugurated the " night senice," more than doubled the number 
of incoming and outgoing mails, and made various other important changes to increase the efficiency 
of the office. It is a matter of record that though the office handled several millions of dollars of 
money during his term — it was a sub-treasury for deposit by several hundred other officers, and a pay- 
ing agency for railroad clerks — there was not the slightest variation of his accounts with those of the 
Postoffice Department when he made his final settlement with the Department. 

In May, 1885, he was elected President and later General Managerof the Syracuse Water Company, 
and has retained those positions until the present time. For many years he has been connected with 
various business enterprises and undertakings, and has held numerous offices of trust and responsi- 
bility. He has from time to time been President of charitable and benevolent organizations, and 
effected the first organization in this city for the protection of animals. In 1888 he was appointed 
Police Commissioner by Mayor Burns, and was elected President of the Board of Commissioners. 
He accepted the office only after much persuasion, and resigned it a few months after his appoint- 
ment. 

For manv years, particularly during those of the war, he was active in politics and in support 
of the war. His first vote was given for John C. Fremont for President, and since that time he has 
been a strong adherent of Republican principles. There was a field for work in " war times" at 
home as well as at the front, and unquestionably a vast number of those who gave their earnest ef- 
forts to the cause at the rear were of more aid to the government than they possibly could have been 
at the front, in whatever favorable circumstances they might have been placed. The political cam- 
paigns of those years were of unquestionable importance. The Presidential campaign of 1864. when 
Lincoln was re elected, was the most interesting and e.xciting as well as important election ever held 
in the United States. Upon the success of Lincoln depended the success of the Union army. The 
election of Grant in 1868 was only second in importance and awakened scarcely less interest. Both 
of these campaigns were locally mainly managed by Mr. Bruce as Secretary of the Republican Cen- 
tral Committee, a position he filled tor ten successive years and until he would no longer accept it. 
His efforts were not for his party above country, but, on the contrary, for his country above party, 
and for which his party stood. He was no less active as a member of War Committees in aid of 
the Union armv. declining a commission to the front to work as a private at home. 

He was continuously connected with the military organization of the State during a period of 
thirty-five years. He enlisted when he was sixteen years old, and rose to division staff grades of 
Major and Paymaster, and Colonel and Engineer. In 1878, at the request of Colonel J. W. Vale, 
he became Inspector of Rifle Practice of the late 51st Regiment, holding the position until he was 
elected Brigadier-General in command of the loth Brigade, the number of which was, by a reduc- 
tion of brigades, later changed to the 7th. He resigned and retired from the National Guard in 

1SS4. 

He was married, October 13, 1859, to Lmilie Northrup, sister of Judge A. J. Northrup and 
Milton II. Northrup. of Syracuse. 



MRS. L. H. KEDFIELU. — The seigniory of L'Orignal, Upper Canada, fifty-four square miles 
of territorv, stretching nine miles along the Ottawa River, was opened to emigrants by its 
owner, Nathaniel Hazard Tredwell, in 1794. His daughter, Ann Maria, the subject of this sketch, 
was born at the village of L'Orignal, situated on the banks of the beautiful Ottawa, on January 17. 

1800. 

When the War of 1S12 broke out Mr. Tredwell. owing to his American proclivities, became a 
suspected person ; his property was confiscated, and it was under many difficulties that he succeeded 
in returning, with his family, to Plattsburgh, N. V., where Mrs. Redfield's girlhood was passed. 




C>(^rr^ 7-^/ iy. j2g,U^ai.^c/^ 



HlOGKAPHICAI.. 95 



She was educated at the school of Mrs. Kmma Willard, at Middlebury, Vl., and took a post-graduate 
course of study at Clinton, N. Y., " reciting rhetoric to Dr. Davis, President of Ilatnilton College, 
botany to Professor Noyes. and mathematics to Mr. Bassett." She was Preceptress at the academy 
at Onondoga Hollow in this county, which place became her home upon her marriage, February 7, 
1820, to Lewis H. Redfield. In 1829 Mr. Kedfield and family removed to Syracuse, in which city 
Mrs. Redfield died June 15, i8S8, aged eighty-eight years. 

Twenty-live years before Mrs, Redfield's death Mrs. Ellet wrote in " I'ho (,)ueens of American 
Society " as follows : 

" Mrs. Redfield is not only noted for position, but is known as the author of a popular work. 
'Zoological Science, or Nature in Living Forms,' a book commended by Professor Agassiz as one 
that ' would do credit to a majority of college professors.' Her intellectual culture was softened by 
natural refinement, and a sympathy that went forth spontaneously towards all who needed it, or 
claimed her tenderness. The mother of a numerous family, she took pains with the education of her 
family." 

June 16, 18SS, the A'Wc i'ori IVorlJ contained the following obituary notice : 

" Mrs. Ann M. Tredvvell Redfield died yesterday.. * * * In 1820 she married Lewis H. 
Redfield, who was identified with every stage of the growth of Syracuse. He died in 1882. Mrs. 
Redfield was the author of a te.\t-book on zoology. She was one of the best known women in 
Central New York." 

Letters received by Mr, and Mrs, William H, 11. Smith on the occasion of Mrs. Redfield's 
death were tributes to her worth and character. Dr. Alexander Winchell, of \nn Arbor, Mich., on 
June 20, 1S88, wrote as follows ; " Mrs. Redfield was a capable and useful woman — learned in a 
department of science represented by far too few women." 

Dr. Anson J. Upson : "I feel grateful to a kind Providence who has permitted me to enjoy 
the friendship and be inspired by the noble enthusiasm of such a woman as Mrs. Redfield." 

Henry C. Piatt, esq.. New York city : " It is a source of great gratification to have been con- 
nected by a common ancestry with such a noble and useful woman, whose work on earth was so well 
done. I feel that her good deeds and her good fame are part of our family heritage 

Rev. Dr. Norman Seaver, of St. Paul, Minn., in memory of Mrs. Kedfield. wrote as follows : 

" We cannot but regard the friendship of your mother as a gre.it honor and pure pleasure in our 
lives. We are touched to the very heart that she remembered us. and sent to us such appropriate 
memorials of her own self, imbued and inspired, as that self was, with the love of God's truth shin- 
ing forth from His word and works. Would that with her gifts might come to us her spirit of sub- 
lime loyalty to the right and beautiful charity to all. * » * We are with you in your sorrow for 
the departure of this blessed teacher of good things, and with you in the hope which niaketb not 
ashamed of seeing her once more in that better world for which she has been ripening with a 
spiritual bloom that made old age a prophecy of the radiant youth of immorlality, " 

.tncistry. — Mrs. Redfield's forefathers were of English descent, and their sterling qualities 
were proven in colonial limes, during the Revolutionary period, and in the councils of the nation, 
during what has been termed the " formative epoch," from 1776 to 1820, when the Un'ted Slates 
were "slowly and in the face of physical and moral obstacles establishing their independence among 
nations." Mrs. Redfield's paternal grandfather, Thomas Tredwell, lived in an age of extraordinary 
activities and forces, and the record of a life devoted to the public service associates his name en- 
duringly with grand, arduous, and historic events, 

Thomas TredwelPs Public Record. — He ivas a Representative in the Continental Congress in 
Philadelphia in 1772-76; in 1775 he was elected to the Provincial Congress, sitting in the city of 
New York. In 1776 he was. with others, elected to represent Suffolk county, L. I. This Provincial 
Congress met at the Court-IIouse in Westchester county, but satin Fishkill, November 8th. In 
1778 he was delegated to the convention at Poughkeepsie to deliberate on the adoption of the Con- 
stitution of the United States. He w.tsalso appointed during the same year Judge of I'robate in the 
city of New York, which oflice he held until surrogates were appointed for e.ach county. In 1791 
he was elected to represent Suffolk, Kings, and Queens counties in the Continental Congress then 
sitting in Philadelphia (to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Dr, Townsend), In 1793 he was 
again elected to represent these counties, which he continued to do until he removed to Plattsburgh. 



o6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



N, Y. In I S04 he was elected Senator for the Northern District, and in 1S07 he was appointed 
Surrogate for Clinton county, which office he filled until his death, which took place at I'lattsburgh, 
December 25, 1831. Thompson, in his " History of Long Isiand," says : 

" Thomas Tredwell was one of the most useful men of his day, and was almost constantly en- 
gaged in public business ; was distinguished for firmness and prudence, was a member of the Pro- 
vincial Convention in 1775, and was elected afterward to the Provincial Congress from Long Island 
(with power to establish a new form of government). He was a member of the first Senate of this 
State under the Constitution, and seems in all respects to have been fitted for the perilous times in 
which he lived." 

Governor Seward, in his " Introduction to the Natural History of the State of New York," says : 

" Thomas Tredwell was one of three constituting the Committee of Safety while the Constiiu- 
tion of this State was being formed, in 1777, and was for many years the only surviving member of 
that body." (See " Spraguc's .\nnals," Palmer's " Hist, of Lake Champlain," and the histories of 
Long Island by Prime, Thompson, Onderdonk, etc.) 

Mrs. Redfield's maternal ancestor. Sir Hugh Piatt, lived in the days of Shakespeare and Bacon. 
Her grandfather. Judge Charles Piatt, was one of the original proprietors of I'laltsburgh, N. Y., 
its first actual and permanent settler, and w'ith two brothers founded the place and gave its name. 
He was the first Judge of Clinton county, and held the first court in 17S0. He had studied medi- 
cine in Paris, France; he visited London, F.ngland, in I7f)i, and there copied from the records of 
the Herald's College the family Coat of .Vrms. It was granted to the " Ancient and Honourable 
Family of PL.ATT, who were in great Repute in Norfolk, Anno Domini, 1327," etc. 

Mrs. Redfield was a close observer of national history throughout her life, which began with the 
opening of this century. .She was intellectually alert to receive new ideas upon all subjects, and kept 
abreast of the advanced views of the times in which she lived. Before her death the phonograph and 
the telephone were assured scientific facts, and Dr. Winchell's writings were illuminating the fields of 
scientific inquiry Through all the years of a busy life her love of study was enthusiastic ; she 
loved knowledge for its own sake, and, prizing intellectual distinction, she was herself attractive, 
possessing the magnetism of a noble and inspiring presence and a sympathetic nature. She was on 
terms of friendly intimacy and was pre-eminently the friend of teachers and clergymen. Her 
friendships were enduring ; with Dr. Malcolm McClaren it dated from iSiS, at Onondaga .\cadeniv ; 
for more than half a century she held delightful correspondence with Mrs. Emma Willaid, till her 
death; the same maybe said of Dr. and Mrs Samuel B. Woolworth, the Hon. .\. H. Redfield, 
and others, beside relations. Fond of the study of the natural sciences .Mrs. Redfield made collec- 
tions of shells, minerals, and botanical specimens and prepared and published a work on zoology, 
illustrated by a chart of the "Animal Kingdom " Beautifully illustrated with pencihngs were a 
botanical chart and an atlas prepared by her lor publication. Interested in family tradition and 
history she collected genealogical data and arranged a " Tree ' of the family of '" Piatt," which was 
photographed for distribution. .Among her last literary works was a valuable genealogical history 
of the families of " Tredwell ' and " Piatt," pulilLshed as a " Rescript." She contributed papers of 
historical value to Hamilton College and to ihe historical societies of Long Island and Chicago. 

In domestic life .Mrs. Redfield w.is eminently praciical, and there was scarcely anything useful 
or ornamental that she could not or did not do. from spinning and dipping candles to painting on 
satin ; from whipping hnen caml)ric shin-ruHles to writing an essay on zoology; which goes to prove 
that a woman with an i.itelligent purpose can do almost anything that she sets herself to do. In the 
pmorama of local history, of which .Mrs. Red.ield was an eye-witness, were the scenes of rejoicing 
.ittending the completio:i of the Erie Canal, in 1825, when Lafayette, "the guest of the nation," 
passed through Onondaga Hollow, and in whose honor evergreen arches were erected in the main 
street of the village. The completion of the canal and the expansion of the salt industry gave 
promise of growth and prosperity to the then lesser village, which Mrs. Redfield lived to sec the city 
of Syracuse with more than eighty thousand inhabitants ^>he remembered when "Jacksonism" 
was " dominant and rampant " throughout the land; when anti-.Masonry and .Masonry m.ide and 
unmade political parties and friendships so absorbing were those issues in their day. When iheCourl- 
House was removed from Onondaga Hill to a location midway between the rival villages of Syracuse 
and Salina (11 '.v ilii- Flr^i u.ir.l of thl^city), Mrs. R.'iifi.-I.l in sn, ikms; nf u s.tiiI ■ " The location 



Biographical. 97 



suited no one— the lawyers least of all ; the distance was long, and in the spring and fall of the year 
the road was almost impassable." At the time of the "great fire" there were no engines or tire 
apparatus of any sort, and leather fire-buckets were in use ; double rows of men were formed, who 
passed and repassed them along the lines to the canal or private cisterns. Events of great importance 
and interest to Syracuse were the first visitation of the cholera, in 1832, when a panic prevailed here 
as elsewhere ; " the explosion " and loss of life ; the building of the first railroad ; the first telegraph; 
the development of the public school system ; the formation of libraries and literary societies ; the 
agricultural fairs ; the organization of benevolent institutions ; the advent of public lectures ; the 
abolition movements ; the rise and fall of animal magnetism, and of the Millerite delusion ; the 
singing of Jenny l-ind ; Daniel Webster's speech on the fugitive slave law ; the speech of the first 
.Mayor of Syracuse, Harvey lialdwin ; the " Tippecanoe and Tyler too" campaign with its log-cabin 
and hard-cider arguments. The "Central City " became the "City of Conventions." When the 
war of the Rebellion broke out the women of the North were united in effort in the work for the 
relief of soldiers in hospital and on the field. To this work Mrs. Redfield came with characteristic 
energy and efficiency. 

Mrs. Redfield's recollections of Syracuseand Onondaga county embraced seventy years(i8iS-SS). 
She survived most of her generation of women who were socially prominent in this city. Their 
names are as follows: Mrs. .-^mos P. Granger, .Mrs. B. Davis No.\on. Mrs. Major Burnet, Mrs. 
Harvey Baldwin, Mrs. K. W. Leavenworth. Mrs. E. F. Wallace, Mrs. Hezekiah Strong (Onondaga 
Hill), Mrs. Harriet B. (Ellis) Cook, Mrs. John Wilkinson, Mrs. Harriet Touseley Lee, Mrs. Henry 
Gregory, Madame A. J. Raoul, Mrs. Captain Putnam. Mrs. General Hopping, Mrs. James Lynch, 
Mrs. Dr. Colvin, Mrs. Johnson Hall, Mrs. .Vlexander, Mrs. Harry Raynor, Mrs. Samuel .Mead, Mrs. 
Daniel Gott, Mrs. Dr. .Adams. Mrs. Major Korman, Mrs. William Dodge, Mrs. Philo D. Mickles 
Mrs. Joseph Savage, and the belove3 teacher. Miss .Amelia Bradbury, and Mrs. Mary D. Maltbie. 



WII.LI.AM H. H. SMITH'S paternalancestorswereof English descent. Theearliest Long Island 
ancestor was Richard Smith, of Smithtown, of whom histories of Long Island make honorable 
mention. His maternal ancestors were named Brush, and were Huguenots and lived at Huntington, 
Suffolk county, L. L Both families warmly espoused the cause of the colonies, and suffered hard- 
ships during the British occupation of the island. The father of William H. II. .Smith was Rev. 
William Smith. He removed in ' "Q3 from West Farms, Long Island, to Litchfield, Herkimer 
county, N. Y., where the subject of this sketeh was born June 5, 1814. Mr. Smith remained at his 
father's until he became of age, engaged at home in farm pursuits. Soon after arriving at his ma- 
jority he took charge of, and conducted for two years, a wholesale grocery business at Utica, N'. Y. 

In the spring of 1S39 the first locomotive was placed on the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad. 
In September of that year .Mr. Smith accepted the position of " collector " on that road, which was 
•extended to Rochester, and this is now a part of the New York Central. This was the first railroad 
from the -Atlantic seaboard to the great lakes, and became the thoroughfare of travel for business or 
pleasure to Niagara Falls and the great West. .At that time express companies had not been estab- 
lished, and Mr. Smith was frequently called upon to take charge of bank exchanges and other 
monied transactions between bankers and business men at Syracuse, Auburn, and Rochester. 
There were many pleasant and also amusing features associated with the position of "collector"; 
opportunity to form agreeable acquaintances, and to see the distinguished men of those times, the 
names and deeds of whom are part of our national history. Reminiscences of travel are recalled 
by Mr. Smith of John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, William II. Seward, Martin 
Van Buren, Heman J. Kedfield, Gen. Winfield Scott, Gen. Zachary Taylor, Lewis Cass, Silas 
Wright, Frank Granger, Judge .Alfred Conkling, Thurlow Weed, Horace Greeley, George Dawson, 
Stephen .A. Douglass. " Long" John Wentworth. and other celebrities of public interest, as Andubon, 
Kossuth. M. de Bodisco. Jenny Lind, Fanny Kemble Butler, etc. 

.September 23, 1S46, .Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Tredwell Redfield, 
at Syracuse. N. Y. 
M 



gS Memorial History of Syracuse. 

He purchased a tract of land on the Highlands in- the southeastern part of this city and re- 
signing his position, in 1852, after thirteen years of railroad life, he built a residence in Irving 
street, and has since resided there. He has contributed to the development and permanent pros- 
perity of that part of the city by helping to inaugurate and carry forward progressive measures and 
enterprises. At an early day, in the introduction in Syracuse of the street railway system. Mr. 
Smith took the necessary steps for organizing a company, securing stock and the franchise for the 
construction of the Genesee and Water Street Railroad, the building of which was under his charge, 
and of which, and the Fourth Ward Railroad, he was Vice-President and Director until they passed 
into other hands. Mr. Smith has been a member, at various times, of Boards of School Commis- 
sioners. Assessors, Trustees, Commissioners, etc. ; a life member of the Onondaga County Historical 
Society since ils organization in 1S62 ; a life member of the Onondaga County Orphan Asylum ; and 
for many years a Trustee of the Hnuse and Hospital of the Good Shepherd. Without making de- 
nominational discrimination he has responded in aid of many of our religious, educational, and 
benevolent institutions, and has especially been an efficient promoter of the enterprises undertaken 
by the I'rotestant Episcopal Church in the Eighth ward of this city. When Syracuse University was 
located in the Eighth ward Mr. Smith made a substantial welcoming gift to them of $2,100. Mr. 
Smith's political affiliations were originally with the Whigs, and have been with the Republicans 
since the organization of that party. During the war of the Rebellion he gave influence and sup- 
port in such directions as strengthened the Union cause. 

Mr. .Smith's tastes are decided for good general literature, American history, "Christopher 
North, " and other choice humor ; he enjoys good sermons, theatrical representations, whist, and 
"going a (ishing " for trout. His fondness for picturesque scenery and wild-wood sports have led 
him often to the wilderness, and for forty of the last fifty years he has visited each spring-time the 
streams of Northern New York and the lakes " which sit like sparkling gems" among the everlast- 
ing hills of the far-famed .Adirondacks. 

A resident of .Syracuse for more than half a century, he has witnessed and been a close observer 
of the changes which have taken place in this flourishing city, which is now covered with a net-work 
of railroads, and has become a center of energetic manufacturing enterprise, with corresponding 
expansion of religious, educational, and other ennobling interests. The population has increased 
from f),oo<) in 1S39 to go.ooo in iSf)i. 



DK. HENRY DELAMATER DEXISON was of the eighth generation from William Denison. 
who was born in England about 1586 and came to America in 1631, settling at Ro.>cbury, Mass. 
He was accompanied by his wife, Margaret, and three sons, Daniel, Edward, and George,* and by 
John Eliot, a tutor in the family. Mr. Eliot, as a minister at Ro.tbury and missionary among the 
Indians, made for himself a place in history. Mr. Denison was a cultured gentleman, of high char- 
acter, and prominent in the church at Roxbury, of which he was a deacon. He was liberally edu- 
cated, and gave most careful attention to the education of his children. He died in 1653. t George 
Denison, third son of William, was born in England in 161S, and, as above stated, came with his 
father to this country in 1631. He was twice married. After the death of his first wife, in 1643, he 
returned to England, served under Cromwell in the .\rmy of Parliament, won distinction, was 
wounded, and nursed at the house of a gentleman whose daughter he mairied. He returned to Rox- 
bury, finally settling at Stonington, Conn. He died in 1694. His biographer declares that' he and 

•Of these three sons, GeorKc is the genealogical ancestor of the subject of this sketch. Daniel was a man of 
much prominence. He was born in 1612, and married a daughter of Gov. Thomas Dudley. He settled at Ipswich, 
Mass., and had two children: John, who ni.irried a daughter of Deputy Governor John Symonds, and Elizabeth, who 
married John Rogers, President of Harvard College. He was M.ijor-Cieneral of militia. Speaker of the Hotise of Rep- 
resentatives, and for twenty-nine years one of the "assistants." His only male descendant died unmarried. Kdw.trd 
was born in 1614, and was the father of twelve children. He was a man of mark in Roxbury, and died there in 1668. 

t It was probably in 1653 that a house was built by the Denisonsat Mystic, Conn., and surrounded by a stockade 
to protect it from the as.saults of Indians. The stockade has been removed, but the house is still standing. It has 
never been occupied by other thin members of the Dentsfm family, two of whom now live in it. 




i 




i 



IJlOCkAI'llHAL. 99 



his wife "were both remarkable for their niagniliceiit personal appearance, and for force of mind and 
I haraclcr. They held a foremost place in Stoninglon." " He has been described," says the biog- 
rapher, "as the ' Miles Standish of the settlement,' but he w.is a greater and more brilliant soldier 
than Standish. He had no equal in any of the colonies for conducting a war against the Indians, 
1 xccpiing, perhaps. Captain John Mason." Another authority says of him: " Our early history pre- 
^L-nts no char.icter of bolder and more active spirit than Captain George Dcnison ; he reminds us of 
the border men of Scotland." Nine children were born to him, of whom John Denison, born July 
14, 1646, was the third child, lie settled in Stonington on a farm, near the mouth of Mystic River, 
which came to him by deed from his and his wife's parents. The title of captain was preli.xed to 
his name. He was a man of mark and prominence in .Stonington. He was the father of nine 
.hildren and died in 1699. Daniel was his fifth child, born March 28,1680. He was a Deacon 
cif the Kirst Congregational church at .Stonington. He was three times married, and died October 
'3. '747- Eleven children were born to him, of whom Daniel, jr., was born .March 22, 1721, and 
died at Stonington, May 9. 1776. He was the father of thirteen children, of whom Henry, the sixth, 
was born November 26, 1753, married in 1778, and died at Stonington in 1836. He had eight 
rhildren, of whom Daniel was the fourth, born March 31, 1787. He was liberally educated and 
.hose the profession of a physician. He came on horseback to I'ompey, almost a century ago, where 
he settled and spent the remainder of his life, always enjoying the high esteem of all who knew him. 
His death occurred in 1S54. 

Dr. Denison, the subject of this biography, was the eldest son of Dr. Daniel Denison, and was 
born at Pompey, March 22, 1822. Upon the completion of his education he complied with the 
wishes of his father and his own desires by preparing himself for the medical profession, to ac- 
complish which he spent two years in the then famous medical school at Castleton, Vl., from which 
he retired with honors to enter upon a course of two years at Columbia College, and from which 
he was graduated with distinction. I'pon his return to I'ompey he entered into practice with his 
father, and met with excellent success; indeed, a future of rare promise seemed to open before him ; 
liut his nature proved to be too sympathetic to allow him to look upon illness and sulTering with that 
degree of indifference which the physician must possess if he would keep his mind clear and settled. 
After two years of experience he abandoned his profession to enter upon other pursuits. I Ic came to 
Syracuse in 1850. thereafter making it his home. He had previously married Miss Melissa M- 
Southerland, of Pompey. He spent the remainder of his life actively in large business affairs, mainly 
in the construction of railroads and various important public works. He also engaged largely m 
•ther business pursuits, in which his exceptional sagacity uniformly led htm to successful results, 
lie was not a man who acted from impulse, but his well-balanced mind always weighed undertakings 
according to the law of cause and elTect, so that he reached conclusions logically. His advice was 
much sought by business men, who knew that his judgment was almost infallible, and he was ever 
ready to apply his best faculties to the solving of difficult business problems for his friends and ac- 
(|uaintances as well as for himself. Being accomplished in the study of human nature he could eas- 
ily and almost unerringly read the character of a man, hence he but very seldom was the victim of 
misplaced confidence. His tried friends he trusted implicitly ; his confidence in them could not be 
shaken, and no man was truer to his friends than he. His code of business rules had much to do 
with his success, and with his clearness and excellence of judgment he made his word as good as his 
bond in his business affairs. Dr. Denison was for many years active in politics, acting with the 
1 )emocratic partv. He was not only a local leader, but exercised a commanding position among the 
leading Democratic pnlitici.ans of the State. He was far-sighted and sag.acious, and was rarely mis- 
taken in his judgment of men and measures. So clear were his opinions upon political tiucstions 
ihat his advice ahvavs h.ad great weight in party councils. He would not accept office of any kind, 
and though he was often chosen a delegate to .State and National conventions of his party, it w.is 
alwavs done against his wishes. He much preferred being a private in the ranks to the hoUhng of 
anv conspicuous position whatever. He was for many years intimate with prominent politicians, 
and his acquaintance both in and out of his partv was wide and advantageous. In the days of the 
war he was a " Union Democrat," and gave liberally of both money and efforts in support of the 
cause of the Union. His patriotism was unfaltering, and his confidence in the final triumph of the 
Union army unyielding. 



lOO Mli.MORIAl. HlSTOKV ()!■ SYRACUSE. 

Dr. Denison was singularly kind hearted and generous. Many men in ihis city and elsewhere 
can testify to this fact— men who, in their earlier days of struggling, were assisted on the way to fu- 
ture success by his advice and material aid. He gave abundantly to charitable objects, always in an 
unostentatious manner, in keeping with the natural reserve which characterized all his acts of gen- 
erosity and benevolence. No worthy charity ever came to him in vain; he could not deny the request of 
an impecunious stranger, preferring to bestow assistance unworthily rather than take the risk of 
withholding aid when really needed. Frank, courteous, and generous in his intercourse, he well 
sustained the motto of the Denison coat of arms, Domus Grata (hospitable house). He was a thor- 
oughly practical man, detesting sham wherever found. Solidity in all things was one of his char- 
acteristics. He was public spirited and progressive in his ideas ol government, and a firm advocate 
of education as a means of relief from many evils. It was only to those who knew him best that his 
many superior characteristics shone brightest, and his great strength of mind was felt most power- 
fully. His life-work was completed on the 24th of December, 1883. and his death was widely 
mourned by many strongly att?ehed friends. His wife and three sons, Lucius S.. Franklin I'., and 
Charles A , survive him. 



GF.0R(;F- H. MrCHESNF.V. the eleventh of fourteen children born to William and Huldah 
(Lord) McChesney, was born November I, 1S41, in the town of Richland, Oswego county, 
.N. Y. William McChesney, born in Hennington, Vt.. in 179S. emigrated from that place to Oswego 
county about 1812, and there married Huldah Lord, who was born in .New Hartford, Oneida 
county. V. Y., July 21, 1805. Mrs. McChesney is still living at the ripe age of eighty-si.x years, 
making her home at present with our subject in this city. Mr. McChesney was a prominent farmer 
and lumber manufacturer in Pulaski. N. V.. and died there in August, 1S63, aged si.\ty.five years. 

C.eorge H. McChesney early acquired habits of thrift and industry, and for one who started 
young in life, with no capit.il other than high ambitions and a strong will-power, he has secured a lead 
ing position among the substantial business men of the community. I lis early education was obtained 
in the public schools of Pulaski, which was supplemented by two years in the academy at that place. 
In the meantime he assisted his father on the farm and in the mill, which labor was necessarily con- 
ducive to a strong constitution and an intimate knowledge of the details of the business that he has 
since followed. At the age of seventeen Mr McChesney left home and went to Oswego, N. Y.. 
where he became superintendent in the lumber yard of Clark & Page, with whom he remained for 
two yearf, or until that firm dissolved. He then occupied a like position with their successor, L. A. 
Card, till the fall of 1867. During the few years he remained in Oswego he became owner of sev- 
eral vessels on the lake, which were used in carrying lumber to that port, and which was the first 
business he transacted on his own account. His earnings from these boats, and the savings from 
his salary, enabled him to accumuUite sufficient capital to start in business for himself, and he accord- 
ingly moved to Syracuse and pur<h.ased, in company with David P. Fairchild, the lumber yard of 
W. C. Hrayton & Co.. which he now conducts. The firm of Fairchild & .McChesney existed for 
thirteen months, when it was dissolved by the senior partner retiring. Warren C, Brayton and 
R. A. Honta were then admitted to the business, under the firm name of G. H. McChesney .S; Co.. 
which continued until 1880, since which time Mr. McChesney has conducted the lumbe, trade 
alone. He has been eminently successful in his business career of twenty-five years in the same loca- 
tion, h.wing in that time supplied the lumber for numerous large contracts in and adjacent to the 
city. He built and owns the Alhambra Hall in James street, a large planing-mill and factory at the 
corner of Plum and Wilkinson streets, and an extensive carpenter and furniture shop on the corner 
of Tracy and North West streets. Mr. McChesney also owns a planing and heading-mill and lum- 
ber yard in the First ward, besides his main lumber yard at 239 James street, where are located the 
business offices. The latter establishment was started nearly half a century ago by Cogswell & Barnes. 
Mr. McChesney was msrried, February 4. 1S74. to Mi.ss Flla Y. Warner, daughter of the late 
C. C. Warner, of Syracuse. Five children have blessed this union, all of whomaie living, namely: 



BlOGKArillCAL. lOI 



("leorjie H.. born December 27. 1874; Florence E., born November 30. 1877; Howard W., born 
lamiarv 17. iS3i) ; Marguerite M., born October 13, 18S6 ; and Harold A., born September 20, 1889. 
I'or nearly twenty -five years i\l r. McChesney has been closely allied to the business interests and 
development of Syracuse, and among other tinancial connections is a Director of the Third National 
Bank of this city. Kind and gentle in manner, and of a retiring disposition, he is ever ready to lend 
a helping hand so far as his means will allow, and above all he takes a keen interest in all that tends 
to better the community in which he lives. 



HUN. D.VNIEI. 1'. WOOD was born in the town of I'ompey, Onondaga county, N. V.. on the 
5th of November, 1819, the son of Daniel Wood and Sophia Sims. At the commencement of the 
century his father, from Berkshire, Mass. took up his residence at Pompey Hill, and was the 
pioneer lawyer ol the place He was a Justice of the Peace, and a man of influence and successful 
practice, and was appointed first postmaster there by President Madison in iSll. Alter Victory 
Hirdseye settled at Pompey, in 1807, a partnership was formed between the two lawyers, and the 
firm of Wood & Birdseye were the instructors of many who were afterwards practitioners of the 
county. The cultivation of a tract of land, which the elder Wood purchased, furnished an employ- 
ment congenial to his tastes and health, and he resigned the honors and habits of the profession 
principally to his partner. 

Daniel P. Wood, assisting his father during his boyhood, strengthened his constitution, and 
thus prepared himself to realize, in the arduous mental labors yet to come, the ma.\im, sana mens in 
sane corfore. Natural scenery e.verts a powerful influence on the youthful mind. From Pompey 
Hill, a portion of which is 1,700 feet above the level of the sea, a view at one point stretches far in 
every direction, unbroken save by the horizon, and embracing objects in seven counties. The mind 
of the youth grew beyond the confines of the farm. At first he attended the district schools, but the 
wisdom and public spirit of his father and other residents had provided means for higher education. 
Daniel Wood was one of the Trustees of the Pompey Academy, incorporated in i8t I, and its Ireas- 
urer and a member of its Prudential Committee. While pursuing a preparatory classical course at 
this academy young Wood lost his father, who died in 183S. The next year he entered Hamilton 
College, at the time when the scholarly Dr. Simeon North commenced his useful and efTicient presi- 
dency, and graduated in 1S43. During his college course his mother was removed by death; she 
was Sophia Sims, of a family resident in New England, but originally of Jamestown, Va. Though 
bereft of parental advice and influence Mr. Wood was at this age fixed in his lile purposes and prin- 
ciples. In addition to his regular studies he had improved his mind by extensive reading. He com- 
menced studying law with Hon. Victory Birdseye. his father's former partner, who had been a dele- 
gate to the State Constitutional Convention, and had served various terms in the State Assembly and 
Senate, and had been a member of the Fourteenth and Twenty-seventh Congresses. .Mr. Wood's 
legal studies were finished in the office of George W. Noxon. of Syracuse, with whom he formed a 
partnership on his admission to the bar in 1846. Two years subsequently he married Lora Celeste, 
.laughter of Silas Smith, of Lanesboro, .Mass.. whose wife was Eunice Bagg. descended from Joseph 
l.oomis. of Windsor, Conn., who arrived at Boston from England in 1638. 

though many lawyers of ability and experience preceded Mr. Wood in the practice of the law at 
Syracuse, the competition served only to whet his energy and resolution. The city received its char- 
ter in 1847, and for two or three years Mr. Wood was appointed City Attorney, the duties of which 
office he performed so acceptably that he was put in successful nomination for the .Vs-embly by his 
party— the Whigs— in 1852. The Onondaga salt production, which had l>ecn rapidly increasing 
during the preceding ten years, was the most important industrial interest of his constituents. Dur- 
ing the session of 1853 he was Chairman of the Committee on Salt, and .ibly and imp.artially pro- 
tected their rights and those of the State. He was also a member of the Committee on the Code, a 
subject then of engrossing importance to the lawyers of the Slate from the radical changes which 
had been introduced into the procedure of the courts. An opportunity was thus afforded of tesimg 



I02 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

his legal attainments and their ready application, which resulted in the increase of his reputation as 
a lawyer. As a legislative debater he made his mark in the discussion of the improvement of the ca- 
nals, in which his constituents were largely concerned and in the impeachment proceedings against 
and the trial of John C. Mather, the Canal Commissioner, of which celebrated trial Mr. Wood was 
one of the Committee of Managers on the pan of the House. His re-election followed, and at the 
ne.\t session, as Chairman of the Committee on Educational Institutions, he was the author of the 
act creating the Department of Public Instruction, and performed a very effective work as a member 
of the important Committee on Ways and Means. 

Mr. Wood's health was usually equal to the demands made upon it. but close attention to his 
public duties and legal practice for a succession of years rendered a respite necessary, and in 1857 
he visited the Southern States and made the return journey from South Carolina on horseback. On 
the dissolution of the Whig party Mr. Wood cooperated in the Republican organization. The first 
acts of secession roused his patriotism. He accompanied the President-elect on his journey to the 
National Capital, which, it had been predicted, Lincoln would never reach alive. Mr. Wood a.s.sisted 
with earnestness in the raising of troops. The Twelfth Regiment of New York Volunteers was 
among the first formed in the State, and during the war was followed by three other complete regi- 
ments from this county, besides separate batteries and companies. In iSf)5 Mr. Wood again repre- 
sented his district in the Assembly, and was Chairman of the Special Committee which conducted 
the remains of President Lincoln from the city of New York through the State. At the same session 
and in the next .Assembly, in which he was likewise a Representative, he was Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Canals and a member of the Committee on Ways and Means. In 1S67 he w-as elected for 
the fifth time to the Assembly, and became Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, on 
which he had had so much experience. The years which followed were the era of inflation and of ju- 
dicial and legislative corruption. The Tweed ring of the city of New York was in the plentitude of 
its power, and sought to dominate the political organizations of the State. A reform was needed in 
both parties. It was important to break down the Tammany influence in the Legislature. Mr. 
Wood was brought forward in 1S71 for the State Senate as a man who could not be led by friend or 
foe to swerve from the strict line of rectitude, impartiality, and political purity. Elected by a m.ijor. 
ity of nearly 4.000, he represented the Twenty-second District during the next term of two years, 
and was assigned to the Chairmanship of the Finance Committee, and thus placed in a position 
where he had to meet and vanquish the hosts of corruption, whether in the House or in the lobby. 
The first session was crowded with events. The Tammany judges and other oflicers were impeached. 
In these proceedings, without neglecting any of his other duties, Senator Wood participated actively, 
and took the most decided ground for a pure judiciary. No one did more to break the rule of Tweed 
in the politics of the State. The fightagainst irregularity and extravagance was continued through the 
next session. The Supply Bill, in which unjust appropriations had been often artfully introduced, was 
watched by the Chairman of the P'inance Committee with unceasing vigilance. Having had a copy 
made of the bill as reported by the Conference Committee he would not allow it to leave his hands 
for a moment until he had compared it word by word with the engrossed bill in the last stage of its 
progress. Mr. Wood was unanimously re-nominated by acclamation by the Republican Senatorial 
Convention, and returned to the Senate without opposition. The Democratic Senatorial Conven- 
tion in the Twenty-second District, consisting of Cortland and Onond.aga counties, in the fall of 
1873, was, though small in numbers, one of the most remarkable political gatherings ever held in the 
State. After a motion had been made to ballot for a candidate for Senator one of the delegates de- 
clared that "while he had no regard for the Republican party, he had respect for Senator Wood "; 
he was ready to recognize the good wherever it might exist, and therefore in favor of making nomi- 
nation against that Senator. Another delegate knew "that the ring Republicans did not like Sena- 
tor Wood, and that they would be willing to contribute thousands of dollars to defeat him." The 
convention decided unanimously not to make a nomination. In 1874 and 1S75 Senator Wood acted 
again .as the Chairman of the Finance Committee, and continued to practice economy and wise re- 
trenchment. He was a bulwark against unworthy, hungry applicants, and insisleii on a strict com- 
pliance, even in useful measures, with the forms of the law, as the only safe method of guarding the 
Treasury. When it was proposed lo indirectly anticipate an appropriation for the new Capitol he 



BlOGRAl'IIICAl,. 103 



pronounced it an evasion of the Constitution of the State, and was unmoved by the arguments in its 
favor urged by Senators of both parties. He was the author of the banking act passed in 1875. 
While in the Senate he was surprised by a movement of the military oflicers of Central New York 
to secure his appointment to the command of the Sixth Division of the National Guard on the 
resignation in 1S74 of Major-General Uarnum, in consequence of his removal from the State. Sen- 
ator Wood, tliough often applied to. would not consent to be his successor, and Governor Oi-t sent in 
his name for the .Major-Generalship of that division without his concurrence. The Senate at once 
conhrmed the nomination with much enthusiasm. Editorial congratulations poured in from every 
quarter. In a le.iding article on the subject the .'///'««/ F.vi-tiiiig Journal used the following lan- 
guage, which illustrates the spirit of the press generally : 

" It is not singular that the military clement of Onondaga and Central New York should seek, 
as they have been .seeking for months, the consent of Senator Wood to lake their command. The 
plumes and the epaulettes are no work of his. lUit the soldiers knew that whatever he undertakes he 
pushes with irrepressible energy; and if he had not tr.ained on the tented field, or flashed his sword 
m the pageant of parade, they had seen his successful generalship in other spheres. If skill in tac- 
lics were an essential qualification then no man could surpass him. If understanding of strategy 
were needful then he was a master. If capacity for lighting were required then he was just the man. 
* * * In the Legislature he has stood .is a sort of a corps of ohservaiion, watching against im- 
proper measures. He has deployed his forces against all forms of jobs, lie has beat the long roll 
and mustered the columns whenever there was danger. He basposied his pickets, kept up his line of 
sentinels, slept on his arms, and has been constantly on the alert for every exigency." 

The territory of the Si.Nth Division comprised the counties of Broome, Cayuga, Che'hango, 
Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Otsego, Seneca, Tioga, Tompkins, Chemung, 
Schuyler, Yates, Ontario, Wayne, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, and Lewis. The able elViciency of Sena- 
tor Wood and his spotless public record had made a deep impression upon the minds of all who 
were desirous of a higher code of political ethics, especially those in the city of Ne«- York, who were 
seeking to purify the ermine and to alleviate the bur<iens of taNation. Soon after his appointment 
as .Major-Cieneral, Senator Wood was the recipient, from the New York City Council of Political Re- 
form, of a costly sword, with the inscription on the blade ; " May this sword be drawn only to enforce 
righteous laws," and with the engraved inscription on the bo.\ inclosing the sword : " Presented to Ma- 
jor-General Daniel P. Wood, by the New York City Council of Political Reform, in recognition of his 
eminent services in 1872, 1873, and 1874, as a member of the State Senate, in favor of reform legisla- 
tion, especially for the city of New York." The presentation was made by Judge Emott, at a gather- 
ing of the prominent merchants, bankers, and lawyers of the metropolis, in an address containing this 
endorsement : 

"The Governor having selected vou for a responsible military office in the State, we, your 
friends, feel great pleasure in testifving to you the satisfaction that appointment gives us and our 
sense of li.lelitv with which vou maintained the cause of reform and good government, and watched 
for the apprcach of ihe eneniies of that cause, and served the Slate, perhaps, more efiiciently than 
anv other man in the Legislature during the period we have p.issed through, so full of events of im- 
po'rlance which have ta.yed the energies of men both in and out of the Legislature to prevent b.id 
government, and bring us to the point we have reached in reform and reconstruction of municipal af- 
fairs." 

The following is a passage in the felicitous response of General Wood on that occasion : 

"I recall with the greatest pleasure and gratitude the conspicuous and efficient service per- 
formed by the New \oxV Council of Political Reform with others, in the overthrow of that dynasty of 
corrupt and b.ad men. who had fastened like v.impires upon the body politic of this great metrop- 
olis consuming its substance, and wielding its vast political m.ichinery and olhcial patronage in such 
a manner as enabled it to subject to its blighting control the government and linances o the entire 
State- a dvnasty so well entrenched and fortified that it had come to consider itself, and well nigh to be 
conceded to be. financially invincible and politically omnipotent. The endorsement of my political 
course bv such a bodv of patriotic men. laboring thus unselfishly for the gener.al good had it been 
expressed in a less costly way, by a simple resolution of approval, would have been all, and more 
than all, my feeble efforts have deserved." 

In l8f)() the Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga was organized with Mr. Wood as one of 
the Vice-Presidents, and his connection with that institution continued til! his death. The companv 
actsasan agent in making investments, .-is .an administrator of estates, and has a depository for funds 



I04 Memorial History of Syracuse. 



and other valuables. After his retirement from the Senate till his death he was Tresident of the 
Onondaga County Savings Bank, of which he was one of the incorporators in ■ 855. He was also a 
Director in the New York State Banking Company, incorporated in 1S52, and re-organized under 
its present title twenty years afterward. He was President of the Highland Solar Salt Manulacturing 
Company, of which he was one of the organizers. He was prominently interested in the C.enesee 
and Water Street Railroad, and in the railway running from Syracuse to its suburb, the village oi 
Geddes, of both of which he was one of the originators. He was the principal owner in. and 
President and principal manager of the Metallic Burial Casket Manufacturing Company, of New 
York city, which presented to the government the casket for the remains of President Garfield, 
and the cases sent out for the bodies of the De Long Arctic E.\pedition. General \Vood was a man 
of pleasing address and kindly disposition, and popular with all classes. His life was intertwined 
with the growth of Syracuse and its institutions in many ways. Of his children three died in infancy; 
the others are : Frank Wood ; Mary Clifton Wood, wife of Prof. Cleorge Williams, of Johns Hop- 
kins University; and Cornelia l.ongstreet Wood, who married .\. .-Kmes Howlett. of Syracuse, and 
died May 4, 1S90. 

General Wood died at his residence in James street, of paralysis of the brain, on May i, 1891. 
much lamented by all who knew him. 



HA.MILTOX BURDICK was born at West Winfield, Herkimer county, N. Y., February 11, 
1816. His father. .\dam Burdick. a native of Hopkinton, R. I., was born December 31, 1759. 
and at the age of sixteen entered the .\merlcan army of the Revolution, serving three years in the 
ranks. and being under the command of Benedict .\rnoId at the time of .\rnold's treacherous desertion 
to the British. In camp at West Point with Washington, he was brought into personal contact with 
the aids-de-camp Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton, after the latter of whom Hamilton Burdick 
was named. His mother, Lodema Lee, was born near .\lbany, N. Y., February 27, 1770, and was 
of the family from which sprang the distinguished Confederate. General Robert E. Lee. 

At sixteen, after a somewhat desultory course of study at the local district school, Mr. Burdick 
determined upon securing a more thorough education, preparatory to the study and practice of the 
law. the profession he had even then resolved to follow. His family circumstances were of such a 
nature that he was at once thrown upon his own resources to obtain the means of prosecuting his 
studies, but by the e.xercise of a rigid economy, and by persevering and diligent effort, he was ena- 
bled to spend two years at the Bridgesvater .-Xcademy and a year at the Hamilton .'\cademy (now 
known as the Colgate Institute), from which he graduated at nineteen. He then entered the office of 
Andrew Thompson, at Bridgewater. Oneida county, and commenced the study of law. Later he 
continued his studies with Hon. Philo Gridley, at Hamilton, and with John Bradish, at Utica. In 
1840 he was admitted to practice as attorney and solicitor, and three years later as counselor in all 
the courts of the State. In September, 1S40, he opened an office at West Winfield, where he re- 
mained until May, 1843. 

On the 6th of October, 1841, Mr. Burdick married Elvira Woodworth, of Bridgewater, N. Y., 
a descendant of thepoct Woodworth. author of " The Old Oaken Bucket." Of this union two chil- 
dren were born, the first, Frances E., now the wife of Charles Nukerck Clark, of Dubuque, Iowa, 
and the second, Edward H., who married Elizabeth Hall, a daughter of Hon. Benjamin F. Hall, of 
Auburn, N. Y. 

After three years of successful practice at West Winfield Mr. Burdick formed a partnership with 
the late Rowland H. Gardner and came to Syracuse, where he has since resided. The firm of (jard- 
ner i: Burdick existed unchanged for twenty-seven years being at the time of its dissolution, in 1870, 
the oldest law firm in the city. Mr. Burdick practiced his profession alone from 1870 to 1875 .when 
his son Edward was admitted to the Bar and was taken into partnership, the new firm continuing 
until January i, i8go. 

Early impressed with the dignity of the law as a profession, and imbued with a desire to follow 
a pursuit consonant with his bent of mind, and which would afford opportunities for the employ 



BlOGRArillCAL. 105 



ment of his best faculties, Mr. Burdick chose his profession at an age when young men are most 
often biiiUling air castles and contemplating their future careers with indeterminate minds, and with 
tireless diligence and energy pursued his well considered course to the attainment of his ambition. 
Without .ispirations as an orator his aim was to be thorough in research, sound in counsel, and loyal 
to the interests of his clients. How well he has achieved his ambition is evinced by the respect ac- 
corded to his legal opinions and reliance placed upon his counsel. His conservatism and love of 
truth have always made him a safe counselor, while his diligent study and natural power of discrim- 
ination have enabled him to grasp, with comparative ease, complex legal propositions, and to apply the 
fundamental principles of the law to novel cases with a certainty that would be impossible to a less log- 
ical order of mind. l!y his integrity of purpose, and faithful adherence to high moral principles in the 
practice of his profession, he has always commanded the respect and confidence of his clients and of his 
fellow lawyers, and has always been recognized as one who sought a reputation for sound legal judg- 
ment rather than for brilliancy as an advocate, lieneath a quiet and somewhat reserved demeanor 
there e.\ists a genial kindliness and a keen sense of humor, which has made his intercourse with his 
fellow men enjoyable without detracting from his dignity and influence. 

In politics a Democrat, Mr. Hurdick for many years took a prominent part in the adairs of his 
party, and was a candidate for several city and county offices, having been twice elected Supervisor 
at a period when party feeling ran high and the Republican majority was thought to be insuperable. As 
one of the oldest members of the Onondaga County Bar Mr. Burdick was recently called upon to read be- 
fore that association a paper upon his " Reminiscences of the Bar," and of his practice, in which he 
reviewed the changes in practice since his admission to the Bar, recounted anecdotes of the older 
lawyers, and called to mind many early and interesting cases in his own e.>;perience. The following 
extracts from this address clearly show his ijuiet humor and aptness for narrating local events of 
great historical interest : 

* * * " Shortly after the organization of the county there came to Onondaga Hollow the 
lirst, and then only, lawver and member of its Bar, Thaddeus .M. Wood, who continued to reside in 
the countv and practice his profession until his death in I S36. • * • The lirst case of local inter- 
est after the organization of the county was before a justice at Salina. The justice, administering the 
rigorous law of the time, sentenced the prisoner, who was convicted, to be whipped, and for the want 
of a constable did the whipping himself. The lirst Circuit Court was held in tne corn-house of Gen- 
eral Danforth, at the " Hollow," on the 21st of July, 1794. Hon. Ii.,'berl l!ens.)n of th.; Supreme 
Court presiding. One case was tried, by lawyers from Herkimer and Wriitestown, Thomas R. Gould 
and .Arthur Breeze, who were the onlv attorneys present. One bill of indictment was found agamst 
James Fitzgerald for assault and battery with intent to rob one Andrew McCarthy. The prisoner 
was convicted and sentenced to tsvo months' imprisonment in the county jail at Heikimer. The 
Court rtned nineteen petit jurors twentv shillings each, and four grand jurors twenty shillings each, 
and three justices thirtv shillings each, 'for absence. Krom that time on the Circuit Courts held one 
term a year, at private houses, until the court-house was built at Onondaga Hill, in 1S05 : and there 
courts were held until the building of a new court-house, on the line between the two villages of Sahna 
and Syracuse. * * * . , , 

•• It might, perhaps, be interesting to know whether, in the almost half century since I became 
a member of the Bar, the lawyers have increased faster than the clients : and whether the standard 
of property qualifications to make a client desirable and profitable is the same now as in the old days, 
not on my own account as much as on the account of the two or three hundred practitioners whose 
shingles now adorn the conspicuous places upon the most stately and impressive buildings of the city or 
towns where they carry on their business through the media of telephones, typewriters, shorthand re- 
porters, and all the modern devices for annihilating limi an I space. In 1843 the lirst (^ircuit Court 
was held bv the Hon. Daniel Moselev, who resided at Onondaga Hill, and the whole number of 
cases on the calendar was 60. A comparison of that calendar with that of the Last January Circuit, 
containing 400 cases may throw some light upon the question of the relative increase ol attorneys 
and clients * « « ..,,,.,.. 

" The organization of the courts and the practice as it e.xisted when I was admitted as attorney 
and solicitor in Chancery, in 1840, and as they had existed for many years, were so entirely different 
from the practice of the present dav that it may be interesting to the younger members, who have 
never had occasion to know what and how dilTerent the lawyer's work was, to consider some of the 
proceedings of those davs. I'erhaps I cannot better illustrate this difference than by briefly reciting 
the incidents of a case of my own shortly after I came to Syr.icuse. I'arties holding promisory notes 
against my clients commenced an action at law for their collection. 1 he subsiamial defense was 
iisurv, but, as the practice then was, the defendants could not offer themselves as witnesses to prove 
the tlsury nor could they call the plaintiffs ; and in this case there was no other way in which proof 



io6 Memorial History ok Syracuse. 

could be made to sustain the defense, there being no other witnesses to the transaction. A bill in 
Chancery was therefore tiled by my clients to compel the plaintiffs in the action at law to cancel and 
surrender up the usurious paper. A temporary injunction was obtained from Judge Moseley at On- 
ondaga Hill, and the bill of complaint served. To this bill the defendants in equity were required 
to answer to the charges of usury, and to the interrogating clauses in relation to the same matter, 
\Yhen the answer was put in it was regular and sufficient in form and substance, except as to the 
specific charges and interrogations as to the usury. K.\ceptions were served to the sutticiency of the 
answer, and the matter was taken to a Master in Chancery, before whom the argument was had. 
The .Master sustained the exceptions, and directed the defendants to answer over within twenty days, 
or have the bill of complaint taken as confessed against them. .An appeal was taken to the \'ice- 
Chancellor, then at Geneva. The Vice-Chancellor reversed the ruling of the .Master, and held the 
answer to be sufficient. The complainant appealed from this decision to Chancellor Walworth, at 
.•Mbany. who stood the Vice-Chancellor on his head and allirmed the ruling of the Master. When 
the case was called by the Chancellor .Mr. Julius Rhodes, then a famous Chancery lawyer, at .Vlbany, 
answered for the defendants, stating that he appeared on their behalf, but did not see or know of any 
counselor from Onondaga county who might represent the complainants. I had not then been form- 
ally admitted as counselor in Chancery, and in answering for the complainants I stated the fact to 
the Chancellor. He kindly suggested that if I was qualified and entitled to be admitted he wouH 
make an order for my examination, and hold the case until afternoon, when I could bring in my cer- 
tificate from the examiner. Writing out an order, he sent me to the late Judge .\masa J. Parker, 
who proceeded at once to give me a most thorough examination, and signed the proper certilicates. 
Presenting the certificate to the Court in the afternoon, I took the oath of office, and proceeded with 
the argument of the case before a critical audience of learned counselors, among whom I remember 
was a no less distinguished personage th,in Daniel Webster. The case is reported in the nth of 
Paige, .\fterwards, when the amended answer came to be served, it was defective in the same par- 
ticular as before, and I filed e.xceptions accordingly. The Master held it insufiicient, as in the first 
instance, and on the appeal to the Vice-Chancellor he was about to reverse the decision, as on the 
formal appeal, but after hearing the opinion of Chancellor Walworth read he, with ill-concealed cha- 
grin, announced that he must, under the circumstances, reverse himself, and affirm the Master's rul- 
ing. The solicitor for the defendants was the late Horace P. Winsor, then practicing at James- 
viUe, and when a copy of the decision was served upon him he took occasion to heap upon my head 
the thunders of his wrath, saying that if any man was ever justified in shooting another he was in 
shooting me, and he guessed he would do it, too. Shortly afterwards he came to my office and sug- 
gested a "settlement " of the whole matter, and the litigation was brought to an end as to both ac- 
tions by the cancellation and surrender of the usurious notes and the payment, by his clients, of all 
the costs. .Vnd so the case was won without the swearing of a witness. * * * 

" Born in the year of the cold summer, 1816, I was admitted to the liar at twenty-four, in Jan- 
uary, 1S40, and I have a very vivid recollection of the occasion of my examination. The class, num- 
bering thirty, was composed of young men from all parts of the State, who had passed the long ap- 
prenticeship of from four to seven years. .Vfter the examination we invited the examiners to partake 
of a cold collation, and in a spirit of wild extravagance invested in sever.al bottles of champagne. 
The first case of any moment in which I appeared was commenced over fifty years ago. and is still 
pending, never having been discontinued or tried. It was a suit against a cousin of Judge tiridley, 
of Oneida county, and when it came up for trial the Juilge announced his relationship to the party 
defendant and declined to hear the case, suggesting a change of venue to Herkimer county. The 
change was made, but when the case came up there it appeared that the action was against an officer 
of Oneida county, and the Court refused to hear it, as it was subject to local jurisdiction, and there 
the matter now stands. 

" The firm of Gardner & liurdick was formed in May, 1S43, and we came immediately to .'Syra- 
cuse. Our joint income the first yc.ir was about $150. Philo X. Rust, the renowneil hotel-keeper, 
pronounced the fiat against us the first year, and was reported to have said at a bird supper at the 
-Syracuse House — D. D. Hillis, Judge Pratt, and others being present as guests — that Gardner 
& Hurdick could not succeed or live in Syracuse unless they joined the " bar" suppers at his hotel, 
where champagne was as free as water. I!ut we managed to get our share of the business and hold 
out without the champagne, and so proved the prophecy false. .-\s an incident in politics 1 might 
mention that the first election after I came here was held at the old Court House, and I could not get 
to the polls to vote on account of the Salt Point mob that surrounded the place. A man named 
Hoynton, living here about that time, who was a litigant in an important law suit with Thaddeus .M. 
Wood, used so sav that the three words in the language indicative of the greatest wickedness were 
•.Salt Point, Thad. Wood, and— the devil :• * » * 

"The late Rowland H. Gardner, my partner for twenty-seven years, was a good trial lawyer, 
always ready for a speech, and his addresses to juries were productive of marked effect upon their 
verdicts. Original and witty he was a great lover of fun, in or out of court, and saw the ridiculous 
and amusing side of things with a promptness that enabled him to turn the tide in his own favor in 
many adverse situations. He was, too, a good stump politician, and had many a tilt with strong 
adversaries in defense of his political faith. As Indian agent he was much esteemed by the tribe 
under his charge. In the face of strong political opposition he was elected District Attorney, 



BlOGRAl'HICAL. lO/ 



and filled the office with credit to himself and to the people. Both before and afterwards he 
had occasion to defend many prisoners charged with crime, and never failed in doing his 
whole duty by each. I remember that in our earlier experience here a man was indicted for burg- 
lary, and the Court .issi-jned Mr Ciardner to defend him. -Mr. (lardner said it was his first case of 
the kind, and desired to know of the Court what course to pursue. Judge Moseley very promptly 
replied: "It is your duty to clear the defendant, if you can do so." 'I'he case proceeded to trial, and 
after the prosecution rested the prisoner wished to consult with his counsel as to his defense, and 
was allowed to go out into the hall of the old Court-IIouse to do so. He wanted to know if the Court 
would send him to the .State prison if convicted, and for how long. He had no witnesses, and Mr. 
C.ardner informed him of the certainty of his being sent to prison for a term of years. I he prisoner 
said he could never go to prison, and without ceremony proceeded to leave the Court-IIouse on a run. 
soon distancing all pursuers. Upon returning to the court room .Mr. Cardner reported to the Court 
that the prisoner had given leg-bail, whereupon the jury was discharged and the court adjourned." 

At the ripe age of seventy-five Mr. IJurdick still continues in practice with the same zealous inter- 
est in his profession and the cause of his clients he has evinced during the many years of his eventful 
professional life. His belief in Christianity and high sandard of moral worth is sound and broad in 
comprehension, while his ideas on all subjects of personal interest are liberal and clear. Hiswifeand 
family are worshippers in the Episcopal faith and he has long attended and aided in the support of 
that societv, being for many years vestryman of St. James's church in this city under the teachings 
and influence of the late Dr. Gregory and the Rev. J. M. Clark, now occupying a prominent position 
in the diocese of Central New York. 



HON. CARROLL E. SMITH, only child of Vivus \V. and Caroline (Earll) Smith, was born in 
Syracuse, December 25, 1S32, and has been a life-long resident of this city. His ancestors . i. 

were early settlers of .Massachusetts, and prominently identified with the primitive development and , | 

history of New England. His mother, who. was married in February, 1S30, was the only daughter 

of Hon. Jonas Earll, jr., of Onondaga Hill. She died in April, 1S35. His father, who was born in .' 

Lanesboro, Berkshire county, Mass., January 27, 1S04, a son of Silas Smith, was a distinguished 
journalist and an -.nfluential politician of this city and county. As editor of the Syracits,' Journal for 
twenty-five years Vivus \V. Smith wielded a controlling influence in Whig and Republican political 
circles, not onlv in Onondaga county, but throughout the State of New York, and with his pen ar- 
dently advocated the cause of purity, reform, and economy in public affairs. After a year spent in 
the lawoflSce of Governor (Jeorge N. Briggs, at Lanesboro, he engaged in newspaper work in West- 
held, Mass.. and a little later removed to Onondaga Hill and bought out the OitonJii^',! Joiirmtl 
which he published for two years. Upon the removal of the county seat to Syracuse he came thithec 
and established, with John F. \Vyman, the Onoiuiag,, Stamianl. In 1S38 he founded, in partner- 
ship with his brother, Silas F., the H^isltm SlaU- Journal, a paper of Whig proclivities, which is now 
continued under the name of the Syracuse Daily and Wetily Journal. After the death of his first 
wife he married (lune, 1839) Miss Theodora, daughter of Davenport Morey, of this city, by whom 
he had "hree children, viz.: Fillmore M., Seward V., and Florence A. He was at various times 
Countv Clerk, Superintendent of the Onondaga Salt Springs, and Canal Appraiser. Mr. Smith died 
in l83i, at the age of seventy-seven years. 

Carroll E. Smith's youth was spent in the local schools. He completed an academic course in I' I 

the Svracuse Academy, and then entered the Seward Institute at Florida, Orange county, N. Y., 
from which he was graduated in 1S52 with honors. At an early age he entered the printing oftice of 
the Syracuse Journal, and there learned the various branches of the printers' trade. When nineteen 
vears of age he began his life-long newspajier career in a subordinate capacity, and subsequently, be- 
fore attaining his majority, became local reporter for the Daily Journal and then associate editor of 
the Z^«/Vv Chronicle. In i860 he assumed editorial charge of the yoi/r//.;/, since which time his work 
in this capacity has been marked with an unusual degree of success and devotion to the material in- 
terests of the community. 



io8 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

So intimately has Mr. Smith been identitied with the remarkable career of the Journal (the 
oldest daily newspaper in the county) that a brief history of that publication is necessarily a part of 
the history of the life of its editor. The paper was started March 20, 1839. by V. \Y. & S. Y . Smith 
(father and uncle respectively of its present conductor), as the ]Visletn Stale Journal. In 1S44 the 
name was changed to the Syracusi- Weekly and Daily Journal, and three years later the firm of 
liarnes, Smith & Cooper became proprietors and publishers. Vivus \V. .Smith, in 1849, assumed sole 
control, and so continued till 1850, when Seth Haight became proprietor and George Terwilliger edi- 
tor. In 1853 the proprietorship passed to Danforth Merrick, and the following year Thomas S. 
Truair purchased the plant and franchise and made Andrew Shuman editor-in-chief. This arrange- 
ment continued one year, when John G. K. Truair bought the establishment, and September i, 1S56, 
Anson G. Chester became the editor. In 1859 Rodney I., .\dams was admitted to the tirm, which 
became J. G. K. Truair & Co., and in 1S62 the style of the partnership was changed to Truair, 
Smith iS; Miles by Carroll E .Smith and Marcus M. Miles both taking an interest. From 1 868 Truair, 
Smith i: Co. conducted the paper till April 21, 1S76, when Dwight 11. Bruce purchased an interest, 
and the firm became Truair, Smith & Bruce, which continued till 1885, when the latter retired and a 
stock company was formed with Carroll E. Smith, I'resident ; J. G. K. Truair, Vice-President and 
Treasurer; and Eugene M.Grover, Secretary and Superintendent. October 23, 1SS9, Mr. Truair 
died, and soon after the company was re-organized with Carroll E. Smith, President and Treasurer ; 
Charles C. Smith, .Secretary; and Charles Blasdel, Superintendent. March 14, 1891, a disastrous fire 
destroyed the entire Journal plant in East Washington street, including a new Hoe web-perfecting 
press and an extensive job and bindery plant, but owing to the indomitable energy of Mr. Smith 
not a single issue was missed. Its home was then moved to 130 and 132 James street, where it now 
occupies an eligible and commodious building. Mr. Smith guides the policy of the Journal with the 
assistance of the following staff : Charles C. Smith, managing editor ; Myles T. Frisbie. associate 
editor; John A. Mackay, city editor ; and Harvey I). Burrill, Henry \V. Chapin, and Frank H. 
Chase, reporters. 

.Mr. Smith has been recognized by his party and the people in being elected to positions of trust 
and responsibility, in all of which he has labored assiduously for the interests of his constituents. From 
1854 to 1S57 he was City Clerk, and took much interest in framing the charter of the city which has 
since been the basis of its municipal law. In 1865 he was elected County Clerk and served three 
years, and in 1876 and 1S77 he was member of .Assembly, in which body he held a prominent posi- 
tion. He was Chairman of the Committee on Public Education, and the author of legislation in the 
interest of popular education. He was also a member of the Committees on the .Vffairs of Cities and 
.Apportionment, in whose action he took a deep imprest. He declined to be a candidate for re-elec- 
tion, preferring to devote his entire attention to journalism. In iSSS Mr. Smith was elected by the 
Legislature a member of the Hoard of Regents of the State University, which position he still holds. 
For si.\ years he was President of the New York State Associated Press, and for twenty-two years 
has been one of the managers of that association. October 17, 1889, he was appointed by President 
Harrison Postmaster at Syracuse and custodian of the Government Building, and in this department 
he has inaugurated material changes in the local postal ser\-ice, notable among them being the im- 
provement of the free delivery service. Besides these he has been and is prominently connected with 
the management of several public associations and identified with various other business enterprises. 

Mr. Smith commenced his political life a Republican by casting his first vote in 1S56 for John C. 
Fremont for I'resident. He has ever since maintained an active interest and inlluential position in 
politics, and has always given his best efforts to elevate and purify political affairs. His vigorous 
pen wields a potent influence in the councils and actionsof the party with which he is identified. As 
a journalist he seeks to promote the highest good of the cornmunity by upholding the cause of relig- 
ion, morality, and temperance, and by the advocacy of the best phases of political and public policy. 
Always holding himself independent and free to criticise, he has ever been ready to dissent from the 
action of party leadership which tended contrawise to his views of public welfare. He is careful in 
his statements, but outspoken in all matters of general interest, and always goes to the pith of the 
subject under comment in a way peculiarly his own. His writings, always original, simple, and con- 
cise, have been filled with thought of the keenest character, and invariably impress their power upon 



Biographical. 109 



both friend and foe. Although tenacious of his rights, he carefully respects those of others, and is 
thoroughly interested in all matters tending to elevate and improve society. In the sanctum or on the 
platform alike he attracts attention by the vigor of his presentation and logical reasoning. He possesses 
a strong individuality. His standard of honor and truthfulness is high. II is nature, although some- 
times apparently brusque, is kindly and sympathetic, lie makes friends readily and does not relinquish 
them easily. -V man of the people, he possesses great persistency, untiring energy, and a rare insight 
into character and motives. Straightforward and frank he tells the truth as he sees it, let it hit where it 
may. He is ranked among the ablest editors in the State, and as such enjoys the esteem and respect 
of the fraternity and the public. He has made the Journal a synonym for truthfulness and morality, 
and has thoroughly imbued it with his own high ideal of the newspaper as a public educator — the 
perfect abnegation of self in its conductors, with the highest development of news enterprise and the 
most perfect devotion to the interests of State and people. Mr. Smith married Miss Harriet E. Hor- 
ton in 1S54, and his family consists of Charles C. Smith, who is associated with him in the manage- 
ment of the Journal, Vivus G. Smith, Mrs. A. V. Meeker, and Miss Hattie E. Smith. Mr. Smith 
resides in his handsome West Onondaga street home, which is the center of a generous hospitality. 



HON. CHARLES BALDWIN SEDGWICK was bom in Pompey, Onondaga county, in March, 
1S15, and died in Syracuse, February 7, 1SS3. He was the son of a prominent lawyer of that 
day, Stephen Sedgwick, and inherited much of the character of his father, who died when Charles B. 
was an infant. When our subject was four years of age his mother was married to Daniel Gott, a 
lawyer and politician of distinction. He took a course of study at Pompey -Vcademy, and at the age 
of seventeen years entered Hamilton College, from which institution he was graduated with high 
honors in 1S34. Returning to Pompey he entered the law office of his step-father, pursued the re- 
quired course, and was admitted to the Bar in 1S37. It is said of him that in these years he gave 
great promise of becoming eminent. He was methodical and logical in his reading, and carried 
these characteristics into practice. In 1S42 he came to Syracuse and formed a partnership with Peter 
Outwater. He was for some years Master in Chancery, an office which was abolished by the Con- 
stitution of 1S46. Subsequently Charles Andrews became associated with him, the partnership con- 
tinuing until Mr. Sedgwick went to New York, where he spent a year, when he returned to Syracuse 
and became a member of the law firm of Sedgwick, Andrews & Kennedy, which earned for itself a 
wide and honorable reputation. This co-partnership e.\isted till 1870, when Mr. Andrews was 
elected to the Court of Appeals. William G. Tracy and Charles H. Sedgwick were then admitted 
under the firm name of Sedgwicks, Kennedy & Tracy. Mr. Sedgwick continued in practice until 
1S75, when he formally retired, and with his family made an extended tour of Europe. Before his 
departure he was tendered a banquet at the Vanderbilt House, which was attended by many of the 
most prominent judges and lawyers in the State, and over which Judge George E. Comstock pre- 
sided. It was an event of general interest, in which regret was mingled with compliment. Upon 
his return from abroad Mr. Sedgwick found it distasteful to remain in retirement from the profession 
in which he had been so successful, and so he resumed practice, forming a partnersnip with I. N. 
Ames and his son-in-law, John L. King, which firm continued until his decease. 

Mr. Sedgwick was a close observer of politics and political events. He was originally a Demo- 
crat with anti-slaverv proclivities, but became a Republican when that party was organized. He 
was very active in the Free Soil movement of 1S4S, and a prominent member of the Buffalo conven- 
tion which nominated Van Buren for the Presidency. During that canvass he was one of the most 
effective of popular orators. In 185S he was elected to Congress, and during his first term was a 
member of the Committee on Naval .\flairs. He saw in those two years what seemed to him to be 
certain evidence of a conflict between the Nortn and the .South, and constantly advised the putting of the 
navy in the most efficient condition. He was re-elected, and during his second term was chair- 
man of this committee and rendered most important service to his country. He gave his best ener- 



110 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

gies to his work, and became entirely familiar with the navy and its needs. He was made a candi- 
date for renomination, but was defeated after a protracted struggle by Thomas T. Davis. In 1S63 
President Lincoln charged Mr. Sedgwick with important trusts in relation to the navy, he being se- 
lected because of his familiarity with the navy and eminent fitness for discharging the service required. 
He held close relations with President Lincoln, and never spoke of him without making reference to 
his exalted char,icter and eminent statesmanship. His esteem for the President was so great and his 
intimacy so close that he was fitly chosen to pronounce the funeral oration when obsequies appropriate 
to Mr. Lincoln's death took place in this city. That oration has ever remained in the memories of 
those who heard it. It was a masterly review of a noble life, and a most scathing criticism of those, 
both North and South, who had assailed the honor of our flag. 

In professional, public, and social life Mr. Sedgwick was alike honored. He possessed a strength 
of character and clearness of opinion which made him both magnetic and powerful in every position. 
His intercourse with people was always marked by the courtesy of a true and cultured gentleman. 
His hospitable home was the resort of representatives of art, of science, and of literature, and he 
numbered among his friends and companions the choicest spirits of political and literary activities of 
the country, and he himself held rightful rank with them. 

Mr. Sedgwick married in 1S37, soon after his admission to the liar. Miss Ellen C. Smith, 
daughter of Rev. Ethan .Smith, a Presbyterian clergyman of Pompey Hill. She died in 1846, leaving 
two children ; Ellen, wife of Osgood V. Tracy, and Charles H., a prominent lawyer in active practice 
in Syracuse. In 1847 he married Deborah \V. Gannett, daughter of Rev. Thomas B. Gannett, a 
Unitarian clergyman of .South Natick, Mass., who still survives. Their children were .^nna B., 
wife of J. L. Silsbee; Sally, wife of John L. King, who died in 18S2; Katharine, wife of Walter A. 
Burlingame; Dora, wife of Frederick R. Hazard; and Frank Lyndon, who was drowned at the age 
of twelve years. 



ARTHUR J EN KIN'S, manager and principal owner of the £ti->i i/ij; Ho aid and the A/hi/ih Her- 
ald, was born of English parents in Buffalo on July 23, 1851. The family removed to Milwau- 
kee in 1S55, and young Jenkins received his education in the common schools of that city. His first oc- 
cupation was as office boy in the commission house of Van Kirk \- McCIeoch. He was only fourteen 
years old when he thus started out upon his active career in life, but he had the fire of ambition in 
his breast, and even then gave promise of a bright and successful future, .\fter some further expe- 
rience in a bank, and later in a drug store, he finally decided to become a printer, and, with that ob- 
ject in view, secured employment in one of the Milwaukee offices. In 1S71, having previously worked 
at his trade in a number of cities, he came to Syracuse. He was then in his twentieth year, ener- 
getic, ambitious, and self-reliant. For six years he continued the industrious pursuit of his calling 
in one or the other of the local offices, his last place of employment being with the Journal^ where 
he obtained his first experience as a newspaper writer. It was in 1S76 that the idea of branching 
out into business for himself first occurred to Mr. Jenkins. He saw here a field for a cheap, live, 
enterprising newspaper, and easily convinced himself that its success would be only a question of 
proper management and conduct. In January, 1S77, his ideas took definite shape, and on the i;th 
of tliat month, having severed his connection with the Jouriia/, he established the Evening Herald. 
The new p.aper was a six-column sheet, and it w.as first issued from the job printing office of Arthur 
White in Fayette street. Mr. Jenkins began the publication with but little capital, and it was only 
by hard struggling that the enterprise was kept on foot. (Jradually, however, the little newspaper 
secured a hold upon the public, its prospects began to brighten, and on June 3d, 1878, the Herald 
Company was organized with Mr. Jenkins as President. The first issue of the Sunday Herald was 
run from the press on May 20, 1S80. Mr. Jenkins was one of the organizers of the United Press 
Association, and for a time acted as its manager. He has been a member of the Board of Directors 
ever since the association was formed. 

In June, 1S74, Mr. Jenkins married Miss Emma Ilogan, of Geddes. They have one child, a 
daughter, now in her twelfth year. 



Biographical. i i i 



Hl>\VARD GANSON WHITE, son of Hamilton White (whose biography will be found on page 
II), was born in Syracuse, N. Y., May 5. 1S56. Hisearly education was confined to the local 
schools. When about fourteen years of age he attended St. John's School at Manlius, and later en- 
tered Cornell University under the presidency of his cousin, Hon. .\ndrew I). White. His health, 
however, was delicate, and it was found that long-continued study was likely to break it down alto- 
gether. After a year or two of college life he was obliged to relinquish it, and to turn his attention 
to other and more robust pursuits. The two years following he spent in travel abroad in company 
with Prof. Horatio S. White, now of Cornell University. Fully restored to vigor and health he was 
an.xious to get back to the growing city which always engrossed his thoughts. Accordingly he re- 
turned to Syracuse, which place was to become the future field for the exercise of his varied talents. 
Burr Burton and T. R. Porter had already founded a growing business in making castings for the 
salt works, and their operations were e.vpanded from time to time to embrace mill machinery of vari- 
ous kinds, steam pumps, cotton presses, and steam engines and boilers adapted to a great varietv of 
manufacturing purposes. Messrs. liurton and Porter sold out, and Mr. White, with others, organ- 
ized in IS77 the Porter Manufacturing Company with his brother, Barrett R. White, President ; 
Robert Townsend, Vice-President ; George A. Porter, Treasurer; and D. H. Gowing, Secretary. In 
iSSo Howard G. White succeeded to the presidency, and it was owing to his efticient management 
that the company laid the foundation for the world-wide celebrity of its portable engines and boilers 
which it has achieved. During this period Mr. White conducted a stock farm (now the Palmer tract) 
of si.\ty-five acres near the city, upon which were found some of the finest strains of Norman Perch- 
eron horses in the country. Many of these were imported, and were celebrated for their size and 
strength for heavy work. He had also a fine stock of Holstein cattle, in which he took much inter- 
est and pleasure. In 18S5 he sold this farm to the Onond.iga County Agricultural Society, as its 
lease of Tallman Park was about to e.xpire, and new and larger quarters had to be secured. At the 
same time he sold his stock to New York and Rochester parties. 

In 1SS3 his attention was called to the Syracuse Slatuiaid slS a newspaper property in which an 
investment might be made with fair promise of a satisfactory return. At this time Mr. White had 
begun to take an active part in the politics of the city and county. He thought a better newspaper than 
the Republican party then had would serve a good purpose. He therefore joined John II. Durston and 
others in the ownership of the paper, and soon after he acquired the interests of all the other owners 
except Mr. Durston's. This partnership continued until --\pril 7, 18S7, when Mr. White became sole 
owner of the establishment. Under his control the Stan Jard was improved in every department, and 
its circulation extended throughout Central, Northern, and Southern New York. He transferred his 
plant to a new building, splendidly equipped as a newspaper office, and thenceforth gave it his undi- 
vided attention. 

In iSSq he was selected by the Republicans of Onondaga county to represent them in the Assem- 
bly for the First District, and before entering upon the duties of this office he resigned the presidency 
of the Porter Manufacturing Company. Gen. James W. Husted. Speaker of that body in the session 
of 1S90, placed Mr. White on the Committee on Cities, in which relation to the legislation of that year 
he held an important position. In 1S90 he was re-elected to the Assembly, and though the Speaker- 
ship was a Democratic prize he was again placed on the Committee on Cities. As it was to that com- 
mittee in 1S90 that the Syracuse water bill was referred he was largely instrumental in its passage 
against the strenuous opposition of the canal counties. As this volume goes to press Mr. White is a 
candidate for the Senatorial nomination on theRepublican ticket in the Onondaga-Cortland district. 

Mr. White is a gentleman of high culture, refined tastes, and progressive ideas, and takes a 
lively interest in everything affecting the welfare of .Syracuse. He inherited the strong characteris- 
tics of his father, who in the early progress of the town helped materially to lay the foundations of its 
present prosperity and importance. Mr. White is a man of convictions in which, being once confirmed, 
he is well-nich immovable. His judgment is deliberative, and by experience has been shown to be 
uncommonly sure. Thus in his active participation in public affairs he has usually been found on 
the side which, in the end, has been demonstrated to be right. This faculty of mind eminently fits 
him for journalistic as well as political spheres. Mr. White married, September 25, 1879, Miss 
Emma Sawver, d.iughter of United -States Senaor Philetus Sawyer, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and 
their weddin^ tour consisted of a trip around the world and a visit to almost every country. 



i 



112 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

MILTON HARLOW NOKTHRUP, since 1S70 the chief editor and principal owner of the 
Syracuse Courier, was born in the town of Smithfield. Madison county, N. Y., April 3, 1S41. 
He is on both sides of the house of New England ancestry. His father, Rensselaer Northrup, was a 
native of Massachusetts, but was brought when an infant into the then wilderness of Central New 
York. His mother, Clarissa Judd, was a "daughter of Pompey," her father having been Ansel Judd. 
one of the pioneers of that town who emigrated from Connecticut. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on his father's farm, the fifth of nine children, of whom 
Judge A; Judd Northrup was the eldest. When eleven years of age he was sent to the Peterboro 
Academy, an institution built under the auspices of Uerrit Smith. There he prepared for college, 
and entered the Freshman class of Hamilton College at Clinton, N. Y.. at the age of fourteen, the 
youngest of his class. Graduating from that institution in 1S60, with one of the highest honorsof his 
class, Mr. Northrup started at once for the South to seek a situation as teacher. It was the heat 
of the first Lincoln campaign, and the South was in a state of great agitation. The outbreak of the 
great Rebellion found the youthful teacher principal of the Preparatory I )epartment of Oglethorpe 
University, at Milledgeville, then the capital of Georgia. .\ fellow boarder was Sidney Lanier, then 
eighteen years of age, a tutor in the university from which he had graduated, destined in later years 
to achieve worl<l-\vide fame as a poet and UlUraUur. Between the young teachers, representing the 
hostile sections of the Union, there sprang up a warm friendship, interrupted by the war, but sub- 
sequently revived, and ending only with the " Southern poet's " untimely death. Soon after the fall 
of Fort Sumter, which practically closed the schools of the South, Mr. Northrup, in the summer of 
1S61, came to Syracuse and succeeded Prof. James Marshall in the conduct of a private classical 
school in the Washington Block. He conducted this school for two years, retiring in 1S63. Mean- 
while he spent his spare moments in the study of law, and was admitted to practice at Uinghamton 
in May, i S63. In the fall of that year he was chosen clerk of the Onondaga Board of Supervisors. At 
the close of the session he was made clerk to the .Supervisors Bounty Committee, which had the 
handling of vast sums of money voted by the county as bounty to volunteers. In the summer of 
1S64 Mr. Northrup. who was then a private in the old Citizens' Corps, was appointed aid-de-camp, 
with the rank of captain, to Brigadier-General John \. Green, jr. General Green was then, bv special 
order of Governor Horatio Seymour, in charge of the defense of the Northern frontier of the State, 
his department extending from the Wayne county line to the line of Yermont. The threatened 
raid of rebels from Canada never occurred, and General Green and staff had no opportunity to cover 
themselves with gore and glory. 

In the winter of 1S65 the "striking" of a thousand-barrel well on Pithole Creek, Pennsylvania, 
aroused the oil excitement throughout the country to its highest pitch. Mr. Northrup, too, was seized 
with the "oil fever " and hastened to the front. He was one of the pioneers of Pithole City, and 
saw its growth to a population of 10,000 or more in almost a single night, to vanish, like Jonah's 
gourd, before daybreak. Between speculation in oil interests and an attempt to practice law during 
a fifteen months' residence in the "oil region" Mr. Northrup diverted himself by writing letters for 
various newspapers. As the oil region was then the central point of interest, his correspondence at- 
tracted wide attention, especially his letters to the New York IPorU, which were the first descriptions 
of the wonders of Pithole City which had appeared in any metropolitan journal. In the Legislature 
of 1S67 Mr. Northrup commenced his journalistic career as .-Vlbany correspondent of the New York 
Express, by appointment of Hon. Erastus Brooks. He represented the same paper in the Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1S67. In the fall of that year he was transferred to Washington as correspond- 
ent at the National capital of the Express, and in that capacity he was a witness to. and described, 
the exciting scenes incident to the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in the spring of 1S6S. 
In the summer of that year Mr. Northrup visited Europe, spending several months in travel, and re- 
turning in time to accept the Albany agency of the New York .\ssociated Press for the legislative 
session of iS6g, succeeding in that capacity Hon. Daniel Manning of the .-tri^'i/s. At the close of 
the session he accepted the position of night agent of the New York State .Associated Press in New 
York. Returning to Albany with the Legislature of 1S70 he accepted the clerkship of the Committee 
of VYays and Means, besides furnishing legislative correspondence to various journals. Meanwhile 
Mr. Northrup, having determined to adopt journalism as a profession, became part proprietor of the 



BlOGRAI'IlirAI.. 11 



Syrnfusc- Courier, and at the close of the legfislalive session came to Syracuse to assume editorial 
control of that paper. 

Mr. Northnip's connection with the ("cwriVr, which began May i, 1S70, has continued till now. 
In 1879 he assumed, in addition to editorial control, the business mananoment of the cst.iblishment, 
which he still holds. The winters of 1875-76 and 1S76-77 he spent at Washington as clerk to 
the House Committee on Hanking and Currency, by invitation of his valued friend, the late "Sunset" 
Co.\, who was chairman of the committee. It was during this Congress — the 44th — that the Tilden- 
I laves controversy arose. Hoth houses of Congress appointed special committees to devise, if pos- 
sible, a peaceable settlement of the dispute which was throwing the country into convulsions. The 
chairman of the House Committee, Hon. Henry B. Tayne, of Ohio, (since Senator,) asked Mr. 
Norlhrup to act as clerk to his committee, which he did, Hon. S. S. Cox. in his volume "Three 
Iiec.idesof Federal Legislation," thus refers to Mr. Northrup's part in that work : 

" The clerk of the Hanking and Currency Committee was Mr. Milton H. Northrup, of Syracuse, 
N. V. He had been appointed by the writer. His trustworthiness led Mr. Payne to appoint him 
as clerk to the House Committee upon the electoral count. He was and still is the custodian of the 
archives of that remarkable star chamber. Whether he has since divulged them to anyone the authen- 
ticity of this relation should divulge to the logical mind. But from neither the chairman, Mr. I'ayne, 
nor his clerk. Mr. Northrup, could the writer, at that time, by any torture of inquisition, obtain the 
least hint of the proceedings. The secrets of that prison house were so well kept that not even the 
acutely-scenting press correspondents had been able to learn that such a bill [creating an Electoral 
Commission] was being considered. The first intimation the writer or anyone outside the committee 
li.iil of its propositions was from the bill itself, after it had received its consummation of bud and 
bloom, and been printed by order of the committees." 

The committees which jointly reported the electoral commission scheme included such men as 
Senators Kdmunds, Morton, Conkling, Bayard, and Thurman, and Representatives Payne, Hewitt, 
I loar, and Springer. Mr. Northrup has still in his possession notes of the historical meetings of the 
joint committee to which Mr. Co.\ above alludes. He was the Democratic candidate for State Sena- 
tor against Hennis McCarthy in the fall of 18S3, and although he had but a week's canvass he cut 
Mr. McCarthy's majority (which had before been nearly 6,000) down to 1,600 in the district, and to 
less than 1,000 in the county — in the city "tying" his competitor outside of Mr. McCarthy's own 
ward. Mr. Northrup in the spring of iSSS was appointed by President Cleveland as Postmaster of 
Syracuse, entering upon his duties April I, 1S88. His administration was signaled by the removal 
of the postoflice from its old <|uarters in the Bastable Block into the new Federal Building. Change 
of party administration at Washington was followed a few months later by his retirement in favor of 
a Republican. He has held but one city oflice, that of Excise Commissioner, by appointment of 
.Mayor Wallace, from 1S73 to 1S76. 

Mr. Northrup married, October 25, 1S71, Miss Elizabeth McCammon, of Albany, and is the 
father of five children — two sons and three daughters. 



HON. FRANK HISCOCK, Senator of the United States, was born at Pompey, Onondaga 
county. New York, September 6, 1834. Senator Hiscock's ancestors, in whose veins there 
was a blending of the English and Scotch blood, were engaged for many generations in agricultural 
pursuits. The name of his grandfather, Richard Hiscock. appears upon the pension rolls of the 
Revolutionar)- war as one of those who served his country in the ranks of the patriot army through- 
out the entire struggle for independence. This ancestor, soon after the close of the war, moved 
from his native State of Massachusetts to Pompey, then an almost unbroken wilderness. With the 
hardy pioneer spirit of those days he, however, quickly cleared for himself a home and permanently 
located there his family. Here in i7<jS was born Richard Hiscock, father of the Senator, a man of 
vigorous physical and mental (jualities, who in early manhood married Cynthia Harris, a lady whose 
family has long been prominent in the State. Mr. Hiscock's early life w.as for the most part the 
ordinary one of a prosperous farmer's son. He displayed an inclination to avoid the somewhat 
monotonous routine of agticultural tasks for the more congenial pursuits of study and literature, and 

O 



% 



114 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

was a close and persistent applicant in these latter fields, lie graduated at a youthful age from the 
I'ompey Hill Academy, an institution then in high repute for the attainments of its instructors, and 
long since rendered famous by the eminence of many of its graduates. Among the students of his 
own immediate time were several who have since risen to distinguished prominence in State and 
National affairs. 

Upon graduation from the academy at I'ompey young Iliscock, following his inclination 
toward professional life, entered as a student the law ofiice of his older brother, 1,. Harris Iliscock, 
at Tully. Onondaga county, with whom, after his admission to the liar in 1855, he formeil a law 
partnership, which was in 1858 moved to and pcrmanenily located in Syracuse. I'ojlowingthe exam- 
ple of his brother he first joined the Democratic party, and with him in 1S56 participated in the or- 
ganization of the Democratic "Free Soil" element at .Syracuse in support of deneral Fremont, 
which greatly contributeil to the Republican majority of nearly 7,000 in the county of Onondaga in 
the ensuing Presidential election. From this time forth Mr. Iliscock acted with the Republican 
party, thus becoming identified with its formation and practically beginning his political life in its 
ranks. In i860 he was elected District Attorney of Onondaga county, and served in that office 
until the close of 1863. In 1867 he was elected a member of the State Conslitulional Con\cntion, 
and was active in committee work and prominent in the debates of that body. In common with 
many other prominent Republicans Mr. Iliscock supporie 1 the nomination of Horace (Ireeley for 
the Presidency in 1872, and in the same year w.as himself nominated for Congress by the liberal 
Republicans and Democrats of the Wllld Congressional District, comprising the counties of 
Cortland and Onondaga. This district, more recently known as the \X\th, w.as a stronghold of 
the Republicans, but in this election so many of that party joined the Liberal movement, which was 
endorsed by the Democrats, that the local vote was pretty evenly balanced. In supporting the Lib- 
eral party in 1872 Mr. Iliscock doubtless was largely influenceil by his personal friendship and re- 
spect for Mr. Greeley, and sympathy with his views ; and without intention of becoming a member 
of the Democratic party he co-operated in his support. At the close of that canvass he resumed his 
place in the Republican party. In 1876 he was elected as a delegate to the Republican National 
Convention, and, without solicitation on his part, unanimously chosen as the Republican candidate to 
represent his Congressional District in the National House of Representatives, being elected by a 
majority of 4. 5go. His early services in the House were as a member of the Conimiitee on Flec- 
tions and of the "Proctor Investigating Committee." In both these relations he gained Large credit 
for the ability displayed in conducting investigations and presenting results. His speeches in the 
House were direct and forcible, securing an attentive hearing from members of both parties and e.v- 
ercising a large influence upim National legislation. Mr. Hiscock was elected to the XLVth, 
.\LVIth, XLVIIth, XLVI llth, .XLlXth. and Lth Congresses, in each election receiving the cordial 
support of his party. In the XLVfth Congress he was Chairman of the Committee on Appro- 
priations, and in the XLVIIIlh and XLIXth Congresses he was Chairman of the Committee on 
VV.iys and Means. Twice he was very favorably considered for the Speakership of the House of 
Representatives. As Chairm.an of the Committee on .Appropriations Mr. Hiscock was practically 
the le.ader of the House of Representatives, and his National reputation was lirnily established for a 
complete knowledge of the requirentents of the various departments, a wisdom in the e.xpenditure of 
the public money and revenue legislation. liy his arduous and useful public service Mr. Hi.scock 
became firmly entrenched in the respect and esteem, not only of his immediate constituents, but also 
of the people of his State .and the Nation, and by his breadth of views, wise conservatism, and prac- 
tical action the high opinion e.arly formeil of him w,as constantly strengthened. He was recognized 
as a Republican leader attentive to his duties, careful of the public interests, conservative in public 
crises, and always safe, honoiable, and reliable. Before entering Congress Mr. Iliscock had risen to 
high eminence at the Kar of the State of New York. In January, 1887, while still a member of the 
House of Representatives, and chosen for his sixth term, Mr. Iliscock was brought forward in the 
Republican canvass in the State Legislature at Albany for the office of United .States Senator. 
Having received the caucus nomination he was duly elected, and March 4, 1S87, took his seat in the 
Senate (or the regular term of six years. Mr. Iliscock is a member of the Senate Committees on 
Finance, Inter-State Commerce, (^oast Defences, Patents, and of the Special Committee on the Re- 



I^liICK Al'IIICAI, 



US 



ports of the Pacitic Railroad Commissioners, and the Prcsidcnl's Message thereon. lie was associ- 
ated with Senators Allison, .\Ulrich. and Jones of Nevada in preparinjj the Senate substitute for the 
revenue or taritr bill from the House of Representatives in the lirst session of the Llh Congress, 
which had become a Democratic party nie.isure. On October S, iS88, the Senate substitute was re- 
ported to that body, considered, and became a Republican party measure. Upon these two bills was 
joined the main issue between the two political p.irties in the canvass resulting in (leneral Harri- 
son's election to the I'residency. In a speech in the Senate, October q, iSSS, Mr. Hiscock defined 
the position of the two p.irties on the question of protection, and his views commanded very general 
attention and, especially in the State of New York, exerted a powerful inlhience upon the election. 
Mr. Hiscock had favored the maturing and adoption of the Senate Tariff Hill previous to the elec- 
tion, as essential to the formulation of the Republican party's attitude. This policy was .acipiiesced 
in, and thus was presented an atlirmative measure antagonistic to the bill passed by the Democratic 
majority in the House, and the result fully justified him and his political associates upon the Senate 
Finance Committee in their acting. Mr. lliscock's name was widely considered in connection with 
the Presidential nomination of iSSS, but without favoror encouragement from him. He was chosen 
a Delegate-at-I.arge from the St.ite of New York to the Republic.in National Convention, and there 
gave his influence in behalf of the Hon. Chauncey M. Depew as the choice of his Slate. Through- 
out the deliberations of the Convention his voice was potential in the harmonious .action of the dele- 
gation from New York, which exercised so large an influence in determining the results of the Con- 
vention. Preceding the convening of the Republican National Convention the Xoii/i .hiiiriain 
Kerinu published a series of able articles discussing "Possible I'residents," in which the name of 
Mr. Hiscock had a prominent place. Kollowing is that portion of the /wi'/'rtc'j- article upon Mr. 
Hiscock which relates especially to his public career, the influence he has had upon the course of 
National legislation, and his standing as statesman and legislator before the country : 

" Born and reared in New York, admitted to the Bar in 1S55. District Attorney, member of the 
Constitutional Convention of 1S67, Representative for ten years, and Senator in Congress — this is 
the brief record of extended service from which Frank lliscock's status and stature are to be de- 
termined. To sensible persons the matter of physical perfection is unimportant, if only one be 
raised above the abvssmal depth of personal ugliness which a Yale professor once described as incom- 
patible. Me did not say with what it was incompatible, choosmg rather to leave a wide licld to the 
im.agination. But without so much as a reference to his exterior advantages, there is no impropriety 
in the statement that Senator Hiscock possesses an outward distinction corresponding more nearly 
than fate often permits to the qualities within. The repose which denotes a greater force than it ex- 
hibits is one of his attributes, and shallow critics have sometimes imagined what no one who has 
ever measured wits with him has had the fortune to discover that his repose partakes of the nature of 
leth.irgy. No such suspicion exists among the lawyers who have encountered the knowledge, the 
logic, and the resource which for thirty years have been his recognized weapons in legal controversy, 
nor among the statesmen who have too often had the misery of regretting upon the floor of Congress 
that their equipment was not equal to his own; nor among the leaders of his party in this State who 
have more than once been forced to a knowledge that his skill w.as not inferior to his m.agnanimity. 
Mr. Hiscock entered the lield of National polities in the .\l.Yth Congress, and at once attracted the 
attention of the country by his discussion of certain contested election cases which were precipitated 
upon the House. The prominence thus early achieved made him, with the general approval of his 
Republican colle.agues, oneof the minority of the Investigating Committee, whose purpose it was sup- 
lX)sed at the tmie to be to dispute the title of President Hayes, and whose labors were unexpectedly 
diversified by the translation of the historical cipher dispatches. In that investigation he took a 
prominent if not pre-eminent part from first to last. In the .\LYIth Congress he was a member of 
the committee which then originated all the general appropriations of the government except those 
for rivers and h.-.rbors. After the election of Garfield the Speakership was conceded to .Mr. His- 
cock on both sides of the House; but C.arfield's death and the consequent accession of a President 
from New York, to which State both the Secretary of the Treasury and the Postniaster-Ceneral 
were also apportioned in the geographical distribution of great oflices, defeated him, and he was 
assigned to the chairmanshij) of the Committee on Appropriations. In the .M.YllIth Congress he 
was appointed to the Committee on Ways and Means, where he continued untii the close of his serv- 
ice in the House. This summary of legislative assignments is a useful indication of the scope of 
his activities as a Representative. In the fundamental but unobserved labors of the committee- 
room Mr. Hiscock is easilv among the first of useful public servants. Speakers upon the floor of 
Congress may be divided into three classes: those who do not feel that they are filling the eyes of 
the country, and conse<iuently might as well be silent, when they are not engaged in delivering elab- 
orate political essays; those whose natural proclivities or the suggestion of vanity dispose them to a 



ii6 Memorial History of Syracuse. 

pyrotechnical display of their readiness in badinage anl repartee; and those whom inclination, 
obedient to the sense of duty, impels to the more practical work of securing the passage of good 
measures and the defeat of batl ones by the methodical and cogent presentation of facts conscien- 
tiously collected. It is to the last class that Mr. II iscock belongs. It is his custom to apply his 
talents in debate to measures pending at the time of his speaking and about to be voted on. The 
record will show with what diligence and success he has pursued this useful policy. .As an example, 
however, of his resources when he has found a suitable opportunity for the comprehensive treatment 
of a general principle, I may be alloweil to cite his speech of .\pril 2ij, iSS4,upon the relation of a 
protective tariff to agriculture, which attracted the immediate attention of the countrv, confirmed 
the highest estimate of his powers, anil has become a part of the common fund of economic fact and 
argument. I wish, moreover, before closing this summary of Mr. Iliscock's legislative services, 
which is meant to be suggestive merely, to recall attention to his speech in the .Xl.IXth Congress in 
opposition "o the free coin.ige of silver, in which, if not absolutely the first to expound the principle 
that low prices are not the result of a contraction of the currency, but are due rather to the decrease 
in the labor cost of productions and the increased product per man power, he so arranged the facts 
and forced home their significance as to carrv conviction where others had scarcely obtained a hear- 
ing; and to his plea in the same year for the extension of our commence, with special reference to the 
great .South .American market, in which he incidentally laid low the 'subsidy' spectre that dema- 
gogues h.ave long employed to frighten timid souls ; and to his strenuous defense of .American 
dairies; to his dissection of the Morrison resolution on Treasury b.ilances; and during this, his first 
session in the Senate, to his speeches on the undervaluation of imports and the insidious pretences 
of the pleuro-pneumonia bill, and to his earnest appeal in behalf of international copyright. Mr. 
Hiscock is a statesman and politician of the sort that nourished in the earlier days of tile Republic, 
when sobriety of judgment, a quiet fitlelity to present duties, adaptation to the higher ]jlanes of con- 
troversy, talent for command when the time came, and a disinclination to anticipate the obligation, 
were among the qualities required of public men." 



EZRA PIERCE DOWNER, who has beena resident of this city for more than half a century, was 
born in the town of North East, Erie county. Pa., January 7, 1S16. At the age of fourteen 
years he left home and made his way to this .State, where he found employment with his uncle, the late 
L. C. Russell, of Port Gibson. .Soon after Mr. Downer came to Syracuse and entered the service of 
the late Col. John Holland Johnson, who was then one of the owners of the New Vork and Oswego 
line of canal boats. In 1S3O he was given charge of a boat, and forseveral years he continued in this 
business, spending the winter seasons with Colonel Johnson on his farm of 400 acres, situated in 
what is now the Fifth ward of the city. In 1S42 he was made agent for Charles M. Reed's line of 
steamboats on the great lakes, serving also as boat inspector for four years. In 1S53 he became the 
general ticket agent for the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroads, now known as the 
Michigan Southern and Lake Shore road. His circuit covered the New England .States, New York, 
and Montreal. Winters he went South in the interests of the company. 

In 1839 Mr. Downer was married to Miss Katy Killmore, daughter of Luke Killmore, one of the 
pioneer settlers of the city. For several years they resided in West Ononilaga street, then known as 
the Cinder Road. He afterwards bought a house in .South Salina street, opposite the old I.arned 
place, now occupied by the Florence Flats, and removed there. In 1S55 he bought the properly on 
the corner of West Fayette and Clinton streets, which he has since owned, and in 1S64 he took up 
his residence there. 

In politics Mr. Downer formerly belonged to the old Whig party. .\t the time of its dissolution 
he identified himself with the Democratic party, and has since been an active ami zealous advocate of 
its principles, taking a prominent part for many years in local politics. With the exception of two 
terms as Canal Collector, in 1875 and '76, he has never held office. 



NDEX. 



AlinOTT, Will. K., l)i()graj)liy of, Part 11. , liO. 
portrait of, (i08. 
Acaileiiiy of Christian Science, 514. 
.\ikcrinan, lli'rnian, 'J-lii. 
Ailamant Manufacturing Company, 0G3. 
Adam.<;, Rev. Dr. John \V., 484. 
Atlath Israel, 5"J7. 
Adath .leshurun, 526. 
Adatli Yeshurun, 528. 
Adventist, the, 555. 
Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, oO. 
Alilrich, Bruce S,, biography of. Part II., C'J. 

portrait of, 2 1 (i. 
Alexander Iron Works, C22. 
Alexander, William H., l'J7. 
AUis, Augustus G. S., 441. 
A His, .lames A., 441. 
Allotment of the lands, ;J5. 
Alpliadelphia Lodge, No. 44, 585. 
Altniann, Anton V., 039. 
Alvord, A. E., G7i). 
Alvord, Dioclesian, 77. 
Alvord, Earl B., 105, 235. 

biography of. Part II., 35. 

portrait of, 408. 
Alvord, Elisha, 77. 

American Bleach anil Chemical Company, 005. 
American Citni/m, the, 557. 
American Expres,s Co., (its. 
Americar, Meilical and Sunjicaljournal, the, 550. 
American Onjun, the, 550. 
Ameriian WtsUyan, the, 553. 
Amos, Jacob, ()74. 

Ancient Accepted Scottish Kite, 582. 
Andrews, Charles W., 441. 
Anderson, William C, 441. 
Andrews, Hon. Charles, biography of. Part 11., 1. 

portrait of, 152. 
Andrews. William S.. 441. 
-Annexation of Geddes and Danforlh, 237. 
Annual taxation, recapitulation of, 187. 
.Appropriation for a postollice building secured, 

238. 
.\rbeiter T.iedertafel, .''.45. 
Archimedian, the, 550. 
Assessed valuation m 1854, 177. 

of the city in 18U0, 010. 
A.-vsoi'iation of ( )akwood, 574. 
Athcrton, Edward D., 05'J. 



.Vuburii and .Syracuse llailroad, 408. 

Auer & Co., 028. 

-Vvery, B. Austin, biography of, Part II., 34. 

portrait of, OSO. 
.\very, Benjamin, 1)1. 
Ayling, Charles F., 441. 

BABCOCK, Dea. Stanton P., 8.5. 
Bacon, Iliram II., 441. 
Bagg. James L., biography of,Part II., 14. 
Bailey, Bingham N., 441. 
Baker, Charles A., biography of. Part II., 40. 

portrait of. Part II., -10. 
Baker & Bowman, 03(!. 
Bakers and confectioners. 673. 
liaUlwin, Charles G., 44l'. 
Baldwin, Harvey, 107. 
Baldwin, Henry, 441. 

Baldwinsville Centrifugal Pump Works, 072. 
Ball, Thaddeus, 80. 
Bank of Saliiia, 3G0. 
Bank of Syracuse, 300, .373. 
Barbecue by John Green way, 207. 
Barker, Oliver, 90. 

"Barnburners" and "Ilunker.s," 208. 
Barnes, George, biography of. Part 11., 1. 

portrait of, 100. 
Barnes, Lucien, biography of. Part II . 32. 
Barton, Joseph, 257. 
Basket industry, the, 059. 
Bates, Roger, ^4. 
Baum, Dr. A. C, 254. 
Baiimer, Franci.', 054. 
Baumgras, William, 243. 
Beach," Jomilhaii R., 84. 
Beach, William A., Iiiojjrapl'y "fi I''"''' "i •'>*• 

portrait of, 712. 
Becker Manufacturing Company, 007. 
Becker & Myer, 303. 
Belden, Hon. J. J., biography of. Part II., .'^3. 

nominated and elected Mayor, 224-225. 

re-elected, 220. 
Bench and Bar, 412. 
Bennett Brothers' store burned, 212. 
Bentz, Henry Philip, 337-33S. 
Bingham, Ryal, 80. 
Biography of. Part II. : 

Abbott, William E., 00. 

Aldrich, Bruce S., 09. 



i 



ii8 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Biogiapliy of, Part FT. : 

Alvord, Earl li., ;!o. 
Andrews, Hon. diaries, I. 
Avery, li. Au.stin, :M. 
Bagg, James L., 11. 
IJaUer, Charles A.. 10. 
Uariies, George, 1. 
Barnes, Lucien, ',]2. 
Beach, William A , 63. 
Beldeii, Hon. .lames J., 83. 
Brooks, .James B.. 3G. 
Bruce. Dwiglit 11., 93. 
BnrdicU. Hamilton, IW: 
Buiiis, lion. Peter. Sli. 
Clark, Cliarlcs P., 9. 
Clark, Hon. Kliznr, 15. 
Cobb, Nathan, 'JS. 
Cogswell, William B.. i2. 
Comstock, Hon. George F., 79. 
Cowie, Hon. William, 68. 
Cowlcs, George De Witt, G7. 
Grouse, George N., 41. 
Dana, George E., 51. 
Deni.son, Dr. Henry D., 98. 
Dey, Robert, G5. 
Didama, Dr. Henry D., 10. 
Donoluie, Dr. Florince O., 71. 
Downer. Ezra P., 110. 
Duguiil, Henry L., 44. 
Duncan, William A., Ph. I)., S9. 
Dunn, John, ji-., (id. 
Fitch, Thomas B., 7G. 
Gere, Robert, 7G. 
Gleason. Lucius, 7. 
Goodelle. William P., Ki. 
Graves, Hon. Nathan F,, 3. 
Hancock, Theodore E., G'i. 
Hawley, Dr. William A., 40. 
Ihiydeu, Sely C, 52. 
Hazard, Frederick W., 58. 
Higgins, Alfred, 50. 
Hiscock, Hon. Frank. 113. 
Ilowlett, Alfred A., 84. 
Jenkins, Arthur, 1 10. 
Judsoii, Hon. Edward B., 81. 
Kiune, Arthur B., M. I)., (i2. 
Kirkpatrick, William, 2r>. 
Leaven woilh, (ieu. E. W., 18. 
Lighlon, Hon. John, 49. 
Loiig-treet, Coriielius T., .'50. 
lioomis, Henry IL, 87. 
Lynch, Patrick, 01. 
Mason, Amos L., 54. 
McChesney, George II.. 100. 
McLennan, Peter B., ."il. 
Mowry. Henry J., 72. 
Northriip, Milton H., 112. 
Pierce. Sylvester P., 58. 
Powers, Dr. Nelson 0., 08. 
Retlfield, Lewis II. , 2.3. 
Redlield, Mr.s. L. H., 94. 
Ruger, William C, 24. 



Biography of. Part 11.: 

Russell, Arcliimeiles, 48. 

Sawver, George C, 92. 

Sedf,^vick, Hon. Cliarles B., 109. 

Sheldon. Dr. James W,, 04. 

Smith, Hon. Carroll E., 107. 

Smith, William Brown, 5. 

Smith, William H. II., 97. 

Sniper, Gen. Gustavus, 53. 

Snow, Charles W., 57. 

Stearns, Edward C, 74. 

Teall, Oliver, 7S. 

Vaun, Judge Irving G., 29. 

White, Hamilton, 11. 

White, Horace, 13. 

White, Hon. Howard tL. 111. 

Wietiiig, Dr. .lulm .\I., 20. 

Wilkin.son, John, 75. 

Wood, Thaddeu.s M., 37. 

Wood, Hon. Daniel P.. 101. 

Wynkoop, Jonathan G., 55. 

Wynkoop, Robert G., 45. 
Bli.-s Box Company, the, 043. 
Block-hoiLse, the, 79. 
Blocks, boundaries and uses of, 122-12.S. 
Board of Education, the present, 538. 

financial statement of, 230. 

clerks of, 5.3S. 
Board of Trade. 227. 
Board of Water Commissioners, 252. 
Boards of Fire Commissioners, 509. 
Boards of Police Coinmissioner.s, 591-592. 
Bogardns's Tavern, 90. 
Boggs & Clarke, 072. 

Bonds i.ssued to pay outstanding ilebt, 223. 
Bookstaver, Daniel, 441. 
Boomer Sc Boschert Press Company, the, Gfi8 
Boots and .shoes, 6;i5. 
Bottling industry, the. 033. 
Boundaries of Danforth village, 'J 19. 

at time of annexation, 217. 

of Geddes at time of annexation, 24G. 
Hounds of the new city, 1,58. 
Bounties for volunteers, 190. 
Bounty lands to olTicers and soldiers, 33. 
Box manufacturing, 04.'i. 
Brace. David, St). ' 
liiackett, Ichabod, 81. 
liradley, Clirislopher ("., 211. 
liradley iV Companv, 017. 
I'.iamer, li. D., 072.' 
Breda, peace of, 27. 

Brewerton and Syracuse Railroad Co., 140. 
Brewing interests, G29. 
Brewster, Dr. Jo.seph W., 61, 469. 
Brewster, Thurston D., 4 11. 
lirick manuracturing. 039. 
Bridge over Onondai;a Creek, 194. 

over Oswego Canal in Willow street, 170. 
Britnall, Hiram, 177. 
liritton, M. &, Son, (iO(i. 
Bronson, Josiah, sr., fi5. 



i 



Inde>^. 



119 



liiooks, .lames B., Iiiograpliy of, Pnil II., 3G. 

portrait of, 42 t. 
Hiopliy, Timotliy, C41. 
Ilrown, Eil^iii- v., -142. 
liiowii, lleiiiv K., '2r)4. 
liiown AU'iiioriiil M. E. Clmrcti, 504. 
linice, Dwifjlit II., liiogiaphy of. Part II., n3. 

portiait of, 552. 
liiiokloy, Kii.s.<ell, 82. 
Buel, I.iither. 102. 
/iiii/!e /)/«,<(, the, 555. 
BiiiUlers anil contiactoi'.', (i4(j. 
liiiililiiig material.^ and interests, G39. 

in Syracuse, the first, !)5. 
IJiiriiiok, llatnillon, hiography of, I'arl II., 104. 

portrait of, 120. ' 
Hnreau of Labor ami Charities, G04. 
Iliirkhard. L., 65!). 
Burnet Park, gift, of, 248. 
Bnrnet Street llailway Company, 24S. 
Burns, lion. Peter. 143. 

biography of. Part II., S(!. 
portrait of, IGS. 
Business Men's Association, the, .009. 
Business houses in 1S30, 13lt-133. 
interests, early, 81. 
]>laces in 1S5IJ, lli'J-170. 
Butler .Manufacturing Company, the, lil5. 
Butler's Zouaves, 28.'!. 
ButterlieUl, KiUvin S., 442. 
Kuttennit Street Railway authorized, 217. 
Byiiigton, Beiiajah, 79. 
liyington, Kendall & Co., G74. 
Byrani, Kd., (151. 

C.VLDWELL, I-e.-^lie, GK). 
California House, the, IGG. 
Calvary Church, 50!l. 
Canal biisiu, the old, destroyed, 155. 
enlargement meeting, 177. 
project agitated, 40.5. 
Candle manufactories, G54. 
Canning industry, the, lioG. 
Canton D.uiforth, No. 31, 58G 
Canton Union, No. (i, 5.%. 
Capitular .Masonry, 580. 
Cardiir Giant, the, 20G. 
Carpenter, Benjamin, SO. 
Carpenter, Charles, 90. 
Carriages, wagons, etc., G33. 
Carson League, the, 55G. 
Carter, J. S!, G72. 
Casino, the, .'ioO. 
Castle, Seth, S5. 
Celebration of the laying of the Atlantic cable, 

188. 
Cemeteries, 570. 

Centenary .Methodist Episcopal Church, 501. 
Central and Western New York in l.SOl) map 

of, 45. 
Central Baptist Church disaster, 218. 
history of, 479. 



Central City, the, 550. 

Central City Boll Company, G23. 

Central City Chapter of ifose Croix, 5S:}. 

Central City Consistory, S. P. U. 8., 32d deirree 

583. 
Central City Council, No. 13, 579. 
Central City Council Princes of Jerusalem, 583. 
Central City Encainpmeiit, .582. 
Central City Lodge, No. .'io5, 579. 
Central City Pipe Works, GO;!. 
Central (Jity Hallway, 114. 
Central City Veterans, .'i35. 
Centra! City WaterWorks Company's plan.s, 24 1. 
Central City Wheel Woiks, G:!5. 
Ctntrnl Demokrat, .■!5(i-.'jl57. 
Central Library, the, 544. 

Central New York llonueopatiiic Medii-al Soci- 
ety, 475. 
Central New Yorker, the, 55G. 
Chamberliu, William U., 442. 
Champlain, 22. 

("liancellors of the University, list of, 540. 
Chapman, E<iward E., G42. 
Charitable institutions, G02. 
Charter amendments in 1854, 178. 
amenduuMits of 1857, 185. 
amendments of 1^58, 189. 
amendment relating to assessors, 205. 
amendments, 255, 589. 
Charter elections, IGG, 17.5, 179, 182. ISG, 188 
190, 192, 193, I'.M, 197, 200.201,202,204. 
20(;, 207, 209, 213, 21G, 218,220,222 224 
22G, 229, 231, 2.'i:!, 2:J4, 235.237, 24 1| 244^ 
245, 249. 251, 255, 259. 
Charter Revision Committee, 2.39. 
Chemical E.xtingiiisher. No. 2, 507. 
('Iienango and Salina Turnpike Company, 47. 
Chenango Valley Railroad opened, 215. 
Cheney, .Terome L.. 442. 
Cheney. Timothy C, 21:1. 
Chiefs of Police, 590-.591. 
Chivalric Orders of Masonry, .581. 
Cholera in Syracuse, 134-13G. 
■action to prevent, 451. 
Christian WnrI;, the, 553. 
Church, the first, 107. 

edifices and organizations, GI5. 
Chuich of Assumption (Roman Catholic), 51G. 
Church of Christ, 513. 
Church of Christ (scientist), 514. 
Church of St. .John the Baptist, .520. 
Circuit Courts, 419. 
Circumstances of the .settlers, 74-75. 
City Charter project agitateil, 154, 1,56, 158. 
revised, 240. 
lots sold, 107. 
ollicers, 259. 

poor and work-house, 602. 
treasury found to contain worthless 

checks, 236. 
finances, the, 183. 
City Hall Commissioners sppointed, 252. 



120 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



City Imiirovoment Society, the, 2.'W. 

Clark, Cliarles P., biogiajiliy ot, Tart II., !), 

portiait of, 206. 
Clark, lion. Eli/.ur, 83. 

l>io<;rapliy of, Pai't II., 15. 
portrait of, :i!l(i. 
Clark, William, 203. 
Cldij liiinner. the, hho. 
Clerk.s of the Board of Ktliication. .O.'iS. 
Clillord. John G., 442, 
Clothing industry, the, 037. 
Coal used in salt mannfactiire, 393. 
Coarse salt industry, the, '.V.\h. 
Cobli, Ira II., 208. 

Col)b, Nathan, biography of. Part II., 28. 
Cogswell, William 1!., hiograpliy of, Part 11., 42. 

portrait of, 000. 
Coleman, J. 1)., 040. 
College of Kine Arts established, 539. 

of Liberal Arts opened, 539. 
Collins, George K., 442. 
C'limmerrial Traveler, the, 552. 
Commissioners to straighten Onondaga Creek, 

178. 
Committee of One IIun<lred appointed, 214. 
on Plan of Action, 22 1. 
of Public Safety, 79. 
Common school system of Syracuse, 533. 
Competition in salt nianufaclure, 401. 
Comslock, Hon. (Jeorge R. 438, 
biography of, Part II,, 79. 
Concorilia, the, 344. 

Condition of the .'salt spring.><, early, 383. 
Confed< racy, the Indian, 19 20. 
CoidlicI Willi the Gaslight Company, 221. 
Congiloii, George K., 442. 
Congregational Poiley Zedeck, 520. 
Congress Hall, (;.S2, 
Cotislitutioniilisl. the, 554, 

ConMiluliunalist and State Free Trailer, the, 557, 
Contractors, 051, 
Contree, John, 701. 
Convention Hall, 091. 
Cook, Hon, George K,, 442. 
Cooperage, 058. 
Corinthian Hall, 0!ll. 
Corner-stone of the I'niversity lai<l, 211. 
"Corinth" and "Milan" as names for the post- 

oflice, 102. 
Corporal punishment abolished, 530. 
Co.ssitt's Corners. 102. 
Council <M)nvened at Albany, 29-30. 
Courier, the, 549. 
Court-llousc, the, 120-420. 
l)roperlv sold, 175. 
site, 19L 
Court, the first, 58. 
Court of Appeals Library, the, 426, 
Court of Common Pleas, 4 19, 
County Clerks, 2G4, 

Clerk's odicc erected, 170, 

Clerk's Building, corner-stone laid, 232. 



County ollicers, 203-204, 

records, where kept, 63, 
County seat on Onondaga Hill, 60. 

removed to Syracuse, 423. 
Cowie, Hon. William, biography of. Pan II,, (is 
Cowles, George De Witt, biograjdiy of, Pan 
ir. 07. 

portrait of, Part II,, 06. 
Crabtree, William, 040. 
Crippen, Aloiizo, 84, 228. 
Crou.se, George, 222. 
Crouse, George N., biography of. Part II., II. 

portrait of, 010. 
Crouse, John, 257. 
Crouse, John J., 249. 
Cryptic Masonry, 579. 
Crystal Fountain, the, 555. 
Crystal Spring Hrowing Co.. 631. 
Cummings, Kredenck I)., 442, 
Curti.s, Medad, 05, 
Curtis, Oti.s, 80, 
Cynosure Kncampment, No, 11, 580. 

D.\NA, Geo. E., biography of. Part 11., 51. 
portrait of, (i20. 
Daiiforlh, Asa, 52-55. 
Danforth, Asa, jr., 72. 
Danforlh Congregational Church, 4!I0. 
Danforth village incorporated, 219. 

annexed to the city, 247. 
Davis, 'I'lioma-s, 2.'52. 
Davis, Thomas T., 432. 
Dawson. Richard, (i47. 
Debt, the city's, 216. 
Decoration day, the first, 2115. 
De Froiiten.ic, 27-28. 
De la liarre. 27-28. 
Delaware Si reel Baptist Church, 481. 
Democratic Freeman, the, 555. 
Democratic State Convention of 1859, 209. 
Deniong & Co., 029. 
Denisou, Dr. II. D., biograjihy of. V.-u I II , 9S. 

portrait of, 384. 
Deni.«(m, Howard P., 442. 
De Puy, Robinson & Co., 645. 
Deutsche Waclit Lodge. No. 28:!, :!45. 
Devine, James, 442. 
Dey, Robert, biography of. Part II., 65. 

portrait of, 500. 
Dickinson, Joel, 89. 
Dickinson & Allen, 051. 

Didama, Henry D., M. D., LL. D , biogra]ihy of. 
Part II., 10. 

portrait of, 456, 
Discovery of the salt springs, 379, 
Dispensurij, the, 470, 
Distributing the brine, 384. 
District Sriiiml Journal, the, 56.'!. 
Dissel, Theodore, 254. 
Dodge, John, 89. 
Doheny, George, 442. 
Donations to the victims of the Chicago fire, 212. 



! 



Index. 



I2t 



Diinolmc, Dr. Klorince ()., Iiiograpliy of, rail 
11., 71. 

portrait of, ■Kil. 
Downer. K/.ra 1'., bio-^raiiliv of I'lu i II.. IKi. 
Draft.s ill ISt;:!, jllf). 
Dris.'oll, Georf;e \V.. 111!. 
DraUe, Robert 10., ll'J. 
Dii.ll, Charles II., \i2. 
Duijiiiii, Henry Ii., "257. 

Iiioj^rapliy of. Part II., 11. 

portrait of, 250. 
Dngnul Sadillery Coiniiaiiy, tlie, (I'Ji. 
Diinliar, Bravo ('., 2:ii). 

DiiiKN'ui, William A., Ph. D., liiograpliy of, Pan 
II., 80. 

portrait of, I.St. 
Dunn, John, jr., biojjiapliy of, Part II., fid 

]iortiait of, 41(i. 
Durnronl, Jolin, 2114. 
Dutch irgime, end of, 27. 



EMW.K Tavern, the, S4. 
Karll, Neheniiali II., 1.12. 
Early history of the Bench and Bar in 
America, 417. 
Early roads, 98. 

settlement, 48. 

settlers, r)4-.o5. 
Eckel, Philip, death of, 5G8. 
Kckcrnian & Will, (i'lO. 
Eccmoniy Foundry Company, 023. 
Eddy, E. .]., (;79. 
; Educational institutions, oiiO. 
f journals, .552. 

Edwards, Hon. Samuel L., 428. 
Ei^'htli ward iniprovenieiits, 211. 
l''l''i'tioii.s, the early, 82-83. 

the first, 109. 

districts re-formed, 253. 
Kliiilric alarm .system introduced, .590. 
Elei'tric Light and Power Company, 596. 
Ellis, Carlos IJ., 443. 
Empire House, 681. 

Empire State Demucrnt and United States Re- 
view, 55.5. 
Engine companies, the, 5G9. 
Erie Canal project, the, 99, 703. 

completion of, 103. 

the boat Montezuma on the, 103. 
Essayists since 1882, 455. 
Essei-, John C. & Son, 048. 
Estimate of the city's material wealth, filO. 
Evangelical Lutheran Orphan Asylum, 349. 
Eviingelical Pulpit, the, 554. 
Evening Afail, the, 555. 
Evening TVanscript, the, 550. 
Everhart, Foist H., 443. 
Everson, Giles B., 443. 
Execution for murder, the first in the county, 

G93. 
Express Companies, 648. 



FALK'KIt, .loseph, GOO. 
Famili/ Companion, the, 55ti. 
Farmers, the early, 09-70. 
I''armers' Fertilizer Company, the, 00.'^. 
Fears of military and Indian invasion, 78-79. 
l''eslivals, (iernian, 351. 
Flood of November, 1857, 1.SG. 
Fifteenth Cavalry, 322. 
Fifth Waid Uailway Company, 115. 
F'ifth Ward Sietigerlmnd, the, 344. 
F'ifly-liist Regiment, 323-.i34. 

oflicers of, 329. 
Financial awakening in 1857, 1.85. 
Finances of 18G8, 204. 
Financial condition in 1871, 209. 

history, 3G4. 

institutions reviewed, 012. 

statistics, 225. 
Finck, August, CGI. 
Finn, II. & Sons, 005. 
Fire alarm telegraph tested, 208. 

comp.auy, the first, list of, 5G4. 

Department, the, .503. 

Department increased, 210-211. 

engine, the li."st purchased, 503. 
First agricultural .society, the, 08-09. 

burial in Onondaga county, 570. 

mail coach, the, 40. 

settler in ( Inondaga county, 48. 
First Baptist ("hurcli, 177. 
F'irst English Lutheran Church, 513. 
First F'ree Methodist Church of Syracuse, .505. 
First German Baptist Church, 363. 
F'irst Melliodist Episcopal Church, 499. 
F^irst National Bank, 309. 
First Presbyterian Church, IG.'^, 4.81. 
First Regiment, 27-!. 
First Universalist Church, 515. 
First Ward Methodist lOpiscopal Church, 19.8. 
First Ward Presbyteriiui Chiircli, 482. 
Fisk, C. H., 023. 
Fitch, Thomas B,, 228. 

biography of. Part IL, 76. 
Five Nations, the, 17-19. 
Foot, Asa, 84. 
Foran, Dr. James, 467. 
Forbes, John G., 85. 
Ford, Rev. S. T., 480. 
Forman, Joseph, 5(>. 
Forman. Joshua, 50-58. 
Forman, Judge, 99-100. 
Forman Park, improvement of, 212. 
Forman, Samuel, 58. 
F^orman, W^ard, 58. 
Forman, Wilson & Co., 100. 
Fort, erection of the, 30. 
Fort Stanwix, council at, 31. 
F'ourth Baptist Church, 4.^2. 
Fourth of July celebrations, 587. 

celebration in l.'S28, 1.33. 
F'ourth Presbyterian Church, 487. 
Fourth Regiment, 274. 



122 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Fourth Ward Railroad Company, 41G. 

Fowler, John C, 443. 

Francis &. Company, 64S. 

Franklin Institute, I(>8. 

Franklin Library and Institute, 543. 

Fnizer, Kasson, '222. 

Frazer & Jones Company, (i2.'j. 

Free School Clarion, the, "),">:!. 

Free Soil Campaigner, the, 555. 

Freeman, G-eorKe, 038. 

Fi-eie Brueder Lodge, No. 458, 345. 

Freie Presse, Die, 36S. 

French and Indians, treaty hetween. 27. 

French, arrival of the, 28. 

French, Mansfield J., 6G3. 

Freshet of 1SG2. 193. 

Friedel & Gebhart, (;:!3. 

F'riedel & Soiile, 653. 

Fry & Mantel, 632. 

Fuller, Louis E., 443. 

Fuller, Truman K., 443. 

Fuller, \Villiam D., 443. 

Funded debt of 1.SS4, the, 237. 

Furman Street M. K. Church, 504. 

Furnaces and heaters, 619. 

Kurnilurc, picture frames, etc., 044. 

GAGE, W. C, 228. 
Ixardner, Ivowlatid II., 439. 
Ueddes village, clerks of, 93. 
Geddes, incorporation of, 92. 

growth of, 93. 

map of, in l.'<07, 87. 

trustees of, 92. 

amiexation to Syracuse, 24G. 

division into wards, 247. 

early settlers in, .'<7-9(). 

lirst election in. 92. 

formation of, 30. 

settlement of, S.'i. 
Geddes Congregational Church, 197. 
Geddes. James, 85. :!81-382. 
Geddes, Judge, named '' Don-da-dah-gwah." .'^7. 
Geddes Metiiodisl Epi.scopal Church, ."lOO. 
Gene.see and Water .Street Uadway Co., 415. 
Genesee College, first steps taken toward 

removing, 203. 
Genesee Turnpike, 44. 
Geology, 37-40. 
Gere, N. Stanton, 243. 
Gere, Roliert, 90. 

biography of. Part IL, 70. 
German element in Syracuse, llie, 330. 

settlers, the lirst, 3.)7. 

immigration. 3.39. 

press, the, .■!54. 

theatric.ils, 350. 

I. O. 0. F. societies, 346. 
German Mechanics' Association, 340. 
German .Musical Institute, 343. 
Germania Brewing Company, 631. 
Grermans in politics, 353. 



Germans disappoinied in Ko.ssuth, 343. 

in the Kebelhon. .352. 
Gibbs. Freilerick II., 443. 
Giflbr.i, Henry, 21.'). 
(lifts to the L'niversily, list of, 540. 
Gilbert, Waldo E.. 44.3. 
Gilbert, William, 443. 
Glass, Jo.seph J., 228. 
Gleason, Lucius, biography of, Part II., 7. 

portrait of, Part II., 0. 
Globe Hotel. 6SI. 
Globe Laundry, the, 050. 
Goettel, Philip, 047. 
Good Will Congregational Church, 494. 
Goodelle, William P., biography of. Part IT., 10. 

portrait of, I'art II., 10. 
Goodrich, Charles 15., 443. 
Goodstock Manufacturing Co., the, 668. 
Gould, Col. Jeremiah, 72. 
Gould, Phares. 74. 
Government liuilding begun, 238. 
Grace Church, 507. 

Graduating, cla.s.«, first in the High School .'■).'>6. 
Grand Opera House biirned, 253. 
Granger JSlock, the, 155. 

burned, 2O0. 
Graves, Hon. N. F., biography of. Part II., 3. 

portrait of. .308. 
Gray Brothers Manufacturing Co., 035. 
Gray, George W., 443. 
Gray's, II. II. Son, 030. 
Green, .\ndrew IL, 4 14. 
Green, John A., 215. 
Green. T. I)., 678. 
Greenpoint, early .settlers at, 76. 
Greenway Hrewing Company, 029. 
Greenway Guard, 3.35, 342. 
Griswold, Edmund B., 234. 
Grocers' licenses, 109. 
Growlli of the village, 81. 

of the city, 012-616. 
tiunpow<ler explosion, 147-150. 

HABEHLE Brewing Company, 030. 
Ilaendle, Charles G. & Co., 658. 
Hall. George, 59. 
Hall, Johnson, 434. 
Hammond, Charles A., 444. 
Hanclutt, Charles G., 054. 
Hancock, Theodore E., biography of, Part 
IL, 02. 

portrait of, 704. 
Harnoi.s, Amie, (i.')2. 
Harrison street trunk sewer, 213. 
Ilarugari Liedertafel, 345. 

lodges, 34.5. 
Haskin, James P., 217. 
Hatch, Dr. Horace F., 473. 
Hausenfrats, Jacob, 339. 

Haven, Melvin /., 444. im 

Hawley, Gen. J. D., 041. •* 

Hawley, Dr. W. A., biography of. Part IL, 46. 



I 



Index. 



123 



llawli-y, Dr. W. A., portrait of, Part II., 46. 

lUvle'ii, D. E., 64o. 

Uiiyiii'ii, Sely C, l.iogriipliy of, Part H-, 5-- 

|iorlr:iit of. I'ait 11., oli. 
IliiZttrii, FieJenek H., biography of, Part II., 58. 

portrait of, Part U., 08. 
lU-aly, l>r. Samuel, 472. 
IJenihl, the, 550. 
Hinwalha, lS-19. 
llioliok, Morehouse, 01. 
Hides an J leather, G60. 
Ilier, George P., 1)27. 
llier, John P., C28. 
Higgiiis, Alfred, biograjihy ol, Part 11 , 5G. 

portrait of. Part II.. 5(1. 
High School Building erected, "^02. 

organized, ")3li. 
Iligliwavs, early, 41-44. 
Hill, Everard A., 444. 
Hilli.s. David Duncan, 429. 
Hine, Norman, 444. 
Hifscock, Prank 11., 444. 
Iliscock. lion.Frank, biography of, Part 11., 1 13. 

portrait of, 124. 
Ilogan, Thomas, 444. 
llolbrook, Charles 0., 85. 
HoUisler, David W., SI. 
Holme-s Samuel N., 444. 
lloine Circle, the, .o')!!. 
HomiLopathic profe.ssiou, the, 474. 
Hopkms, Frank, 444. 
Hopper, Jasper, GO. 
lIopi>iiig, Enos D., 85. 
Hotchkiss & Sohreuder, (142. 
Hotel Burns. G82. 
Hotel Candee, G82. 
Hotels, G81. 

House of the Good Shepherd, 008. 
House of Providence, 603. 
House, Louis, 633. 
Houser Elevator Co., 671. 
Ilovey, Alfred H.. 201. 
How.'ird Furnace Company, 650. 
Howard & Jennings, 07:!. 
Howlett, Alfred A., biography of. Part II., 84 

portrait of, 592. 
Hoyt. Harrison, 444. 
llubbell. Ferris, 01, 243. 
Hughes Brothers, 675. 
Humboldt Lodge, No. 537, 310. 
•• Hunkers " and " Barnburners'," 268. 
Hunt. John C, 444. 
Huntington, Dr. Daniel, 61. 
Huntington, Bishop, 5(»9. 
Ilurd, Dr. Darwin E., 467. 

IDE, Charle-s E., 444. 
Immanuel Baptist Church, 480. 
Impartial Citizen, the, 555. 
Improvements on Onondaga Lake, 214. 
Incendiaries of 1871, 212. 
Indebtedness in 1855, 180. 



Indebtedne8.s in 1889, 255. 

Indian Confederacy, early condition of the, 20. 

history, outline of, 17. 

traditions of, 18-19. 

treaties with. :!81. 

tribes, diviMiou of, l!l-20. 
Industrial growth and manufacturing interests, 

610. 
Iroipiois Indians, 17-18. 

League, the formation of, 18. 

JACKSON, Calvin, 98. 
Jackson, Albion, the lirsl while child born 
in Syracuse, 695. 
Jackson, 'I'homas, 617. 
Jail erected, the, 424. 
James street in early times, 113. 
Jenkins, Arthur, biography of. Part II.. 110. 
Jenney, Edwin S., 4^4. 
Jenney's Battery, 284-288. 

in South Carolina, 287. 
Jerome, Samuel, 7.'!. 
"Jerry Rescue," the, 172. 
Jervis House, 682. 
Jesuit missionaries, the, 23. 

journals of, 24-25. 
John Crouse Memorial College for Women, 540. 
John Oreenway, explosion of the, 242. 
Johnson, Edward 0.. 1 15. 

Johonot, Jame.s, the first school i>iincipal, 535. 
Journal, the, 551. 

building burned, 180. 
Journal of Father Le Moyne, the, 2.i-2l. 
Journal of Health, the, 550. 
Joy, Edward, 054. 
Judges, the first, 58. 

of the County Court, 264. 
of the Court of Appeals, 140. 
of the Sui)reme Court, 204. 
Judson, Hon. E. B., biography of, Part IL, 81. 

portrait of, ."70. 
Judson, Hiram, 177. 
Juvenile Instructor, the, 553. 

KEARNEY'S Brewery, 632. 
Keeler, Dennis B., 4 15. 
Kellogg, Clarence V., 445. 
Kellogg, William, 80. 
Kemp & Burpee Mannfacturmg Co., <>(». 
Kennedy. Dennis M., 250. 
Kennedy, Francis II., 639. 
Kennedy, William, 445. 
Kent. Charles S., 445. 
Kent & Miller, 037. 
Kenyon, George G., 643. 
Kibbe, George, 60. 

Kin" John L., 445. . 

Kinne, A. B., M. D, biography of. Part II., 02. 
Kinne, Charles, 2-12. 
Kinnie, A. E., 530.! 
I Kirk, WilliamB., 249, 641. 



124 



Memokiai. History ok Syracuse. 



Kirkpatrick, Dr. W., biognijiliy of, Part II., 'Jo. 

portrait of, '."2. 
Kline, Jay B., 445. 
Klock, E. M., G44. 
Kossuth, Louis, visit of, 175. 

LAFAYETTE'S visit in IS'Jo, 111. 
Lake Genentaha, '.'5. 
Lally, Michael R, 445. 
Lamb, Jame.s, 88. 
Laiiil)'s daughter, killing of, 7(i. 
Lands, reservations of, 34. 
La Ruche, 550. 
Lawlessness and crime, 587. 
Lawrence, James Rohhiiis, 4'jy. 
Lawyers, list of, 441. 
Laying out the lirst viHage, 71-72. 

act of Legislaliiie, the, 72. 
Leavenworth Ciicle transferred to the city, 'iSl. 
Leavenworth, Gen. Elias \V., 143. 

biography of, Part II., 18. 

portrait of, 4s. 
Lefever Arras Company, (iC;!. 
Leggett, J. S., 034. 

Legislative act concerning park.'j, etc., lilo. 
Le Jeune, Father Paul, notes of, '2'>. 
Le Moyne's journal, 'J3~'JI, 
Leasing Lodge, No. 1G3, 585. 
Lewis, Ceylon IL, 445. 
Liberty Jntelligencer, the, 555. 
Lilierty Parly Pdper, the, 550. 
Liliraries in Syracuse, 542. 
Library Hall, 542. 
Lighton, Hon. John, biography of, Pait II., li). 

portrait of, 09G. 
Lincoln Canton, No. 38, 58(i. 
Lincoln Encampment, 580. 
Lincoln Lodge, No. 180, 585. 
Lind, Jenny, in Syracuse, 173. 
Linehan. C, 048. 
Lines, Thomas D., 031. 
Lipe, Charles E., 022. 
Literary Union, the, 550. 
Long, Ezra, 027. 
Longstreet, Cornelius T., (iO, 92. 

liiography of, Part II. , 30. 

portrait of, 04. 
Loomis, Allen & Co., 050. 
Loomis, Henry 11. , biography of. Pait 11., .'<7. 

portrait of. Part 11,, 80. 
Lumber industry, the, G42. 
Lyman, Frederick A., 445. 
Lynch, James. 212. 
Lynch, Patrick, biograpliy of. Part II.. 01. 

portrait of, 224. 
Lynx, tlie, 62, 554. 



M'l 



-ENNEUCHOK, the, 
Mails, the first, 40. 
Malcom Hall, 091. 

Mang, Jolm Jacob, 337-338 

Mann, Jumes, 07. 



344. 



Manning, James, 201. 
Manufacturing industries, 017. 
Map of Onondaga county, 34-30. 
Mara, Michael M., 440. 
Marble and granite liusine.ss, the, 047. 
Marselhis, John, Manufacturing Company, Lim- 
ited, 078. 
Marsh, Francis A., 248. 
Marshall, Jacob & Son, 001. 
Marshall, Louis, 440. 
Martm, Sprague Sc Co., O.")!. 
Martin, Sullivan & Donovan, 051. 
Mason, Amos L., biography of. Part II., 54. 

portrait of, 088. 
ifasonic lodge, the lirst org;ini/.ed, 577. 
May Memorial (Unitarian) Church, 512. 
May, Uev. Sanmel J., 512. 
Maynard, Henry .\., 445. 
Mayor's term extended to two years, 249. 
McCarthy, Dennis, 249. 
McCarthy, Thomas, 81. 
McChesney, < ieorge IL, G42. 

biography of. Part IL, 100. 

portrait of, 042. 
McClurc, H. C, 054. 
McDowell, John II., 043, 
McLennan, Donald F., 4 4(i. 
McLennan, Peter I!., biograpliy of. Part II., 51. 

portrait of, 530. 
McLoud & Jane.s, 03.'!. 
McMahon, Jolin O., 445. 
Meads' liusiness College, 54 1 . 
Mechanics' Association, 15.'!. 
Medical College opened, .539. 
Medical profession, the, 449. 
Meldram, J. Charles, 44G. 
Members of Assembly, 205. 

of Congre.ss, 439. 

of the Medical S.iciety, list of, 4.56. 

of the Medical Association, list of, 402. 
Memoiial day, lirst observed, 205. 
Memorial Presbyterian Church, 491. 
Mercantile establishments in 1840, 110-117. 
Merchants and mamifactiireis, early, 88-92. 
.Merchants' National Bank, 300. 
Merrell A: .Soule, (i57. 
Merriam, Thomas, OH. 
.Merrick, C. U fi L. S., 040. 
Merrick, M. c'tf C, Oil). 
Merten.s, J. M. & Co., 03G. 
Mes.senger, Hiram U,, 440. 
Mi<4<les, Nicholas, Ott. 
" Milan " and " Corinth " as names for a post- 

otlice, 1(12. 
Military committee appointed, 19.8. 

history, 271-273. 

ocBurrences in 1801-62, 193-194. 

organizations, independent, 331. 

tract, the, .VZ. 
Militia ollicers, changes in, 273-281. 
.Miller, Henry E., 440. 
Mills, the first, 53-54. 



J 



Indkx. 



125 



J!ill8, enrly, 96. 

Mimu'lmliii, daiigliter of Hiawatha, 19. 

Mis.sioii work ainonj,' the liniiaiKs, '21-'i3. 

Moiietaiy stringency, periods of, 'Mb. 

.Money borrowed for bounties, 1'.I8. 

Monitor, invention of the, 70.'!. 

Montezuma, the first packet boat, 107. 

.Montgonury Institute, 531. 

.Montreal IsU'\nd, bnrning of. '2S. 

Moore, David A., .M. D., 47:!. 

ifoore, Jolin. & Co., 044. 

Moore, (jKiinn >t Co., (i.il. 

Moosbrnpger Candle Co., GuG. 

Jforavian missionaries, 2(). 

More, Ezekiel P., 445. 

.Morgan, Le Roy, 427. 

Morgan. Theodore L. K., 445. 

Mominy Sentinel, the, 555. 

.Morris, D. J., 248. 

.Mo.-ieley, Gen. WilHam II., 21 'J. 

Mosely, Daniel, 6G. 

Mowry, Henry J., biography of, Part II., 72. 

portrait of, 2G4. 
-Moyer Wagon Works, 6.'!3. 
.Mullen, Joseph, 434. 
-Municipal ownership of water works agitated, 

242. 
Mnnroe, Allen, 240. 
Murphy, Thomas R, 416. 
Museum, the, 701. 
Music in Syracuse, 557. 
Musical societies, German, 343. 
Myers, Austin, 138. 
Myers Hall, 691. 

N.\MING the city "Syracuse," 100. 
National lirewing Company, G31. 
National Express Co., 648. 
National Theater, the, 1G6. 
Needhain, Dr. William, 59. 
Netlleton, A. E. & Co., 630. 
New Amsterdam named New York, 27. 
New Beth Israel, .525. 
New City Hall proposed, 238. 
New Process Uaw Hide Company, 050. 
New water supi)ly wanted, 208-209. 
New York Brick and Paving Company, Oil. 
New York State A.^ylum for Idiots, 605. 
New York State Banking Company, 369. 
A'ei/; York State Eilncalional Jnniual, 552. 
New York, West Shore, and Bufi'alo Railroad, 

413. 
Newell, J. E., 14G. 
Newspaper, the first, 62. 

(ierman, foimdation of the first, 355. 
Newspapers of the past, 554. 
Nie.s, A<iam, 649. 
Night wateli, the first, 151. 
Nolan, Timothy. (i41. 
Xorlhern Chrixtian Advocate, the, 553. 
NortlirM|), Hon. .\. Judd, 4.;7. 
Northrup. Milton II., biography of. Part II., 112. 



Nott, Christopher, 84. 

Nottingham, Edwin, 446. 

Nottingham, William, 446. 

Novelty Manufacturing Company, the, 669. 

Noxon, H. Davis. 66, 430. 

No.\on. James, 43G. 

Nukerk, Benjamin, 571. 

O.VKWOOD Cemetery, 574. 
Oberlander, Ale.xander E., 440. 
Oberlander, Rev. Alexander, 362. 
Observatory erected, 5.39. 
Odd Fellowsliip, 584. 
O'Hara, Rev. Dr. James A., 518. 
Old Alvo'd building, the, 77. 

arsenal, the, (!1. 

cemetery, 572. 

cemetery abandoned, 161. 

State roatl, 4 1 . 
One Hundred Eighty-fifth Regiment, 317-322. 

battle of Hatcher's Run, 319. 

surrender of Lee, 321. 
One Hundred Forty-ninth Regiment, 304-316. 

battle of Gettysburg, 307-30!!. 

battle of Lookout Mountain, 312, 

around Atlanta, .313. 

with Sherman's army, 315. 
One Hundred Twenty-second Regiment, 293- 
304. 

left Syracuse, 294. 

battle of Antietam, 295. 

action near Culpepper Court House, 296. 

battle of Round Top, 29S. 

battle of Gettysburg, 299. 

extracts from Major T. L. Poole's diary, 
300-30,3. 
Onondaga Academy, 62. 

Onondaga and Cortland Turnpike Company, 47. 
Onondaga county, division into townships, 33. 

first grant of land in, 49. 

formation of, 35. 

]iresent limits, 3<i. 
Onondaga County Ilomieopalhic Medical So- 
ciety, 475. 
Onondaga County Medical Society, the, 449. 
( Inondaga County Milk .Association, 679. 
Onondaga County Orphan .Asylum, (i(l3._ 
Onondaga County Savings Bank, 206, 374. 
Onondaga Creek Conunission, 204. 
Onondaga Deniokriit, 354. 
Onondut/a Gazette, the, 68. 
Onondaya Hardshell, the, 556. 
Onondaga Hill, settlement on, 64. 

early business interests, 67-69. 

early settlers, 6()-70. 

as the county seat, 66. 
Onondaga Historical Society organized, 192. 
Onondaga Hollow Religious Society.jhe, 62, 
Onondaga Hollow, the postollice at, 58. 
Onondaga Iron Company, (122. 
Ouondaya Journal, the, 68. 
t_)nondaga Lake, 25. 



126 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Ononda'^a Lake, improvements on, 214. 
Onondaga Loilge. No. 98, G2. 
Onondaga Lodge, No. 79, 585. 
Onondaga Lodge of Odd Kellow.s, 700. 
Onondatjti Messeiiyer, llie, 555. 
Onondaga Pottery Company. G(I2. 
Onomkuja Reijister, the, 62, 554. 
Onondagii Republican, the, 554. 
Onondaya Sentinel, the, 555. 
Onondaga Valley, 48, 63. 
Onondagas, tlie, 17-19. 
Openhig of the canal, 103. 
Ordinances, 110. 

Oswego and Syracuse Railroad, 411. 
Ownership of tlie salt springs, 392. 
Oyer and Terminer, first court of, 58. 

PACKET boat, the first, 407. 
Palmer, A. W., 638. 
Palace Steam Laundry, the, 053. 
Panic of 1857, .'365. 

Papers read before the ^^edical Association, 466. 
Paragon Plaster Company, 664. 
Pardee, Slieldon and Charles, 89. 
Parish Library, 542. 

Park .-Vvenue Methodist Protestant Cluirch, ."i 10. 
Park Central Presbyterian Church, 486. 
Parks and public improvements alluded to, 612. 
Parshall, James C. 44(). 
'■Patriot" war. the, 341. 
Patrolmen in lSi;9, list of, 590. 
Peace fe.stival, the, :'..'')1. 

meeting in 1864, 199. 
Pease, Father, anecdote of, 19!). 
Pease, J. ¥. Furnace Company, 649. 
Peck, Charles 11., 446. 
Peck, W. S. & Co., 637. 
Pen-picture of the past and present, 717. 
Penn & Lee, 677. 
Penny postmen, 560. 
People's Railroad Company, 41li. 

granted a franchise, 251. 
People's Savings Bank, 377. 
Perfection Oil Tank Company, 672. 
Permanent settlers, 102. 
Pest-house Iniilt, 22U. 
Peters, N. & Co., 638. 
Phares, Simeon, 89. 
Pilaris, Lsaac, 87-88. 
Phelps, Dudley P., 232 

Phieni.'c Foundry and Machine Companv, 620. 
Physicians at Onondaga llill, the eaily, *iS. 
Physicians, list of, 456. 

Pierce, Hutler & Pierce Manufaetining Com- 
pany. 649. 
Pierce, Sylvester P., biography of. Part II., .58, 

portrait of, 648. 
Piatt .fc Durkee, 91. 
Plumljinp and gas lilting, 651. 
Plymouth Congregational Church. 49.'!. 
Police Commissioners removed, 251, 2.53. 

department, 580. 



Police force increased, 250. 

force as at present organized. 589. 

justices, succession of, 591. 
Policemen, names of, in IS52, 588. 
Political review. 260-271. 

reminiscences, 710. 
Poi)ulation in 1820, 104. 

since 1845, 611. 

in 1848, 16(i. 

in 1891, 611. 
Porter Manufacturing Company (Limited), 023. 
Porter. Dr. \V. \V., 4(;8. 
Postmasters, list of, 5G2. 
PostoBice, the first in the county, .58. 

of Syracuse, 559. 

statistics of 1S90, 015. 
Pound, the, 161. 
Powell, A. C, 240. 
Powers, David A., 059. 
Powers, Dr. Nelson C, biography of. Part II. ,68. 

portrait of, 112. 
Pratt, Daniel, 433. 

Presbyterian Church at Onondaga Hill, 07. 
Presbyterian churches, 482. 
Presidential campaign of 1872, 214. 

of 1880, 232. 
Presidents of the Hoard of Trustees of the 

University, list of, 540. 
Presidents of the Medical Society since 1800, 

list of, 456. 
Press of Syracuse, the, 545. 
Preston Brother.s, 040. 
Price, Milton S., 2.56. 

Principal.*, schools, and location, list of, 5.'!". 
I'rinting oHice, the lirst, 107. 
Proceedings of the various meetings of the 

Medical Society, 4.53. 
Prospect Hill Garden, 350. 
Public improvements in 1889, 25.5. 

market, 141, 1.-1.5. 

meetings, 182. 

schools and the city government, 534. 

before the city organization, 532. 

well in Hanover Square, the, 139. 

QUEEN Anne's reign, 29. 
tj>uestion of prior rights 
springs, 385. 
i.iuinlan, P. U. & Co., 670. 



to thi 



salt 



RAt^C course, the first. 704. 
Raid on disreputable houses. 
Railroads, 40.'^. 
Railroads, opening of, 1 10 142. 

statistics, G14. 
Randall, Joshua B., 447. 
Randel, John, jr., maps by, 69(>, 
Real estate development, 253. 
Rebellion, war of, 282 :i34. 
Redfield, Lewis II., 099. 

biography of. Part II., 23. 
portrait of, 644. 



Index. 



127 



Redfield, Mrs. L. II., biography of, 


Part II., 94. 


Salina village, in 1823, 83. 


portrait of, Part II., 94. 






in the War of 1812, s:!. 


Reformed Tresbyteriaii (Covenanter) Cliiircb, 


village ollicers, 10.'!. 


.-)1(!. 






rocks, the, 39. 


Reformed (Dutch) Cburcli, 510. 






Salina Gang, the, 084. 


Reformed Presbyterian Churcli, 49 


> 




Salina and Oswego Turnpike Company. 47. 


Rej,'ulations governing salt inanufa 


jtiirc 


, 387. 


Salina Chapter R. A. M., \o. 70, 5S0. 


Religion of the Indians, 21. 






Salinn Courier and L'm/uirer, 551. 


lieligious history of Syracuse, 47(!. 






Salina lOncampiiient, No. 114, 580, 


press, the, 553. 






Salina Lodge, No. 97, 5S5. 


Relit/ions Recorder, the, 55.'J. 






Saliiin Sentinel, 554. 


Reniiniscencos, US"!. 






Salisbury, A. G., 220, .530. 


of (u-n. K. W. lieavtMiworth 


111 




Salmon, Dwight and Daniel 0., 027. 


of Hon. Andrew D. White, ' 


"07. 




Salmon River Company. 215. 


Removal of the old depot, 20.'i. 






water bill, the, 21.5. 


Rescne Mission, ri2S. 






Salt deposit, 39. 


Resolutions of 1825, 5(;3. 






first made, 54. • 


regarding small pox in 1875 


403 




industry, the, 83, 378. 


Revolution, the, .'!1. 






vats, description of, 397. 


Richmond, Dean, John, and Anson 


82. 




blocks, description of, 394. 


Riegel, Henry, 447. 






first used, 380. 


Riot of 1844. 153. 






wells sunk, 380. 


Roads and trails, 41. 






lands sold, 181, 209-217. 


in Geddes, the early, 80-87. 






springs in Geddes, ownership of, K7. 


Roadmaking, new method of, 109. 






reservation ceded to the State, .381. 


Roliber's Row. occupants of, 115. 






Salt Point, 383-384. 


Robert Gere Bank, 371. 






Salt Siirings Lodge, No. 520, 579. 


Rochester and Syracuse Direct Rai 


road 


411. 


Salt Springs National Bank, 308. 


Rock Spring Brewery, 032. 






Sammons, Jacob, 88. 


Roehner, John L., 357. 






Sanderson Brothers Steel Company, G19. 


Rogers, William S.. 447. 






Saul, George, 356. 


Root family, the, 88. 






Savage, Richard, 243. 


Rose Hill Cemetery, 572. 






Savings banks, run on, 214. 


Rose, Sherman J., 447. 






Sawyer, George C, biography of. Part II., 92. 


Ro.'^s, William M., 417. 






portrait of, 000. 


Rowland, James, 01. 






Sax, Jacob, 029. 


Royal Patent of Charles II., 27. 






Scblosser, Charles & Sons, 635. 


Ruger. C. Prosser, 447. 






Schmeer, Daniel, 073. 


Ruger, Hon. W. C., biography of. 


Part 


ir.. 21. 


Schmeer, Henry, 040. 


portrait of, 17C. 






School, the first, 107. 


Russell, Archimedes, biography of. 


Pari 


11., 48. 


-house, the first, 02. 


portrait of, 248. 






libraries, 544. 


Piussell, Jonathan, sent to Albany, 


79. 




statistics, 538. 


Rust. Zeliulon, 05. 






School Rulktin, the, 552. 


Ryan, P. J., 447. 






Schools in Syracuse, the early, 530. 


Ryan, Thomas, 032. 






select, 531. 

principals, and location, list of, 537. 


r^ABINE, Joseph F., 435. 






Schug. Charles & Son. 059. 


^ Sabine, William H., 59. 






Schwabenland, or Schwobeland, 350. 


*^ Sackett. James, 115. 






Scott, Gen. Winfield, reception of, 175. 


Siimgerbund, the, 343-344. 






Scribbins, Mr., 701. 


Safford, Shubael, 102. 






Sears, George H., 447. 


Sager Brothers, 007. 






Second Branch of the Evangelical Association 


Salaries of public olTicers, 182-183. 






of Syracuse, 361. 


new schedule of, 186. 






Second Regiment, 274. 


of city officers, 250-253. 






Secret societies, 577. 


Salem's Church of the Evangelical Society of 


Se<igwick, Hon. Charle* B., biography of. Part 


Syracuse, .300. 






II., 109. 


■Saleratus factory," the old, 118. 






Sedgwick, Charles H., 448. 


Salina village, first officers of, 100. 






Seraph's Advocate, the, 55.1. 


formation of, 30. 






Seuliert, Justin, 028. 


first town meeting in, 82. 






Seventh Day Adventists, 522. 



t2S 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



the, (ii;i. 



liioj^rapliy of. P.irt 



Seventh Ward Railway Com|iany, 415. 

Seweraf^e ("ommis.sioner.s appointed, 206. 

Sewers const nicted in ls.5.'), 180. 

Seymour, .lo.'iei)!), Sons it Co., <)41. 

Sliattiiok, Henry. 235. 

Sheldon, Arthur IT., 447. 

Slieldon, Dr. J. W., biography of. Part TI., CI. 

portrait of, 174. 
Shepartl, .loseph, 9(1. 
Sherifls, ■_'(;!. 

Sherlock, (,'li:ules 1!,, 519. 
Sherwood Harne.ss Coinp.iny, (i2C. 
Shipinan, Dr. Azariah B., 470. 
Shipman, Dr. John ()., 171. 
Shippin;;' facilities, fill. 
Shirt maniilactining, (io8. 
Short, (). II. fi Co., 635. 
Shove, Benjamin J., 447. 
Silverware, <i41. 
Simrnon.< I lame Company 
Si.x Nations, the, 17. 
Skinner, Charles L., 89. 
Small pox in the city, 214. 
in 1875, 220." 
in 1889, 25(i. 
Smith, Hon. Carroll E.. 

II., 107. 
Smith, Cornelius W., 147. 
Smith, Kihviird, 5;i5. 
Smith, .lacoh S., 2:U. 
Smith, Nathaniel B., i:i,5. 
Smith; Noah, 80. 

Smith Premier Typewriter ('om|)any, 074. 
Smith, Stephen, 179. 
Smith, Stephen W., 91. 
Smith, William Brown, hiograpliy of. Part II. ,5. 

portrait of, 240. 
Smith, William II. II., hiograpliy of, Part II., 97. 

portrait of. Part II., 98. 
Smiths .t Powell, 67.5. 
Snavlin, Charles F., 447. 
Sniper, Gen. Gustavn.s, hiograiihy of I'.art 

II., 5.-!. 
Snow blookade, 200. 
Snow, Charles W., biography of. Part II.. 57. 

portrait of, 232. 
Society of Concord, .523. 
Society for .Mutual Instruction, 543. 
Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 

604. 
Solomon, .'Samuel D., 447. 
Solvay Process Co., the, 061. 
Sontayshlatl, Das. 358. 
South Salina street, 12.'!. 
South Syracii.se Canning Company, 057. 
Spencer Clothing Co., G3S. 
Spencer, Israel Selden, 433. 
Spencer, Thom.-is, 215. 
Split Rock Cable Road Company, 662. 
St. Agnes Cemetery, 576. 
St. Andrews Divinity School, 510. 
St. Cecelia (Round Top) Cemetery, 576. 



St. James's Church, 507. 

St. John's Cathedral, 519. 

St. John's Catholic Academy, 520. 

St. John's Kpi.scopal Church at OnondaL'.i 

Hill, 67. 
St. Jolm's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 358. 
St. Jo.seph's (French Catholic) Chuicli, .522. 
St. Joseph's (German Catholic) Churcii, 521. 
St. Joseph's Ilospital, 607. 
St. Lucy's (Roman (Jatholic) Cliurch, 522. 
St. Mark's Church, 509. 

St. Mark's Kvangelical Lutheran Churcli, 3(1 ".. 
St. Mary's Cemetery, 575. 
St. Mary's (Roman Catholic) Church, 517. 
St. Patrick's Church. 521. 
St. Paul'.s Church, 508. 

St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Chnrcli, 363. 
St. Peter's (icrman Evangelical Church, .''58. 
Standard, the, 546. 
Standart, John L.. 448. 
Stanton, .\mos, 98, 706. 
Stanton, Uufus, 99. 
Stanton, Sidney, jr., 647. 
State Bank of Syracuse, 372. 
State Kair brought to Syracuse, 253. 
.State Senators, 2(i.5. 
Slntfsman, the, 555. 
Statistics of the Central Library, table cf, 545. 

of Syr.icuse in 1848, 161. 
Steam Gauge and Lantern ("omiiany, 671. 
Steam heat and power authorized, 2iU. 
Stearns, K. C. .t Co., 049. 
Stearn.s, Edward C, biography of. Part II., 74. 

portrait of, Part II., 74. 
Stearns, Dr. Jchiel, 46(J. 
Stern, Samuel U., 447. 
Stevens, George, 229. 
Stevens, Juilge William, 80. 
Stevens, Lyman, Mayor in 1855, 179. 
Stewart, Ilarvev. 90. 
Stewart, Hon. William D., 82. 
Stilhvell. Giles II., 447. 
Stolz, Benjamin, 447. 

Stores ami dwellings, early, 116 119, 120-128. 
Straight Line Engine Company, 624. 
Street railw.iys authorized, 210. 

railway charters, 191. 

railw.ays of Syracuse, 414. 
Streets opened and named, 110. 

condition of, in 1854, 178. 
Strong, Oliver R., (io, 4;!4. 
Struggle for conquest, the, 26-27. 
Sumner Corps, the, 335. 
Sunday Herald, the, 557. 
Sunday Atornimj Times, the, 552. 
Sunday News, the, 557. 
Superintendents of the salt springs, 391. 
Supreme Court, the, 418. 
Surrogates, 264. 
Surrogate's Court, 420. 

Sweet, William A., and the Salmon River Wa- 
ter Bill, 244. 



Index. 



129 



Sweet's Manufacturing Company, 618. 
Swing bridges over tlie Erie and Oswego Canals, 

218. 
Syrucusan, the, ^bG. 
" Syracuse," lOli. 

Syracuse village, incorporation of. 108. 
in 1834, map of, 101. 
in 18 tt), map of, 114. 
from 1824 to 18.50, 120. 
from 1828 to 1840, 12!)-144. 
from 1840 to 1847, 14,5-158. 
city of, incorporated, 158. 
division into districts by the Board of 

Health. 108. 
growth of the city budget, 256. 
in the Rebellion, 193-200. 
iu 1877, 223. 
Syracuse Academy, 531. 

incorporation of, 139. 
Syracuse American, the, 554. 
Syracuse and Auburn Railroad, C97. 
Syracuse and Gcddes Railway Co., 414. 
Syracuse and Onondaga llailroad Company, 140. 
Syracu'^e and Onondag.i Railway Company, 414. 
Syracuse and Utica Railroad, 409. 
Syracuse Bamljoo Furniture Company, the, 069. 
Syracuse, Binghamton, and New York Rail- 
road, 411. 
Syracuse Biscuit Works, 673. 
Syracuse Brewing Company, 632. 
Syracuse Cadets, 3:!4. 
Syracuse, Chenango, and New York Railroad, 

412. 
Syracuse Chilled Plow Company, C21. 
Sj'racuse City Water Works, 502. 
Syracuse Coar.se Solar Salt Works removed, 178. 
.Syracuse Consolidated Street Railway Com- 

]iany. 417. 
Syracuse Daily Courier, the, 549. 
Syracuse Daily Xews, the, 557. 
Syracuse Daily Republican, the, 555. 
Syracuse Daily Star, the, 555. 
Syracu.se Dash Works, 635. 
Syracuse Evening He^-ahl, the, 550. 
Syracuse Ga.slight Company, 595. 
Syracuse Gazette and Onondaga Register, 554. 
Syracuse Glass Company, 604. 
Syracuse Heat and Power Company, 677. 
Syracuse Home Association, the, 60O. 
Syracuse Hohi<eopathic Medical Association, 

476. 
Syracu.se House, the, 102-122. 
Syracuse Independent, the. 550. 
Syracuse Iron Works, 619. 
Syracuse Journal, the. 551. 
Syracuse Lafayette Grenadier Guard, 342. 
Syracuse Liederkranz, 344. 
Syracuse Lodge, No. 109, 585. 
Sj'racuse Lodge, No. 501, 577. 
Syracuse Malleable Iron Works, (i52. 
Syracuse Medio.il Association, the, 402. 
Syracuse Molding Company, 640. 

O 



Syracuse Xfuseum, the, 140. 

.Syracuse Northern Iiailroad. 413. 
Syracuse Nurseries and Stock Karrn. the, 075. 
Spracuse Pressed Brick Company, 640. 
Syracu.se Savings Bank, 375. 
Syracuse Specially ALinufacturing Co., 6(>7. 
Syracuse Standard, the. 546. 
Syracuse Steel Foundry Company, 626. 
Syracuse Stone Railroad Co., 140. 
Syracuse .Stove Works, the, 0.')3. 
Syracuse Tube Company, 653. 
Syracuse Turn Verein, the, 347. 
Syracuse Twist Drill Company, 667. 
Syracuse Union, 351). 
Syracuse University, 533. 
erected, 211. 

TABOR Orphan Asylum, 349. 
Teachers, tlie first appointed, 535. 
Teachers Advocate, the, 553. 
Teall, Oliver, 100. 

biography of. Part II., 78. 
Teall, William W., 448. 
Tefft, Dr. Lake I., 467. 
Telephone, the, 599. 

first e-xhibited, 230. 

and telegraph, the, 014. 
Temperance Protector, the. 556. 
Temperance Union, the, 557. 
Tenbroeck, Roger, 59. 
Terry, Capt. John G., 90. 
Theater, the first. 166. 
Third National Bank, 371. 
Third Reijiment, 274. 
Third War<l Railway Company, 415. 

franchise granted to, 251. 
Thompson, Cyrus, 91. 
Thomson, Frederick W., 448. 
Thorn, James S., 448. 
Thurber, Paschal, 220. 
Thurwachter, L. L., 660. 
Tiffany, C. A.. 658. 
Tily, Alfred, 6,54. 
Times, the, 552. 

" Tippecanoe and Tyler too," campaign, 267. 
Tobacco and cigars, 626. 
Topographical situation of Syracuse, 93-103. 
Town of Onondaga, 36. 

formation of, 71. 

town meetings, 58, 82. 
Town of Salina, incorporation of, 82. 

olhcers of, the first, 82. 
Townships, division into, 33-34. 
Townsend, John, 179. 
Tracy, William J., 448. 
Trails and roadways, the first, 41-44. 
Transfer of lanil title, 27. 
Transportation, 404. 

of salt, ;;88. 
Treasurers, 205. 

Treaty between Onondagas and New York, 32. 
Trinity Church, 507. 



13° 



Memorial History of Syracuse. 



Tripp, William W., 90. 


War of 1812-15, 83. 


Trowbridge, Dr. John F., 468. 


War of the Rebellion, 282-334. 


Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga, 373. 


War decade, the, 190. 


Tucker, Charles, 254. 


Ward boundaries, 176-177. 


Tully and Syracuse Turnpike Co., 47. 


Warner, George B., 449. 


Tully Pipe Line Company, 6U2. 


Warners Portland Cement Manufacturing Com- 


Turn Verein of Syracuse, 347-349. 


pany, 676. 


Turtelot, Vance, 448. 


Warren-Scharf Asphalt Paving Company, 670. 


Twelfth Regiment, the, 288-293. 


\\ais of the Indians, 30-31. 


battle of Bull Run. 289. 


Washington Riflemen, 342. 


battle of Malvern Hill. 291. 


Water-hme. manufacture of, 702. 


battle of Antietam, 292. 


Water cjuestion, report of City Attorney E. S. 


Tyler, Comfort, 62. 


Jenney on, 244. 


Tyler, Jol>, ,59. 


Water supply, the first, 152. 




discussed, 241. 


T T MBRECHT, Charles. 047. 


Skaneateles Lake project, 252. 


1 Unhealthy condition of the location, 7G. 


Waters, Louis L., 449 


^— ' Union Gem, the, 557. 


^Vatson, Elkanah, description by, 47. 


['niu7i Herald, the, 5.')f!. 


Weaver, Caius A . 448. 


Unumist, the, 556. 


Webster. Ephraiin, 48-52. 


Unitarian (May Memorial) Church, 512. 


" Webster's Lauding,'' 48. 


Unitarian Church spire fell. 175. 


Weekly Express, the, 552. 


United States District Court, Northern District 


Weeks, WoodhuU & Co., 637. 


of New York, 440. 


Welch, Orrin, 228. 


United Stales Express Co., 648. 


Wells Manufacturing Company, 650. 


University Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, 


Wesleyan Methodist Church, 506. 


50:5. 


West, Reuben and Simeon, 05. 


Usenbentz, Christian, 337. 


West Shore Railroad, 413. 




secures right of way, 233. 


•I /ALUATIOX of property in 1890, table of, 


depot, etc., 230. 


V 617. 


Westcott, Dr. Amos, 474. 


* Van Buren, H. \V., 600. 


Western Slate Journal, 551. 


Vanderbilt House, OSI. 


Western Union Telegraph, 597. 


Vann, Judge Irving G., biography of. Part 


Westfall, James, 059. 


II., 29. 


Westminster Presbyterian Church, 490. 


portrait of. Part II.. 28. 


Weston, Homer, 449. 


Van Slyke, Dr. Isaac N., 470. 


Wheaton, Horace and Charles A., 171. 


Van VIeck, Isaac, 73. 


Wheeler, Thomas, 80. 


Van AVie, Irvin, 072. 


White family, the, 142. 


Village otVicers, 257-258. 


White, Hon". Andrew D., 085. 


elections, 109, 103, 257. 


White, Canvass, 702. 


green, the, 701. 


White, Frederick D., 448. 


the first, 109. 


White, Ilaiiiilton, 2(il. 


Visit of Marquis de Lafayette, 111. 


biography of. Part II., 20. 


Von Rancke Library presented to the Univer- 


portrait of, 136. 


sity. 530. 


White, Horace, biography of Part II., 13. 


Vrooman, David, 89. 


portrait of, 144. 




White. Hon. Howard G., biography of. Part 


-» I 7-.\DS\V0RTH. Joseph, 04. 


II., HI. 


Y Y Waggoner, George and Peter, 143. 


Whitlock, John R.. 254. 


' ' Wagon tires, law governing width of. 


Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Co., 620. 


227. 


Whitney Wagon Works, 634. 


Waldo, Rev. Daniel, 096. 


Wicks, E. B., 215. 


Wales, Isaac, the first colored man, 697. 


Wicks. Frederick S., 448. 


Wales Manufacturing Company, the, 669. 


Wieting Block, the first and second. 171. 


Waller, Jo.seph, 673. 


burned, 183, L'34. 


Wallace, E. F.. 208. 


Wieting. Dr. John M., 142, 2.54. 


Wallace, Willi.im James, 436. 


biography of. Part II.. 20. 


Walton tract, the, 94-95. 


portrait of. Part II., 20. 


in 1819, map of, 97. 


Wieting Hall, 089. 


sale of, 105. 


Wild animals, 75. 


Wandell, Samuel H., 448. 


Wilkinson, Alfred, 248. 



Index. 



131 



Wilkinson assignment, the, 2:i8. 
Wilkinson Bank, :'.7T. 
Wilkinson, John, the first postmastpr, 559. 
Wilkinson, John, J.il. 

biography of, Part II.. 75. 
Wilkinson, J. Fornian, 250. 
Willev, Josenh M., 90. 
Williams, Dv. Mather, 4i;9. 
Williams & Co.. tlie firm of, 84. 
Willow baskets. G59. 
Wilson & Kobotliam, G4-1. 
Windholz, Louis, <>57. 
Winter of lS64-(;5, 200. 
Winton. William, 212. 
Wisner. Gabriel W., 448. 
Woman's Hight-s Convention. 102. 
Wood. Daniel P., biography of, Pan II.. 101. 

portrait of, SO. 
Wood, Reuben. 2:'.9. 
Wood, Thaddeus M., biography of, Part II., 37. 

portrait of. Part II., -w. 
Woodlawn and Butternut Street Railway Com- 
pany, 416. 



Woodlawn Cemetery, 570. 

Woodrutr. Jason C, 229. 

Woolson, Charles, 91. 

Wright, Edward C, 449. 

Wynkoop, Jonathan G., biography of. Pari II., 

55. 
Wynkoop, Robert G., bioeraphy of, Part II., 

45. 



YELLOW Brook, 121. 
Young Hickory, 555. 
Young Ludies Miscellany, the. 552. 
Young Men's Christian Association, the, 000. 
Young & Larrabee, 67.'i. 



ZETT'S Brewery, 0:!0. 
Zinochsaa River, 20. 
Zion il. E. Church, 506. 
Zion's Aue, :!57. 

Zion's German Evangelical Lutheran Church, 
361. 



m 



* 



i 



\ 



